Earth's crustal evolution involves the formation, destruction and renewal of the rocky outer shell at that planet's surface. The variation in composition...

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...

Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of...

Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 233 (3–4): 337–349. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.02.005. Condie, K.C. 1997. Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution (4th...

zones. Many theories of crustal growth are controversial, including rates of crustal growth and recycling, whether the lower crust is recycled differently...

understanding of the main events of Earth's past, characterized by constant geological change and biological evolution. The geological time scale (GTS),...

The geological history of Earth follows the major geological events in Earth's past based on the geologic time scale, a system of chronological measurement...

result in plates and shape Earth's crust are called tectonics. Tectonic plates also occur in other planets and moons. Earth's lithosphere, the rigid outer...

which generates Earth's magnetic field. Despite its geological significance, Earth's interior heat contributes only 0.03% of Earth's total energy budget...

they named this part of Earth's history the Hadean. However, analysis of zircons formed 4.4 Ga indicates that Earth's crust solidified about 100 million...

67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) making up about 46% of Earth's radius and 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly...

clouds and hazes), all retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere serves as a protective buffer between the Earth's surface and outer space, shields the...

is difficult to study: none of Earth's primary crust has survived to today. Earth's high rates of erosion and crustal recycling from plate tectonics has...

concerning water on early Earth Formation and evolution of the Solar System Hadean zircon – Oldest-surviving crustal material from the Earth's earliest geological...

Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts...

This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as the lithosphere...

the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Ma, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is...

thousands of years or more. The crust and upper mantle are distinguished on the basis of chemistry and mineralogy. Earth's lithosphere, which constitutes...

20% of Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. There are no samples of the core accessible for direct measurement, as there are for Earth's mantle...

measurable effects on vertical crustal motion, global sea levels, horizontal crustal motion, gravity field, Earth's rotation, crustal stress, and earthquakes...

because the magma assimilates some of the crustal rock through which it ascends (country rock), and crustal rock tends to be high in silica. Silica content...

near the Earth's surface and the other refracted by a high-velocity medium. The Moho marks the transition in composition between the Earth's crust and the...

tectonic processes of crustal thickening (such as mountain building events), changes in the density distribution of the crust and underlying mantle,...

sima (/ˈsaɪmə/) is an antiquated blended term for the lower layer of Earth's crust. This layer is made of rocks rich in magnesium silicate minerals. Typically...

mantle, as well as crustal material with an isotopic signature different from that of primitive mantle. Identification of this crustal signature in mantle-derived...

surrounding ocean crust. Geology – The landmass should contain different types of rock: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Crustal structure – The landmass...

or Oxygen Holocaust, was a time interval during the Earth's Paleoproterozoic era when the Earth's atmosphere and shallow seas first experienced a rise...

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits around Earth at an average distance of 384399 km (238,854 mi; about 30 times Earth's diameter). The...

The Mozambique Belt is a band in the Earth's crust that extends from East Antarctica through East Africa up to the Arabian-Nubian Shield. It formed as...

Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes...