Earth Crust WS

Earth’s Crust
Name: _________________________________________________________ Period: ______ Date: ____________
Earth has three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is made of solid rocks and minerals. Beneath the crust is
the mantle, which is also mostly solid rocks and minerals, but punctuated by malleable areas of semi-solid magma. At the
center of the Earth is a hot, dense, mostly iron and nickel core.
Earth’s layers constantly interact with each other, and the crust and upper portion of the mantle are part of a single
geologic unit called the lithosphere. The lithosphere’s depth varies, and the Mohorovicic discontinuity (the Moho)—
the boundary between the mantle and crust—does not exist at a uniform depth. Isostasy describes the physical, chemical, and
mechanical differences between the mantle and crust that allow the crust to “float” on the more malleable mantle.
Earth’s crust is divided into two types: oceanic crust and continental crust. The transition zone between these two types of
crust is sometimes called the Conrad discontinuity. Silicates (mostly compounds made of silicon and oxygen) are the most
abundant rocks and minerals in both oceanic and continental crust.
Oceanic crust, extending 5-10 kilometers (3-6 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor, is mostly composed of different types of
basalts. Oceanic crust is dense, almost 3 grams per cubic centimeter (1.7 ounces per cubic inch).
Oceanic crust is constantly formed at mid-ocean ridges of the Atlantic Ocean, where tectonic plates are tearing apart or
diverging from each other. As magma that wells up from these rifts in Earth’s surface cools, it becomes young oceanic crust.
The age and density of oceanic crust increases with distance from mid-ocean ridges.
Just as oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges, it is destroyed in subduction zones. Subduction is the important geologic
process in which a tectonic plate made of dense lithospheric material melts or falls below a plate made of less-dense
lithosphere at a convergent plate boundary.
At convergent plate boundaries between continental and oceanic lithosphere, the dense oceanic lithosphere (including the
crust) always subducts beneath the continental. In the northwestern United States, for example, the oceanic Juan de Fuca plate
subducts beneath the continental North American plate. At convergent boundaries between two plates carrying oceanic
lithosphere, the denser (usually the larger and deeper ocean basin) subducts. In the Japan Trench, the dense Pacific plate
subducts beneath the less-dense Okhotsk plate.
As the lithosphere subducts, it sinks into the mantle and melts, becoming more plastic and ductile. Through mantle convection,
the rich minerals of the mantle may be ultimately “recycled” as they surface as crust-making lava at mid-ocean ridges
and volcanoes.cLargely due to subduction, oceanic crust is much, much younger than continental crust. The oldest existing
oceanic crust is in the Ionian Sea, part of the eastern Mediterranean basin.
Continental crust is mostly composed of different types of granites. The continental crust is thicker but slightly less dense
(about 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter (1.6 ounces per cubic inch).
As with oceanic crust, continental crust is created by plate tectonics. At convergent plate boundaries, where tectonic plates
crash into each other, continental crust is thrust up in the process of orogeny, or mountain-building. For this reason, the
thickest parts of continental crust are at the world’s tallest mountain ranges. Like icebergs, the tall peaks of the Himalayas and
the Andes are only part of the region’s continental crust—the crust extends unevenly below the Earth as well as soaring into the
atmosphere.
Continental crust is almost always much older than oceanic crust. Because continental crust is rarely destroyed and recycled in
the process of subduction, some sections of continental crust are nearly as old as the Earth itself.
http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/crust/
Clarifying Questions
1. What are the three layers of earth? _______________________________________________________________
2. Describe the layers of earth.

a. crust: _________________________________________________________________________________
b. mantle: _______________________________________________________________________________
c. core: __________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the lithosphere? ________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the Mohorovicic discontinuity or the Moho? _________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Earth crust is divided into two types: _____________________________and______________________________
6. What is the Conrad discontinuity? ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What are the most abundant rocks and minerals in both oceanic and continental crust?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
8. How thick and dense is the oceanic crust?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
9. New oceanic crust are constantly formed at the _______________________ of the __________________ ocean.
10. The tectonic plates at the mid ocean ridges are _________________________ or ________________________.
11. Which rocks are younger the one closer to the mid ocean ridge or the one farther from the mid ocean ridge?
Think! ______________________________________________________________________________________
12. New oceanic crust is created at the _________________________ and destroyed ________________________.
13. What is subduction? __________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
14. In a convergent boundary, the __________________________ always subducts beneath the continental plate.
15. Juan de Fuca plate is a ___________________________ plate. In the Northwestern United States, Juan de Fuca
sunducts beneath the _________________________________________________________________________.
16. What happens to the lithosphere that subducts into the mantle?
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
17. How does subduction results to the recycling of rocks? Think!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
18. Why is the oceanic crust much younger than the continental crust? _____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Oceanic crust are made mostly of ______________ while continental crust are mostly made of ______________
20. What is orogeny? _____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
21. What are the thickest parts of the continental crust?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
22. Why is the continental crust almost always much older than the oceanic crust?Think!______________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
R. Angat

Earth Crust WS

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Earth’s Crust

Name: ___________________________________________ Period: Date:

1. What are the three layers of earth? _______________________________________________________________

2. Describe the layers of earth.

3. What is the lithosphere? ________________________________________________________________________

6. What is the Conrad discontinuity? ________________________________________________________________

13. What is subduction? __________________________________________________________________________

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