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Solid earth

Earth, minus the oceans and atmosphere

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated February 21, 2026
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Solid earth refers to "the earth beneath our feet" or terra firma, the planet's solid surface and its interior. It excludes the Earth's fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and hydrosphere (but includes the ocean basin), as well as the biosphere and interactions with the Sun.

Solid-earth science refers to the corresponding methods of study, a subset of Earth sciences, predominantly geophysics and geology, excluding aeronomy, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, hydrology, and ecology.

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This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Solid earth”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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