What is a lithosphere briefly. Interesting facts about the tectonic structure of the Earth

Lithosphere is a solid shell of the planet Earth. It covers it completely, protecting the surface from the highest temperatures of the planet kernel. We will study how the structure has a lithosphere and how it differs from other planets.

general characteristics

The lithosphere borders with the hydrosphere and atmosphere at the top, and with the asthenosphere below. The thickness of this shell varies significantly and ranges from 10 to 200 km. In different parts of the planet. On continents, a lithosphere is thicker than in the oceans. The lithosphere is not a single whole - it is formed by separate plates that lie on the asthenosphere and gradually move along it. Seven large lithospheric plates are isolated and several small. The boundaries between them are seismic activity zones. Two such plates are connected on the territory of Russia - Eurasian and North American. The structure of the Lithosphere of the Earth is represented by three layers:

  • earth's crust;
  • border layer;
  • upper mantle.

Consider each layer more.

Fig. 1. Litters of lithosphere

Earth's crust

This is the top and the thinnest layer of the lithosphere. Its mass is only 1% of the mass of the earth. The thickness of the earth's crust varies from 30 to 80 km. A smaller thickness is observed in the plain territories, large on the mountain. There are two types of terrestrial crust - the mainland and oceanic.

The separation of the bark into two types is available only on Earth, on the other planets the same border.

The mainland consists of three layers:

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  • sedimentary- formed by sedimentary and volcanic rocks;
  • granitis- formed by metamorphic rocks (quartz, field spat);
  • basaltic - represented by magmatic rocks.

In the oceanic cortex there is only a sedimentary and basalt layer.

Fig. 2. Layers of the oceanic and continental earth crust

The earth's crust contains all known minerals, metals and chemicals in different quantities. The most common elements:

  • oxygen;
  • iron;
  • silicon;
  • magnesium;
  • sodium;
  • calcium;
  • potassium.

Full renewal of the earth's crust occurs for 100 million years.

Border Layer

It is called the surface of Mochorovichich. In this zone, there is a sharp increase in the speed of seismic waves. Also, the density of the lithosphere substance is replaced, it becomes more elastic. The surface of Mochorovichich lies at a depth of 5 to 70 km, completely repeating the relief of the earth's crust.

Fig. 3. Scheme of the surface of Mochorovichich

Mantle

The lithosphere includes only the top layer of the mantle. It has a thickness from 70 to 300 km. What phenomena take place in this layer? Here they born the seismic activity - earthquakes. This is due to the increase in the speed of seismic waves. What is the structure of this layer? It is formed mainly by iron, magnesium, calcium, oxygen.

What did we know?

Litosphere of the Earth has a layered structure. It is formed by the earth's crust and the top layer of mantle. There is a border between these layers, called the Mochorovichich surface. The total thickness of the lithosphere reaches 200 km. It consists of almost all metals and trace elements.

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Structure of land. Intraple processes. Lithosphere. Shift movements for transform faults. Tectonic cycles. Subduction of lithospheric plates. Continental bark. Mantle earth. Convergence of lithospheric plates. Kola ultra-dust well. Divergence. Discussion. Divergence zone. Borders plates. The composition of the earth's crust. Tectonic structure and relief. The main provisions of modern TLP. Black smokers.

"Weathered" - chemical weathered. The work of fluid and wind. Geographical dictation Fill in skipping and find errors in the text. Chemical. To be able to: - explain the influence of external processes on the relief. Creative laboratory What kind of laboratory are we talking about in the text? Then change places. Two teams, each of which delegates three representatives. The highest sand dune in Europe. All other fans.

Litosphere is geochronology. Tectonic hypothesis. Relief. Presentations on the formation of mainland boulders. Plateau Puratorna. Discontinuous dislocations. Earthquake. Horst. Valley of Geysers. Rocks. Intrusive bodies. Mobilism ideas. Trap. Sedimentary rocks. EPEirogenic movements. Mud volcano. Strong earthquake. Lithospheric plates. Geological profile. Endogenous processes. Marble. Map of earthquakes.

