GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Oceanic Crust Oceanic crust, extending 5-10 kilometers (3-6 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor, is mostly composed of different types of basalts. Geologists often refer to the rocks of the oceanic crust as “sima.” Sima stands for silicate and magnesium, the most abundant minerals in oceanic crust.

Detailed explanation-2: -The oceanic crust forms two-thirds of the Earth’s surface and makes up the ocean floor. It varies in thickness from 4 to 7 miles (6 to 11km). It is made up of only a few types of volcanic or igneous rock. Unlike the continental crust, the oceanic crust is continually recycled by the layer below it, called the mantle.

Detailed explanation-3: -Oceanic crust is generally composed of dark-colored rocks called basalt and gabbro. It is thinner and denser than continental crust, which is made of light-colored rocks called andesite and granite. The low density of continental crust causes it to “float” high atop the viscous mantle, forming dry land.

Detailed explanation-4: -Oceanic crust is the part of the Earth’s crust that makes up the seafloor. It’s thinner, denser, and simpler in structure than the continental crust. Oceanic crust is also younger, on average; from its birth at a mid-ocean ridge to its end at a subduction zone is no more than 250 million years.

Detailed explanation-5: -Definition. Oceanic crust is the outermost solid layer of the lithospheric tectonic plates under the oceans that covers much of the Earth’s surface.