earth's crust
Planet's rocky skin
The earth's crust is the thin, solid outermost layer of the planet—rock floating atop the denser, hotter mantle beneath.
It ranges from about five kilometers thick under oceans to thirty or more under continents.
Tectonic plates are sections of crust that shift and collide, causing earthquakes and mountain formation.
The drill barely scratched the earth's crust.
- gabbroDark intrusive igneous rock
- graniteIgneous rock, quartz-rich
- volcanismSubterranean magma expulsion process
- quartzCrystalline silicon dioxide
- basaltFine-grained volcanic stone
molten rock · faults · earthquake zones · shields · tectonic plates · isostasy · rock layers · subduction zones · Ring of Fire · olivine · mountain ranges · metamorphism · erosion · plate tectonics · fault lines · seismic · feldspar · mineral deposits
- petrologypetrology, igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks, rock cycle