Continental crust

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/continental-crust

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the location?Forms continents and continental shelves
2. What is the density?Approximately 2.7 g/cm³ (less dense than oceanic crust)
3. Why is continental crust lighter than oceanic crust?It is lighter because it contains more felsic minerals, especially silicates of aluminum, called sial. This makes it buoyant and less dense than the rock that forms the ocean floor.
4. How does continental crust stay higher above the ocean floor?Because it is less dense, continental crust floats higher on the underlying asthenosphere, which gives continents their elevated landforms.

Lithosphere: The rigid outer layer of Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Asthenosphere: The highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle.
Conrad discontinuity: A seismic boundary within continental crust separating upper and lower crustal layers.
Orogeny: A process of mountain formation, especially by the folding and faulting of the Earth's crust.