"The movement of lithospheric plates" is a feature of lithospheric plates. The value of knowledge. Underwater ridge. The name of the lithospheric plate. Planetary squeezing belts. Hypothesis drift drift. Sections of the earth's crust. Collination of two lithospheric plates. Scientists. Theories. Basic geological theories. Theory of lithospheric plates. Mariana deep-water chute. Hypothesis drift of the mainland and the theory of lithospheric plates. Changing the outlines of the mainland. The structure of the earth's crust.

"The structure of the lithosphere" is the form of the planet Earth from space and in the context. Granite. Decide the task. Quartz. Assistant tasks. Limestone. Excursion to the Virtual Geological Museum. Workshop. The internal structure of the Earth. Tasks for fixing. Lithosphere. Coal. The structure of the earth's crust. We define the mood. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe inner structure of the Earth. Zheleznyak. Hematite. Earth and its structure.

"Sizes of geological bodies" - block structure of the pyramid. Data types. Square (S) and perimeter ratios. Fractal dimension of various types of terrains. The ratios of the area and perimeters of geological bodies. The ratios of the area (S) and the perimeter (P) for terrains of different ages. The dependence of fractal dimension from age. Fractal dimension of terrains. Distribution of epicenter of earthquakes. Some definitions.

Line UMK O. A. Klimanova, A. I. Alekseeva. Geography (5-9)

Geography

Litosphere Earth

More than 4 billion years ago from cosmic dust flying in interstellar space after, an excellent blue planet Earth was formed under the influence of attraction forces. This is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, and the only one, about life on which mankind is known.

Glossary

Asthenosphere - Located at a depth of about 150-200 km partially melted, located in a viscous layer.

Lava - devoid of gases, frozen on the surface of the Earth of Magma.

Magma - Fire mass in the asthenosphere layer, molten, containing a large amount of gases.

Lithospheric plates - Giant sections of the earth's crust, freely moving on the viscous layer of the mantle.

Folding areas - Sections of the earth's crust between the slabs of the lithosphere, which are in relative movement, in the relief they correspond to the mountain systems of the sushi and the bottom of the seas.

Definition of lithosphere

Lithosphere(λίθος - "stone" and σφαίρα - "ball") are called a solid terrestrial shell, which completely covers the planet, protecting it from reaching 60000 ° C of the temperature of the chipped kernel. Lithosphere is located between atmosphere and hydrosphere from above I. asthenosphere bottom. The thickness of the solid shell of the Earth is not homogeneous, and in different parts ranges from dozens to several hundred kilometers.

Pangea

Despite the solid age, the formation of the planet is not completed so far. And the thin surface of the crust, which is home for humans, plants and animals, and hot depths are in constant motion. The outlines of the continents, terrain, climatic conditions are changing.

Looking at the modern space shots of the planet with the outline of six separate continents, it is difficult to believe that about 250 million years ago there was a single supercontinent on the planet. Pangea.

As a result of active processes in the depths of the planet, a single mainland split into modern continents, which, thanks to a slow, from 2.5 cm to 7 cm per year (according to various sources), the movement of tectonic plates for millions of years was removed to the maximum distance. The proof of this theory is detailed on the page 178 of the textbook under the editorial office of Climanova O. A.

Lifting up to the scratching clouds of the mountain or going down in the bowel of the ocean, a person considers himself a conqueror of nature, but no man-made skyscraper compared to height with the mountains, and no Batiskof went down to the deepest Mariana Wpadin.

The surface of the lithosphere is not solid, but is represented by separate plates, which in some places are found each other, forming mountain ranges or diverge, forming sea deposits.

In the structure of the lithosphere, scientists allocate eight large plates and a significant amount of smaller. The plates are not fixed motionless, and slowly move along the hot and liquid asthenosphere, forming the seismic activity zone in the joints.

The textbook is addressed to students in grades 5-6 and is part of the textbooks on geography edited by O.A. Klimanova and A.I. Alekseeva. The methodical apparatus of the textbook is well developed and reflects the intention of educational and personal-oriented learning; The ability to parallel working with an electronic application to the textbook contributes to the effective learning learning material. The textbook is particularly suitable for gymnasiums and classes with an in-depth study of humanitarian objects.

The largest tectonic plates:

  • Australian stove
  • Antarctic stove
  • African stove.
  • Eurasian stove
  • Industan stove
  • Pacific plate
  • North American Plate
  • South American Plate

Lithosphere structure

If you look at the ground in the cross section along the poles, then you can allocate: earth boron, border layer, mantle, core.


