The lithosphere is composed of what?

• A. The crust and uppermost mantle
• B. The mantle and core
• C. The crust only
• D. The core and mantle

Answer: (A)

The lithosphere is the Earth’s outer rigid shell, forming the tectonic plates. It consists of the crust plus the rigid portion of the mantle right beneath it—the uppermost mantle. This combination behaves as a single, breakable shell that moves as plates, unlike the deeper mantle that becomes weaker and the core which lies far below and is not part of the lithosphere. So the statement that matches this is crust plus uppermost mantle.