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Earth's Crust: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

The Earth's crust is a thin outer shell that makes up less than 1% of the Earth's volume. It lies above the mantle and is broken into tectonic plates whose movement allows heat from the Earth's interior to escape. The boundary between the crust and mantle is defined by a contrast in seismic velocity and occurs around 25 kilometers below the surface on average. The temperature of the crust increases with depth from around 100°C near the surface to over 600°C at the boundary with the hotter mantle below.

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67 views2 pages

Earth's Crust: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

The Earth's crust is a thin outer shell that makes up less than 1% of the Earth's volume. It lies above the mantle and is broken into tectonic plates whose movement allows heat from the Earth's interior to escape. The boundary between the crust and mantle is defined by a contrast in seismic velocity and occurs around 25 kilometers below the surface on average. The temperature of the crust increases with depth from around 100°C near the surface to over 600°C at the boundary with the hotter mantle below.

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Dexter
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Earth's crust

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Plates in the crust of Earth

Earth's crust is a thin shell on the outside of Earth, accounting for less than 1% of
Earth's volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers
that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle.[1] The lithosphere is broken
into tectonic plates whose motion allows heat to escape from the interior of the Earth
into space.
The crust lies on top of the mantle, a configuration that is stable because the upper
mantle is made of peridotite and so is significantly more dense than the crust. The
boundary between the crust and mantle is conventionally placed at the Mohorovičić
discontinuity, a boundary defined by a contrast in seismic velocity.

Geologic provinces of the world (USGS)

  Shield Oceanic crust:


  Platform   0–20 Ma

  Orogen   20–65 Ma

  Basin   >65 Ma

  Large igneous province

  Extended crust

The temperature of the crust increases with depth, [2] reaching values typically in the
range from about 100 °C (212 °F) to 600 °C (1,112 °F) at the boundary with the
underlying mantle. The temperature increases by as much as 30 °C (54 °F) for every
kilometer locally in the upper part of the crust[3]

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