continental crust

British

noun

geology that part of the earth's crust that underlies the continents and continental shelves

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

continental crust Scientific

/ kŏn′tə-nĕn′tl /

See under crust

Example Sentences

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continental crust

This occurs when continental crust gradually stretches outward from a central point.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026

Isotopic geochemistry suggests the molten material came from Archean continental crust dating between 3.0 and 3.3 billion years old.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2026

Smye explained that Earth's continental crust, as it exists today, began forming about 3 billion years ago.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025

"But our study links rock-based heat production to the emergence of continents, the generation of sediments and the differentiation of continental crust."

From Science Daily ● May 8, 2024

Earth is all magma and continental crust and ocean.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023