Editing Lithosphere (section)

{{Short description|Outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite}}
{{For|the academic journal|Lithosphere (journal){{!}}''Lithosphere'' (journal)}}

[[File:Plates tect2 en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth]]
[[File:Earth cutaway schematic-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and [[lithospheric mantle]] (detail not to scale)]]

A '''lithosphere''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|λίθος}}'' ({{grc-transl|λίθος}})|rocky||''{{wikt-lang|grc|σφαίρα}}'' ({{grc-transl|σφαίρα}})|sphere}}) is the rigid,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Skinner|first1=B. J.|last2=Porter|first2=S. C.|title=Physical Geology|page=17|chapter=The Earth: Inside and Out|year=1987|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=0-471-05668-5}}</ref> outermost rocky shell of a [[terrestrial planet]] or [[natural satellite]]. On [[Earth]], it is composed of the [[crust (geology)|crust]] and the [[lithospheric mantle]], the topmost portion of the [[upper mantle]] that behaves elastically on time scales of up to thousands of years or more. The crust and upper mantle are distinguished on the basis of chemistry and [[mineralogy]].