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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Earth's Structure

Crust

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/krʌst/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, crust means: The thin, rocky outer layer of the Earth. It is about 5 to 10 km thick under the oceans and usually 30 to 50 km thick under the continents.

In Turkish: yer kabuğu, kabuk

How it is used

Geologists distinguish oceanic crust, which is thin, dense and mostly basaltic, from continental crust, which is thicker, lighter and older. The boundary between the crust and the mantle is called the Moho.

Example sentences

  1. The crust is thickest beneath high mountain ranges.

  2. Oceanic crust is rarely older than about 200 million years because it sinks back into the mantle at subduction zones.

Common collocations

  • oceanic crust
  • continental crust
  • the Earth's crust
  • crustal thickness
  • upper crust
  • mantleThe thick layer of hot, mostly solid rock between the crust and the core, reaching a depth of about 2,900 km. It flows very slowly over millions of years.
  • coreThe central part of the Earth, made mainly of iron and nickel. The outer core is liquid and creates the magnetic field; the inner core is solid.
  • lithosphereThe rigid outer shell of the Earth, made of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle. It is broken into tectonic plates and is typically around 100 km thick.
  • tectonic plateOne of the large, rigid pieces of the Earth's lithosphere that move slowly over the mantle, usually by a few centimetres a year.

More terms: Earth's Structure

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