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The term Geosphere is often used to refer to the densest parts of Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
, which consist mostly of rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
 and regolith
Regolith

Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid Rock . The term is a combination of two Greek words: Rhegos , which means blanket, and Lithos , which means rock....
.

The term originally applies to the four nested geospheres identified since Meteorology (Aristotle)
Meteorology (Aristotle)

Meteorology is a text by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
 with the states of terrestrial matter: solid (earth), liquid (water), gas (air), and plasma (fire). The nested geospheres then include the asthenosphere
Asthenosphere

The asthenosphere is the mechanically weak ductily-deforming region of the upper Mantle of the Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at depths between 100 and 200 km below the surface, but perhaps extending as deep as 400 km ....
, lithosphere
Lithosphere

File:Plates tect2 en.svgFile:Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svgThe lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet....
, hydrosphere
Hydrosphere

A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet....
, atmosphere
Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low....
, and the ionosphere
Ionosphere

The ionosphere is the uppermost part of the Earth's atmosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere....
 or plasmasphere
Plasmasphere

The plasmasphere, or inner magnetosphere is a region of the Earth's magnetosphere consisting of low energy plasma . It is located above the ionosphere....
. The dense geosphere is also subdivided into the crust
Crust (geology)

In geology, a crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet or moon, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle . Crusts of Earth , our Moon, Mercury , Venus, and Mars have been generated largely by igneous processes, and these crusts are richer in incompatible elements than their respective mantle s....
, mantle
Mantle (geology)

The mantle is a part of an astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers....
, and core
Planetary core

The planetary core consists of the innermost part of a planet.The cores of terrestrial planets tend to be mainly composed of iron and can include a solid and/or a liquid layer....
.






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The term Geosphere is often used to refer to the densest parts of Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
, which consist mostly of rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
 and regolith
Regolith

Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid Rock . The term is a combination of two Greek words: Rhegos , which means blanket, and Lithos , which means rock....
.

The term originally applies to the four nested geospheres identified since Meteorology (Aristotle)
Meteorology (Aristotle)

Meteorology is a text by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
 with the states of terrestrial matter: solid (earth), liquid (water), gas (air), and plasma (fire). The nested geospheres then include the asthenosphere
Asthenosphere

The asthenosphere is the mechanically weak ductily-deforming region of the upper Mantle of the Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at depths between 100 and 200 km below the surface, but perhaps extending as deep as 400 km ....
, lithosphere
Lithosphere

File:Plates tect2 en.svgFile:Earth-crust-cutaway-english.svgThe lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet....
, hydrosphere
Hydrosphere

A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet....
, atmosphere
Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low....
, and the ionosphere
Ionosphere

The ionosphere is the uppermost part of the Earth's atmosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere....
 or plasmasphere
Plasmasphere

The plasmasphere, or inner magnetosphere is a region of the Earth's magnetosphere consisting of low energy plasma . It is located above the ionosphere....
. The dense geosphere is also subdivided into the crust
Crust (geology)

In geology, a crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet or moon, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle . Crusts of Earth , our Moon, Mercury , Venus, and Mars have been generated largely by igneous processes, and these crusts are richer in incompatible elements than their respective mantle s....
, mantle
Mantle (geology)

The mantle is a part of an astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers....
, and core
Planetary core

The planetary core consists of the innermost part of a planet.The cores of terrestrial planets tend to be mainly composed of iron and can include a solid and/or a liquid layer....
. The outer core
Outer core

The outer core of the Earth is a liquid layer composed of iron and nickel above the solid inner core. Sulfur and oxygen could also be present....
 is unusual in that it is considered to be a liquid, yet it is a part of Earth's interior.

In modern texts, geosphere refers to the solid parts of the Earth and is used along with atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere to describe the systems of the Earth. In that context, sometimes the term "lithosphere" is used instead of geosphere, however the lithosphere only refers to the uppermost layers of the solid Earth (oceanic and continental crustal rocks and uppermost mantle).

Since space exploration began, it has been observed that the extent of the ionosphere or plasmasphere is highly variable, and often much larger than previously appreciated, at times extending to the boundaries of the Earth's magnetosphere
Magnetosphere

A magnetosphere is a highly magnetized region around and possessed by an astronomical object. Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere, as are the magnetized planets Mercury , Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune....
 or geomagnetosphere. This highly variable outer boundary of geogenic matter has been referred to as the "geopause", to suggest the relative scarcity of geogenic matter beyond it, where the solar wind dominates.

In computer graphics
Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created by computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
, the term geosphere can also mean a polygon
Polygon

In geometry a polygon is traditionally a plane Shape that is bounded by a closed curve path or circuit, composed of a finite sequence of straight line segments ....
al tessellation
Tessellation

A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a collection of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of the parts of the plane or of other surfaces....
, or polyhedron
Polyhedron

|}A polyhedron is often defined as a geometry object with flat faces and straight edges .This definition of a polyhedron is not very precise, and to a modern mathematician is quite unsatisfactory....
, used to approximate a sphere
Sphere

A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface....
. It also commonly named geodesic sphere.