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...

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

zone") is the zone of the Earth's crust that marks the transition from the upper, more brittle crust to the lower, more ductile crust. For quartz and feldspar-rich...

of repeated cycles of deposition, deformation, crustal thickening and mountain building, and crustal thinning to form new depositional basins. These...

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...

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

majority of Earth's surface is covered by oceans, those oceans make up just a small fraction of the mass of the planet. The mass of Earth's oceans is estimated...

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

to the pressure exerted on the Earth’s crust, and released during periods of ice sheet retreat. Breaking out of the Earth from the frozen condition appears...

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

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

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

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...