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Concept
Continental crust
Summary
Continental crust is the layer of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called sial because its bulk composition is richer in aluminium silicates (Al-Si) and has a lower density compared to the oceanic crust, called sima which is richer in magnesium silicate (Mg-Si) minerals. Changes in seismic wave velocities have shown that at a certain depth (the Conrad discontinuity), there is a reasonably sharp contrast between the more felsic upper continental crust and the lower continental crust, which is more mafic in character.
The continental crust consists of various layers, with a bulk composition that is intermediate (SiO2 wt% = 60.6). The average density of the continental crust is about, , less dense than the ultramafic material that makes up the mantle, which has a density of around . Continental crust is also less dense than oceanic crust, whose density is about . At in thickness, continental crust is considerably thicker than oceanic crust, which has an average thickness of around . Approximately 41% of Earth's surface area and about 70% of the volume of Earth's crust are continental crust.
Most continental crust is dry land above sea level. However, 94% of the Zealandia continental crust region is submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean, with New Zealand constituting 93% of the above-water portion.
Because the surface of continental crust mainly lies above sea level, its existence allowed land life to evolve from marine life. Its existence also provides broad expanses of shallow water known as epeiric seas and continental shelves where complex metazoan life could become established during early Paleozoic time, in what is now called the Cambrian explosion.
All continental crust is ultimately derived from mantle-derived melts (mainly basalt) through fractional differentiation of basaltic melt and the assimilation (remelting) of pre-existing continental crust.
Official source
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