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Continental Crustal Structure

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Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

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

Definition

Seismic reflection and refraction profiling supplying velocity-depth functions and relations to petrology is the key to probe the continental crust.

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 (see “Deep Seismic Reflection and Refraction Profiling”). 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 (Christensen and Mooney 1995; Mooney 2015; Rudnick and Gao 2014; Hacker et al. 2015). There are at least three main types to be distinguished (see “Lithosphere, Continental”).

  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...

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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. Kiel, Germany

    Rolf Meissner & Hartmut Kern

Authors
  1. Rolf Meissner
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  2. Hartmut Kern
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hartmut Kern .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Seismology, National Geophysical Research Insti, Hyderabad, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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Meissner, R., Kern, H. (2019). Continental Crustal Structure. In: Gupta, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_30-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_30-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-10475-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10475-7

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