crust–mantle model
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- geology Earth’s mantle Earth’s crust
crust–mantle model, postulation of conditions that would explain the phenomena observed about the crust, the mantle, and their interface. Many years ago, seismic evidence showed a discontinuity, called the Mohorovičić Discontinuity, anywhere from 3 to 60 kilometres (about 2 to 40 miles) beneath the Earth’s surface. The model used to explain this discontinuity and the nature of volcanic materials envisions a crust of lower density siliceous and aluminous material, such as granite, floating on a thick mantle made of denser siliceous and ferromagnesian material, principally basalt–dunite–eclogite. Studies of the loci of shallow- and deep-focus earthquakes have led to a crust–mantle ...(100 of 356 words)