In simpler times, natural philosophers recognized a tripartite division of the Earth into concentric zones: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere, the latter being Earth's stony outer portion. As techniques for observation and measurement advanced, geologists identified various lithospheres, with thicknesses depending upon the physical or chemical characteristics that define them:
REFERENCES
1.
The US Geodynamics Committee, which cooperates with the International Commission on the Lithosphere, sponsored the workshop and issued a report, The Lithosphere, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. (1983).
2.
For general discussions of the lithosphere, see the special issue of Scientific American, September 1983;
Seiya Uyeda, The New View of the Earth, W. H. Freeman, New York (1978).
3.
4.
H. M.
Iyer
, J. R.
Evans
, G.
Zandt
, R. M.
Stewart
, J. M.
Coakley
, J. N.
Ruloff
, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.
92
, 792
(1981
).5.
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© 1985 American Institute of Physics.
1985
American Institute of Physics
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