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The solid part of the earth
Answer for the clue "The solid part of the earth ", 11 letters:
lithosphere
Word definitions for lithosphere in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
A lithosphere ( [ lithos ] for "rocky", and [ sphaira ] for "sphere") is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite that is defined by its rigid mechanical properties. On Earth , it is composed of the crust and the portion ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle [syn: geosphere ]
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (context geology English) The rigid, mechanically strong, outer layer of the Earth; divided into twelve major plates
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"solid part of the earth's surface," 1881; see litho- "stone" + sphere .
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lithosphere \Lith"o*sphere\, n. [Litho- + sphere.] (Phys. Geog.) The solid earth as distinguished from its fluid envelopes, the hydrosphere and atmosphere. The outer part of the solid earth, the portion undergoing change through the gradual transfer of ...
Usage examples of lithosphere.
When it reached the solid part of the lithosphere, the actual Clyde craton, which was about 35 kloms thick, it was still hot enough to melt the rock in its path and turn it into the stuff called kimberlite.
If so, why shouldn’t the same 30° one-piece shift of the lithosphere have swivelled a largely deglaciated six-million-square-mile southern hemisphere continent from temperate latitudes to a position directly over the southern pole of the spin axis?
Above the curve of the lithosphere, which was opaque and black, lay—in the same bent band—a whitish mist, thickest along the horizon: the atmosphere, with microscopic floccules that were clouds.
It was as if the planet itself had felt something missing, and at the tap of mind against rock, noosphere against lithosphere, the absent biosphere had sprung into the gap with the startling suddenness of a magician's paper flower.