asthenosphere

noun

as·theno·sphere as-ˈthe-nə-ˌsfir How to pronounce asthenosphere (audio)

: a zone of a celestial body (such as the earth) which lies beneath the lithosphere and within which the material is believed to yield readily to persistent stresses

asthenospheric

as-ˌthe-nə-ˈsfir-ik How to pronounce asthenosphere (audio)

-ˈsfer-

adjective

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Roughly 90 percent of quakes on Earth are produced by the movement of tectonic plates, massive slabs of the planet’s lithosphere that slide around atop the semisolid asthenosphere layer and occasionally bump into one another.

Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 24 May 2022 These pieces, divided between older continental crust and younger oceanic crust, ride atop the gooey asthenosphere, a semiliquid layer of magma and partly melted rock.

Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2019 Exactly what mechanism or mechanisms are behind their movement is still debated, but are likely to include convection currents within the asthenosphere and the forces generated at the boundaries between plates.

Lucia Perez Diaz, CNN, 5 Apr. 2018 Björn Winker, a mineralogist at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, believes that the key to the asthenosphere is water.

Brian Romans, WIRED, 13 Aug. 2007

Word History

Etymology

Greek asthenḗs "weak" + -o- + -sphere — more at asthenia

Note: The term was introduced by the American geologist Joseph Barrell (1869-1919) in "The strength of the earth's crust. Part VI. Relations of isostatic movements to a sphere of weakness—the asthenosphere," Journal of Geology, vol. 22 (1914), p. 659: "The theory of isostasy shows that below the lithosphere there exists in contradistinction a thick earth-shell marked by a capacity to yield readily to long-enduring strains of limited magnitude …To give proper emphasis and avoid the repetition of descriptive clauses it needs a distinctive name. It may be the generating zone of the pyrosphere; it may be a sphere of unstable state, but this to a large extent is hypothesis and the reason for choosing a name rests upon the definite part it seems to play in crustal dynamics. Its comparative weakness is in that connection its distinctive feature. It may then be called the sphere of weakness—the asthenosphere…"

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

单词	asthenosphere
释义	asthenosphere noun as·theno·sphere as-ˈthe-nə-ˌsfir : a zone of a celestial body (such as the earth) which lies beneath the lithosphere and within which the material is believed to yield readily to persistent stresses asthenospheric as-ˌthe-nə-ˈsfir-ik -ˈsfer- adjective Example Sentences Recent Examples on the Web Roughly 90 percent of quakes on Earth are produced by the movement of tectonic plates, massive slabs of the planet’s lithosphere that slide around atop the semisolid asthenosphere layer and occasionally bump into one another. Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 24 May 2022 These pieces, divided between older continental crust and younger oceanic crust, ride atop the gooey asthenosphere, a semiliquid layer of magma and partly melted rock. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2019 Exactly what mechanism or mechanisms are behind their movement is still debated, but are likely to include convection currents within the asthenosphere and the forces generated at the boundaries between plates. Lucia Perez Diaz, CNN, 5 Apr. 2018 Björn Winker, a mineralogist at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, believes that the key to the asthenosphere is water. Brian Romans, WIRED, 13 Aug. 2007 Word History Etymology Greek asthenḗs "weak" + -o- + -sphere — more at asthenia Note: The term was introduced by the American geologist Joseph Barrell (1869-1919) in "The strength of the earth's crust. Part VI. Relations of isostatic movements to a sphere of weakness—the asthenosphere," Journal of Geology, vol. 22 (1914), p. 659: "The theory of isostasy shows that below the lithosphere there exists in contradistinction a thick earth-shell marked by a capacity to yield readily to long-enduring strains of limited magnitude …To give proper emphasis and avoid the repetition of descriptive clauses it needs a distinctive name. It may be the generating zone of the pyrosphere; it may be a sphere of unstable state, but this to a large extent is hypothesis and the reason for choosing a name rests upon the definite part it seems to play in crustal dynamics. Its comparative weakness is in that connection its distinctive feature. It may then be called the sphere of weakness—the asthenosphere…" First Known Use 1914, in the meaning defined above
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