what is the lithosphere and its characteristics
The Lithosphere: Definition & Composition Let's look at the physical characteristics of the compounds that make up the lithosphere. The lithosphere is made up of rocks from two of the earth's major layers. It contains all of the outer, thin shell of the planet, called the crust, and the uppermost part of the next-lower layer, the mantle. The thickness of the lithosphere varies; it's thickest below the continents and thinnest at the mid-ocean ridges, raised areas of the seafloor where new seafloor crust is formed. - The lithosphere is Earth's outermost layer, composed of rocks in the crust and upper mantle that behave as brittle solids. The rigid lithosphere sits on top of the asthenosphere, a layer of the mantle in which rocks are hot and deformable.