The Earth’s crust is the hardest part of the Earth. The majority of humans, plants and animals are located in the outermost layer of Earth’s crust.
While it’s hard and hefty in comparison to the pizza’s crust, the crust is less than 1% of the volume of our planet. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the more fascinating details about the crust of Earth.
1. Hot but cold
The crust of the Earth, at its deepest points, can be heated to 752 degrees F. For a better understanding, Stone pizza ovens are able to reach temperatures of about 500 degrees F. Although it’s extremely hot in human terms, it’s also the coldest region on our planet. The Earth’s core, which is the middle of the planet, can reach as high as 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit. This is roughly the same as the surface of the sun.
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2. The densest parts of the crust are found under mountains.
The most buried parts of Earth’s crust can be located just below the mountains. “Roots” located beneath mountains link to the stone structure of nature with layers that are not visible to the Earth. It is surprising that the mountain roots aren’t as dense as those of the mountains, so they actually flounder when placed on the water. The roots of the mountain can reach as far as 43 miles deep into the Earth.
3. Plate Tectonics
This theory states that the Earth’s crust’s exterior is split into fifteen major plates, which are always in motion. We know that these plates move due to satellite images documenting the slow motion over many years. At first, the entire portion of Earth was a single continent known as Pangaea. In the course of millions of years, plates shifted to the west, which caused the splitting of the continents into what we see today.
4. The composition of Earth’s crust
The Earth’s crust is composed of various chemical elements. One of the most abundant is oxygen. The gas accounts for around 46 percent of the crust, while the various rock types and metals make up the remainder. However, this doesn’t mean inhaling the crust – if it’s even feasible – is safe to attempt. This means that a huge amount of old minerals and rocks lie below the surface, in the inaccessible depths in the crust and the lithosphere. The problem is that it will cost mining companies much more to remove valuable minerals from the lithosphere than selling the material at the current market price.
5. Creation process
The crust was formed by the intense and dramatic warming and cooling that occurred on the Earth over millions of years when our planet was still being created. Due to the extreme shifts in temperature, the mantle and the crust, although on top of each other, are made up of various substances.
6. The average time of crust’s age
The Earth is about 4.7-billion-years-old. The most common belief is that the Earth’s crust is approximately half the Earth’s age. But, studies have proved that it is equal to the size of the planet it is covering. This was accomplished by studying the way that atoms travel through zircon.
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7. The Moon is made up of Earth’s crust.
A widely-held theory claims it is possible that the Moon is made up of certain elements that make up the Earth’s crust. It is due to the fact that, as the theory suggests, when Earth was still a small globe, an early planet crashed into the Earth and caused a huge piece of Earth to split off. However, the Earth’s gravity pulls prevented the chunk from moving far.
8. Living organisms that live in the Earth’s crust
Despite the lack of sunlight, tiny organisms have been found to exist deep in the Earth’s crust. The fungus-like organisms haven’t been in contact with people living on the surface. It’s quite frightening to think of being buried so deeply in the Earth and not being seen for this long.
9. The crust is extremely thin.
The Continental crust is 20 miles deep, while the oceanic crust is around 6 miles thick. Although we’ve not had the chance to go down enough to get into the crust, it’s a thin layer covering our planet. To put it in perspective in terms of scale, if the Earth were reduced in size to that of an apple, its crust could be less than the skin of an apple.
10. Earth isn’t the only one with an outer crust.
We know that on the surface of our planet, people, plants and animals reside. But this doesn’t mean Earth is only the planet that has an outer crust. Mercury and Venus have inner cores and mantles covered by the outermost layer made of metals and rocks. Gas giants such as Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune do not have a strong outside layer to sit on. In actual fact, Saturn would flounder if placed on a sheet of water.
11. There are some places on Earth that aren’t completely covered by the crust.
Usually, the crust protects the lithosphere. It’s a layer that lies between the mantle’s hot as well as cool crust. But, there are numerous locations on Earth like Marion’s Rise, the Indian Ocean and Marion’s Rise, which aren’t covered by a crust. That means you’d like to gaze directly at the Earth’s outer mantle if you wanted to dive into the ocean.
12. The deepest miner in the globe
It is believed that the Mponeng gold mine inside Johannesburg, South Africa, is the deepest mine on Earth. It is between 2.5 to 3.9 kilometres below the surface of the Earth. However, this is only one-third of the Earth’s crust, and the diggers still have numerous kilometres to go before they reach the lithosphere.
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13. It is possible to attribute underground activity to the eruptions of volcanoes and earthquakes.
The plates of tectonics are always moving towards and away from one another. This creates weak points within the Earth’s crust that allow magma to rise and erupt from volcanoes. Earthquakes happen when underground rocks break along faults. The abrupt release of high energy creates seismic waves that cause the ground to shake. This occurs when two plates of tectonics meet and break at a junction point between the plates.
