Talk:Asthenosphere

Picture

The picture on the article does not even have the asthenosphere on it! maggie and isabel were here unsigned comment added by 70.69.112.67 (talk) 23:33, 4 May 2008 (UTC) Yes it does! ~Bee62~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.113.127.113 (talk) 23:02, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Curious about Mohorovic

I had got the impressions the Mohorovic discontinuity was involved in plate tectonics, so I wonder what sort of interactions there may be with the asthenosphere? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.106.84.184 (talk) 18:41, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Data/Information

Could someone please add more to the article, such as temprature, what it is made of, and anything else that is correct about the asthenosphere?--LouisSS13 (talk) 00:53, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Too precise unit conversions

When depths are given as 200 or 400 km (one digit precision), it is ridiculous to convert them into miles with three digits of precision (~124 miles, ~249 miles). ~120 and ~250 miles would be far better. Since the article is rated as start-class and high importance, I assume it's already on somebodys plate so I don't need to step in and edit myself. --Rootmoose (talk) 12:07, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't bank on that - note that the issue with the diagram from 2008 has still not been addressed. SpinningSpark 12:49, 19 March 2011 (UTC)}

Yes, don't assume anything, I'll aim to take a look at the article this weekend and try to sort out the worst problems - it isn't well cited, but the diagram will have to wait (unless I come across one that's appropriately licensed). Mikenorton (talk) 15:01, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Alternative diagram found, so original replaced. Mikenorton (talk) 16:19, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I've looked around the literature and I'm much more confused than I was when I started. It seems that geophysicists can't even agree on how to define the lithosphere/asthenosphere boundary never mind what depth it's at. If you want to get into discussions of thermal versus chemical or mechanical boundary layers, take a look at Don Anderson's view here. Mikenorton (talk) 20:25, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Article does not actually define the term

I read it a few times, and I saw nowhere were the article defines what the Asthenosphere really is. Not too shocking, as I have yet to find a clear derfintion. Best I can find, is that the Asthenosphere is right below the lithosphere, and is a low density portion of the upper mantle - the earth's plates float on top of it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 15.219.153.75 (talk) 17:16, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

100 km or 40 km?

Hi,

I quote:

"It lies below the lithosphere, at depths between 100 and 200 km"

According to Wiki, lithosphere's depth is between 40 and 200 km. so shouldn't astheosphere be at depths be between 40 and 200 km?

Oqimta (talk) 05:33, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Contradictory information

In different articles, like lithosphere, asthenosphere, mantle, structure of the earth, crust, etc. there is contradictory information on the different depths of these 'layers' of the earth. It is pretty confusing, since given values also have very large ranges and you often find these values overlapping. I guess this is due to the fact that there is a huge difference in the depth of a layer depending on location (e.g. mid ocean ridge will have relatively narrow layers at the surface, while under a continent there is a massive crust layer).

I've spend some time looking up some external sources, but this further adds to the confusion, as the values in these references seem to also differ quite significantly from the wikipedia values. I would like to stress that it is fundamentally important that a very reliable source should be found with a clear definition of the division between the different layers (especially between the asthenosphere and adjacent layers). In the 2 hours i've spent searching i've found that even in university sources people seem to use different definitions of the asthenosphere, varying from 80-400 for the lower boundary and 150-700 for the higher boundary of the asthenosphere.

As i'm no expert on the subject matter, i'd prefer not to devise my own list of values for the depths of the different layers, as I would probably make only educated guesses (i.e. gather means) for the depths of these layers based on the sources i've consulted. I suspect some sources are just absolute rubbish, but based on the fact that i have no geologic background at all, i do not feel justified in selecting research A over research B.

I do however feel it would be a huge improvement to add some table with the following rows and columns to somewhat narrow the ranges of the depths of these layers. I've added it below, maybe it would be a help for someone in gathering useful information on the depths of these layers. Hope someone will try to clean up the aforementioned articles and bring some consistency in the numbers.

	Depth @ mid ocean ridge	Depth @ocean (mean)	Depth @continent (mean)
Crust
Uppermost solid mantle
asthenosphere
mesosphere
lower mantle
outer core
inner core

217.122.71.201 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 04:01, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Doubts about its existence

The article should present the modern doubts about the existence of the Astenosphere. In modern theories the Astenosphere is not necessary to explain the movement of tectonic plates.--Miguelferig (talk) 18:47, 15 July 2018 (UTC)