The lithosphere includes: earth's crust, transition layer and the most upper viscous layer of mantle.

Lithosphere, about which we are currently speaking is just about 1% of the radius of the Earth, but it is this 1% that allows life on the planet.

Earth's crust - The topmost layer of the lithosphere. In the heterogeneity of the earth's crust, you can make sure, standing on the shore and looking at the cliff of a modest river, where the layers of various breeds are on each other. Found during excavations Minerals (oil, gas, iron ore, diamonds) tell scientists about the processes taking place on the planet millions of years ago.

The earth's crust is not only the topmost layer of the lithosphere, but also the thinnest - its size ranges from 80 kilometers on the mountainous sections of the planet to 30 km on the plains. By type, the earth grade is divided into oceanic and mainland. Such a division is characteristic only for the Earth, there is no such separation on other planets if you believe the testimony of space probes and planets.

In the mainland cortex, three layers of breeds are isolated:

  • sedimentary - formed by breeds of sedimentary and volcanic origin;
  • granitis - formed by rocks of metamorphic mountain origin, which is represented by quartz and fieldspap;
  • basaltic - Magmatic breeds participated in the formation.

The ocean bark consists of a sedimentary and basalt layers.

Under the earth's crust, exactly repeating its outlines, and separating it from the mantle, is located a border layer or the surface of Mochorovichich. The Mochorovichi border is a thin layer of ash, which is formed as a result of electrical lightning flowing in the upper layer of the mantle.

The huge pressure between mantle and earth crust led to the fact that the ashes layer was compressed and, when passed by seismic waves, behaves like a dense, almost monolithic substance. The surface of Mochorovichich performs hydro, electrical and thermal insulation functions.

Mantle is divided into two layers:

  • top, which refers to a lithosphere;
  • lower, enveloping the hot core.

The kernel, liquid outside and dense inside, consists mainly of iron and nickel.

In the upper layer, the mantle forms a hot magma, seeking its output through faults in the earth's crust in places of contact of the tectonic plates. And it is in the depths that ordinary coal under the action of pressure and temperature turns into the most durable (and besides the precious) stone - diamond.

Methods of studying the earth's crust

You ask, how did the scientists come from? After all, the thickness of the earth's bark is about 60-70 kilometers, and the drilling rigs created by a person have reached a depth of just over 12 kilometers.

About one of the ways to study the earthly subsoil tells on the page 86 textbook edited by Climanova O.A.


Volcanoes are fatally dangerous, but at the same time impressive and fascinating evidence of fiery processes occurring in earthly departments. Overcoming the resistance of the earth's crust, a hot magma is ejected to the surface under pressure, which, cooling in the atmosphere, turns into the Lava River, carrying volcanic stones and gas, and with them information for scientists about the processes occurring deep inside the Earth.

According to the lines of deep fault faults, active acting volcanoes are located. The Pacific Fire Ring, which includes volcanoes of Kamchatka, Japan, Philippine Islands, Indonesia, Mexico, Aleuta Islands, South America and Fire Earth, gives scientists answers to questions, and observers are an unforgettable spectacle.

But the "breath" of the planet and its active life can be seen on less destructive examples.

Among the ancient urban ruins of the small town of Pozzzoli, located on the shores of the Naples Bay, in the city center there are the remains of an ancient temple and the market square adjacent to it, built more than two thousand years ago, while during the Roman Empire. Even with the naked eye it is noticeable that marble columns were eaten by marine stone strokes by almost 6 meters in height.

From historical chronicles, it is known that by the XIII century, the city square fell below the sea level. However, this happened not simultaneously, as a result of an earthquake or other cataclysm, and slowly, year after year. Within three centuries, the remnants of the buildings were flooded, then sushi well began to rise. By 1800, the ruins were again higher than the level of the sea, and the inquisitive tourists can observe with their own eyes the unique phenomenon of bradyms, when the magma layer approaches the earthly crust, that as a result of underground movements, the surface of the earth rises and lowers.

With the help of leading issues and visual material in the form of tables and schemes, the guys will learn about the movement of lithospheric plates, pointing to the map of their border.

    The guys schematically sketch the structure of the mainland and oceanic crust.

