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continental crust

British  

noun

  1. 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 /

  1. See under crust

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

"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

Ancient, expansive tracts of continental crust called cratons have helped keep Earth's continents stable for billions of years, even as landmasses shift, mountains rise and oceans form.

From Science Daily • May 8, 2024

Researchers have used zircons to try to date the onset of plate tectonics and the origin of continental crust.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 30, 2024

Earth is all magma and continental crust and ocean.

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

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.