continental crust

British  

noun

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

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continental crust Scientific  

/ kŏn′tə-nĕn′tl /

1. See under crust

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Example Sentences

Their combined results point to a far livelier early Earth, suggesting that widespread subduction and the growth of continental crust may have begun several hundred million years earlier than earlier theories proposed.

From Science Daily

Continental crust: The thick, buoyant type of crust that forms Earth's continents, distinct from the thinner oceanic crust.

From Science Daily

To test this, the team built computer simulations that recreated how the mantle and continental crust behave when stretched by tectonic forces.

From Science Daily

While that may sound modest, it equals about two-thirds of the average heat escaping through Earth's continental crust.

From Science Daily

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

From Science Daily