    Then we consider samples of minerals of various origins, determine the differences between representatives of different lithospheric layers.

    Final stage - Testing on the topic.

Topics reports

  • From panga to 6 continents. Lithospheric slabs
  • Treasures of fear of land
  • Three carbon lives: from graphite to diamond
  • The rich, the same glad. Minerals of native land

TEST

  1. What is the name of the solid sheath of the Earth?
    • lithosphere +.
    • nanoshe
    • atmosphere
  2. Pangea is ...
    • the name of the ancient Greek goddess fertility
    • the name of a single continent, who once existed on the planet Earth +
    • the name of the planet in the crab nebula
  3. What is called the Pacific Fire Ring?
    • fires on oil tankers in the Pacific Ocean
    • active active volcanoes located along the deep fault lines of the earth's crust +
    • roy luminous plankton, visible in the Pacific Ocean at night
  4. What other phenomenon indicates the "breathing" of the planet?
    • cosmonautics
    • tectonics
    • bradysaims +.
  5. The surface of Mochorovichich is located ...
    • between the earth's crust and the upper layer of magma +
    • between basalt and sedimentary layers of earthly crust
    • between the lower layer of magma and the earth's core
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The state of rest is unknown by our planet. This applies not only to external, but also internal processes that occur in the depths of the Earth: its lithospheric plates are constantly moving. True, some sections of the lithosphere are quite stable, others, especially those that are at the joints of the tectonic plates, are extremely mobile and constantly shudder.

Naturally, such a phenomenon could not be left without attention, and therefore throughout their history studied and explained it. For example, in Myanmar, the legend is still preserved that our planet is worn with a huge ring ring, and when they start moving, the earth begins to shudder. Such stories could not for a long time to satisfy the tortured human minds for a long time, and to find out the truth, the most curious ground drilled, painted cards, built hypotheses and put forward assumptions.

The concept of a lithosphere contains a solid shell of the Earth, consisting of the earth's crust and the reservoir of softened rocks, which are part of the upper mantle, asthenosphere (its plastic composition allows the plates from which the earth's bark consists, move along it at a speed of 2 to 16 cm in year). Interestingly, the top layer of the lithosphere is elastic, and the lower - plastic, which allows plates when moving to maintain equilibrium, despite the permanent shock.

During numerous studies, scientists came to the conclusion that the lithosphere has an inhomogeneous thickness, and largely depends on the terrain, under which is located. So, on land, its thickness ranges from 25 to 200 km (the older the platform, it is more, and the thinnest is under the young mountain ranges).

But the thinnest plate of the earth's crust is under the oceans: its average thickness ranges from 7 to 10 km, and even to five comes in separate regions of the Pacific Ocean. The layer of the largest bark is located at the edges of the oceans, the most subtle - under the mid-ocean ridges. Interestingly, the lithosphere has not yet fully formed, and this process continues today (mainly under the oceanic bottom).

What is the earth's bark

The structure of the lithosphere under the oceans and continents is distinguished by the fact that under the oceanic bottom there is no granite layer, since the oceanic bark during its formation has been subjected to melting processes. General for oceanic and mainland cortex are such layers of lithosphere as basalt and sedimentary.


Thus, the earth's crust consists mainly of rocks, which are formed during the cooling and crystallization of the magma, in the cracks of the inclined in the lithosphere. If, at the same time, the magma could not be leaked to the surface, it formed such large-crystalline rocks such as granite, gabbro, dioritis, due to its slow cooling and crystallization.

But Magma, who managed to get out, at the expense of fast cooling, formed small crystals - basalt, liparite, andhesit.

As for sedimentary rocks, they were formed in a lithosphere of the Earth in different ways: the chip appeared as a result of the destruction of sand, sandstones and clays, the chemicals were formed due to various chemical reactions in aqueous solutions - these are plaster, salt, phosphorites. Organic were formed by vegetable and limestone residues - chalk, peat, limestone, coal.

Interestingly, some breeds appeared due to a complete or partial change in their composition: granite was transformed into Gneis, sandstone - in quartzite, limestone - to marble. According to research, scientists managed to establish that the lithosphere consists of:

  • Oxygen - 49%;
  • Silicon - 26%;
  • Aluminum - 7%;
  • Iron - 5%;
  • Calcium - 4%
  • The composition of the lithosphere includes many minerals, the most common - swop and quartz.


