Access

News and Views

Nature 391, 634-635 (12 February 1998) | doi:10.1038/35491

naturejobs

Earth science:  Continental mechanics

John Haines1

The Earth's outer shell or lithosphere is more rigid than the immediately underlying part of the mantle. In plate tectonics, the lithosphere in oceanic regions behaves mechanically as a small number of rigid plates, with tectonic activity restricted to narrow zones where the plates meet.

  1. John Haines is in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Bullard Laboratories, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK.
    e-mail: Email: haines@esc.cam.ac.uk