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Earth’s Structure, Continental Crust

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Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Introduction

In the last 20 years much progress has been made in the development of geophysical techniques that increased our knowledge about the variability of crustal structure substantially. A big misunderstanding, still often presented today, is the use of the phrase “THE” crust. This is a marked oversimplification. Continental crust has been found to be extremely different. There are at least three main types to be distinguished:

  1. 1.

    Thick, old cratons, shields and platforms

  2. 2.

    Orogens, often related to continental subduction

  3. 3.

    Extensional areas, including shelves and rifts

Thick Precambrian cratons, disrupted by early plate tectonics, are presently found in all continents; they contribute more than 70% to the continental lithosphere. They are characterized by a thick crust (45–50 km) with high velocities (>7.2 km/s) in the lower part. The two other crustal types were generated by modern plate tectonics: the orogensby convergence and plate collisions, most of them showing deep...

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Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate the assistance of Gudrun Reim (Kiel) in preparing the figures, and we thank Walter Mooney (Menlo Park) for his review leading to many improvements of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Kiel, Kiel, 24098, Germany

    Rolf Meissner & Hartmut Kern

Authors
  1. Rolf Meissner
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  2. Hartmut Kern
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Correspondence to Rolf Meissner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Geophysical Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Hyderabad, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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Meissner, R., Kern, H. (2011). Earth’s Structure, Continental Crust. In: Gupta, H.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_30

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