As for the structure of the lithosphere, there are stable and moving zones here (in other words, platforms and folded belts). On tectonic maps you can always see the designated boundaries of both sustainable and dangerous territories. First of all, it is a Pacific Fiery Ring (located at the edges of the Pacific Ocean), as well as part of the Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt (Southern Europe and the Caucasus).

Platform description

The platform is almost fixed parts of the earth's crust that have passed a very long stage of geological formation. Their age is determined by the stage of formation of a crystalline foundation (granite and basalt layers). Ancient or Precambrian platforms on the map are always in the center of the continent, young - or on the edge of the mainland, or between the Precambrian platforms.

Mining and folded area

The mining and folded area was formed during the collision of the tectonic plates, which are located on the mainland. If the mountain ranges were formed recently, elevated seismic activity is recorded near them and all of them are located on the edges of lithospheric plates (younger arrays refer to the Alpine and Kimmerian stage of education). Older areas belonging to the ancient, Paleozoic folding can be located both from the edge of the mainland, for example, in North America and Australia and in the center - in Eurasia.


Interestingly, the age of mining and folded areas of scientists are installed according to the youngest folds. Since the pea formation occurs incessantly, it makes it possible to determine only the time frame of the stages of the development of our Earth. For example, the presence of a mountain range in the midst of the tectonic plate indicates that the border passed here.

Lithospheric plates

Despite the fact that a lithosphere on a ninety percent consists of fourteen lithospheric plates, many with this statement disagree and paint their tectonic maps, saying that there are seven large and about ten small. This separation is quite conditionally, because with the development of science scientists or allocate new plates, or recognize certain boundaries with non-existent, especially when it comes to small plates.

It is worth noting that the largest tectonic plates are very well distinguishable on the map and they are:

  • Pacific is the largest plate of the planet, along the boundaries of which constant collisions of tectonic plates occur and faults are formed - this is the cause of its constant decrease;
  • Eurasian - covers almost the entire territory of Eurasia (except indostine and the Arabian Peninsula) and contains the largest part of the mainland bark;
  • Indo-Australian - its composition includes the Australian continent and the Indian subcontinent. Due to constant clashes with the Eurasian slab is in the process of fault;
  • South American - consists of South American mainland and part of the Atlantic Ocean;
  • North American - consists of the North American continent, part of Northeast Siberia, the northwestern part of the Atlantic and half of the Arctic Oceans;
  • African - consists of African mainland and the oceanic bark of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Interestingly, the slabs next to her move to the opposite side of it, so there is the greatest rode of our planet;
  • Antarctic stove - consists of the mainland of Antarctic and the nearby oceanic bark. Due to the fact that the slab is surrounded by the mid-ocean ridges, the other continents from her constantly move away.

Movement of tectonic plates

Lithospheric plates, connecting and disconnecting, all the time change their outlines. This makes it possible to navigate the theory that about 200 million years ago, a lithosphere had only a pranger - a single continent, subsequently gluting on the part, which began to gradually move apart from each other in very little speed (on average about seven centimeters per year ).

There is a suggestion that thanks to the movement of the lithosphere, in 250 million years on our planet, a new continent will be formed at the expense of combining moving continents.

When the collision of oceanic and continental plates occurs, the edge of the oceanic cortex is immersed under the mainland, while on the other side of the oceanic plate its border is dispelled with the stove adjacent to it. The border along which the lithospheric movement occurs, is called a subduction zone, where the upper and submersible edges of the plate are isolated. Interestingly, the plate, plunging into the mantle, begins to melt when squeezing the top of the earth's crust, as a result of which the mountains are formed, and if the magma is also breaking through and volcanoes.

In places where tectonic plates come into contact with each other, there are zones of maximum volcanic and seismic activity: during the movement and collision of the lithosphere, the earth's crust is destroyed, and when they are diverted, faults and depressions are formed (lithosphere and land relief are associated with each other). This is the reason that along the edges of the tectonic plates are located the largest forms of land relief - mountain ranges with active volcanoes and deep-water gutters.

