Earth's crust Archives - State of the Planet

How Does Earth’s Continental Crust Form? A New Bottom-Up Theory

Scientists have long believed that continental crust forms in volcanic arcs. The lingering question has been how exactly that happens.

by |February 22, 2016
Image: Jaccard et al. (2013) Science

The Breathing Ocean

Far south and farther south, where winds are cold and screaming,
Waters churn, and deep below, old sediments lie dreaming.
A million years’ residuum of life and death and dust,
A library of ice ages reposed upon Earth’s crust.

by |May 2, 2014