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Plates in the crust of Earth. Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a solidified division of Earth 's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. [1] The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates ...
Geothermal gradient is the rate of change in temperature with respect to increasing depth in Earth 's interior. As a general rule, the crust temperature rises with depth due to the heat flow from the much hotter mantle; away from tectonic plate boundaries, temperature rises in about 25–30 °C/km (72–87 °F/mi) of depth near the surface in ...
Isostasy (Greek ísos 'equal', stásis 'standstill') or isostatic equilibrium is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth 's crust (or lithosphere) and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on its thickness and density. This concept is invoked to explain how different topographic heights can exist at Earth ...
The thickness of Earth's crust (km). The continental crust consists of various layers, with a bulk composition that is intermediate (SiO 2 wt% = 60.6). [5] The average density of the continental crust is about, 2.83 g/cm 3 (0.102 lb/cu in), [6] less dense than the ultramafic material that makes up the mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 g/cm 3 (0.12 lb/cu in).
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. It is usually distinguished from the underlying mantle by its chemical makeup; however, in the case of icy satellites, it may be distinguished based on its phase (solid crust vs. liquid mantle). The crusts of Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Io, the ...
Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of Earth's surface that is attributed to plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal thickening (such as mountain building events), changes in the density distribution of the crust and ...
Earth's crust and mantle, Moho discontinuity between bottom of crust and solid uppermost mantle. The Mohorovičić discontinuity (/ ˌ m oʊ h ə ˈ r oʊ v ɪ tʃ ɪ tʃ / MOH-hə-ROH-vih-chitch; Croatian: [moxorôʋiːtʃitɕ]) [1] – usually called the Moho discontinuity, Moho boundary, or just Moho – is the boundary between the crust and the mantle of Earth.
Earth's crustal evolution involves the formation, destruction and renewal of the rocky outer shell at that planet 's surface. The variation in composition within the Earth's crust is much greater than that of other terrestrial planets. Mars, Venus, Mercury and other planetary bodies have relatively quasi-uniform crusts unlike that of the Earth ...