Plate Tectonics Questions Medium
The Moho discontinuity, also known as the Mohorovičić discontinuity or simply the Moho, is a boundary that separates the Earth's crust from the underlying mantle. It was named after the Croatian seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić, who first discovered it in 1909. The Moho discontinuity is characterized by a significant change in seismic wave velocities, specifically the increase in the speed of seismic waves as they pass from the crust into the mantle. This change in velocity is attributed to the difference in composition and density between the crust and the mantle. The Moho discontinuity is an important feature in plate tectonics as it marks the boundary between the rigid lithosphere (which includes the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle) and the more ductile asthenosphere beneath it.