Relief

It does not surprise that the movement of the lithosphere directly affects the appearance of our planet, and the variety of land relief is striking (relief is a combination of irregularities on the earth's surface, which are located above sea level at different heights, and therefore the main form of land relief are conditionally divided into convex (mainland , mountains) and concave - oceans, river valleys, gorges).

It is worth noting that only 29% of our planet occupy sushi (149 million km2), and the lithosphere and relief of the Earth consist mainly from the plains, mountains and lowland. As for the ocean, its average depth is a little less than four kilometers, and the lithosphere and land relief in the ocean consist of mainland beats, coastal slope, oceanic beds and abissual or deep-sea gutters. Most of the ocean has a complex and varied relief: there are plains, hollows, plateau, hill, ridges up to 2 km high.

Lithosphere problems

The intensive development of the industry led to the fact that a person and a lithosphere have recently become extremely badly to get along with each other: pollution of the lithosphere acquires a catastrophic scale. This happened as a result of increasing industrial waste in aggregate with household garbage and used in agriculture fertilizers and pesticides, which negatively affects the chemical composition of the soil and living organisms. Scientists were calculated that for the year per person accumulates about one ton of garbage, among which - 50 kg of difficult waste.

Today, pollution of the lithosphere has become an urgent problem, since nature is not able to cope with it alone: \u200b\u200bthe self-cleaning of the earth's crust occurs very slowly, and therefore harmful substances gradually accumulate and over time they negatively affect the main perpetrators of the problem - humans.

Lithosphere - the outer solid sheath of the Earth, which includes the globe and the upper part of the mantle. Lithosphere includes sedimentary, erupted and metamorphic rocks.

The lower boundary of the lithosphere is fuzzy and is determined by reducing the viscosity of the medium, the rate of seismic waves and the increase in thermal conductivity. The lithosphere covers the earth's bark and the upper part of the mantle with a thickness of several tens of kilometers to the asthenosphere, which changes the ductility of rocks. The main ways to determine the boundary between the upper boundary of the lithosphere and the asthenosphere is magnetotelluric and seismological.

The thickness of the lithosphere under the oceans is from 5 to 100 km (the maximum value on the periphery of the oceans, the minimum - under the average and ocean ridges), under the mainland - 25-200 km (maximum - under ancient platforms, minimum - under relatively young mountain arrays, volcanic arcs ). The structure of the lithosphere under the oceans and continents has significant differences. Under the continent in the structure of the earth's crust, the lithosphere distinguish between sedimentary, granite and basalt layers, the thickness of which as a whole reaches 80 km. Under the oceans, the earth's edge was repeatedly subjected to partial melting processes during the formation of the oceanic cortex. Therefore, it is depleted with low-wave rare compounds, deprived of a granite layer, and its thickness is significantly less than the continental part of the earth's crust. The thickness of the asthenosphere (layer of softened, tough rocks) is about 100-150 km.

The formation of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and earthly crust

Education occurred during the release of substances from the top layer of the young land mantle. Currently, on the oceanic day in the middle ridges, the process of formation of the earth's crust continues, which is accompanied by the release of gases and small volumes of water. As part of a modern earth's crust at large concentrations, oxygen is present, then silicon and aluminum follow in percentage. Basically, the lithosphere is formed by compounds such as silicon dioxide, silicates, aluminosilicates. In the formation of most of the lithosphere, crystalline substances of magmatic origin took part. They were formed when cooled to the surface of the Earth of Magma, which is in the depths of the planet in the molten state.

In the cold areas of the power of the lithosphere, the greatest, and in warm - the smallest. The power of the lithosphere can increase with the total decrease in the density of the heat flux. The upper layer of the lithosphere of elastic, and the lower plastic in the nature of the reaction to the constantly affecting loads. In the tectonically active sections of the lithosphere, the horizons of reduced viscosity are distinguished, where seismic waves pass at a lower speed. According to scientists, according to the horizons, some layers in relation to others "slip". This phenomenon is called a lithosphere bundle. In the structure of the lithosphere, moving areas (folded belts) and relatively stable areas (platform) are distinguished. On a relatively plastic asthenosphere, lithosphere blocks (lithospheric plates) are moved, reaching sizes in diameter from 1 to 10 thousand kilometers. Currently, the lithosphere is divided into seven main and a number of small plates. The boundaries separating the plates from each other are zones of maximum volcanic and seismic activity.