The Plates of the Lithosphere
There are two parts that make up the Lithosphere. They are the Earth's Crust and uppermost part of the Mantle. Together they make the hard outside layer of the Earth. The Litosphere is broken into peices called Tectonic Plates. There are two types of Lithospheres
1) Oceanic lithosphere (which is to do with the Oceanic crust)
2) Continental lithosphere (which is to do with the Continetial crust)
The Oceanic lithosphere is made of mainly peridotite, it is thicker then the Continental lithosphere. The Oceanic lithosphere ages and get thicker, this happens because of something called "Conductive cooling" which changes the hot asthenosphere into the lithospheric mantle. The Ocianic lithosphere is much younger than the Continental lithosphere. Parts of the continental lithoshpere are billions of years old, where the oldest Ocianic lithosphere is around 170 million years old.
1) Oceanic lithosphere (which is to do with the Oceanic crust)
2) Continental lithosphere (which is to do with the Continetial crust)
The Oceanic lithosphere is made of mainly peridotite, it is thicker then the Continental lithosphere. The Oceanic lithosphere ages and get thicker, this happens because of something called "Conductive cooling" which changes the hot asthenosphere into the lithospheric mantle. The Ocianic lithosphere is much younger than the Continental lithosphere. Parts of the continental lithoshpere are billions of years old, where the oldest Ocianic lithosphere is around 170 million years old.
The Asthenosphere
The Asthenosphere is the part of the upper mantle that is directly under Lithosphere. It is very hot but the amount of preasure makes it plastic. Sizemic waves pass slowly the Asthenosphere, where the waves pass quicker through the Lithosphere, so it is sometimes called the low-velocity zone (or L.V.Z). The lower seperating line of the L.V.Z sits at around 180-220 km. The base of the Asthenosphere sit at around 700km.