lithosphere

«lithosphere» in Mova's school dictionary: the hard, rocky outer layer of the Earth: the crust plus… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (the lithosphere, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

(science) The lithosphere is the hard, rocky outer layer of the Earth: the crust plus the very top part of the mantle, about 100 km thick, broken into tectonic plates. tree →

sense in the lessons

In geography and science lessons pupils learn the Earth's layers (crust, mantle, outer core, inner core) and the «spheres»: lithosphere (rock), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air) and biosphere (living things). The lithosphere's plates move slowly, causing earthquakes, volcanoes and mountains. Phrases: «the Earth's lithosphere», «oceanic lithosphere».

examples

• The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates. tree →
• The lithosphere includes the crust and the top of the mantle. tree →
• Earthquakes happen when parts of the lithosphere move. tree →
• The lithosphere floats on a softer layer called the asthenosphere. tree →
• Rocks, mountains and soil are part of the lithosphere. tree →
• The lithosphere is thinner under the oceans than under continents. tree →

note

Uncountable, used with «the». Pronounced «LITH-oh-sfeer». From Greek «lithos» = stone. Not quite the same as «the crust»: the lithosphere is the crust plus the stiff upper mantle. Myth: the mantle is not a sea of liquid lava; it is mostly solid rock that flows very slowly.

In the corpora

• The crust and the stiff top of the mantle together form the lithosphere, the hard shell that is broken into plates.
• The lithosphere is broken into about 15 large plates and many smaller ones that fit together like a cracked jigsaw.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «lithosphere» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.