tectospheren.
/ˈtɛktəʊsfɪə/ Geology.
That part of the earth which moves in coherent sections during plate-tectonic activity (see quot. 1979).Tectosphere is sometimes confused in dictionaries with tektosphere n.
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tektosphere1900
asthenosphere1914
tectonosphere1926
tectosphere1968
1968 Jrnl. Geophysical Res. 73 1980/2 The required strength [to maintain rigidity] cannot be in the crust alone; the oceanic crust is too thin for this. We instead favor a strong tectosphere, perhaps 100 km thick, sliding over a weak asthenosphere.
1969 W. M. Elsasser in S. K. Runcorn Applic. Mod. Physics to Earth & Planetary Interiors 223 Horizontal sliding of the top layer, here called the ‘tectosphere’, can be more easily achieved than circulation in the material underneath.
1979 Sci. Amer. Jan. 76/3 Under the oceans the tectosphere and the lithosphere are..identical in spatial extent... Under the continents, however,..the cratonic tectosphere extends below the lithosphere, perhaps to depths of 400 kilometers or more.
Derivatives
tectoˈspheric adj. of or pertaining to the tectosphere.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [adjective] > tectosphere
tectospheric1979
1979 Sci. Amer. Jan. 76/3 Tectospheric thickness also correlates with crustal age.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1968