Why Does Granite Made Up Continents

The rocks in this layer are made up of light colored granite rich in minerals and substances like aluminum oxygen and silicon.

Why does granite made up continents.

The basic earth processes cause these element to gather at the surface crust. They are not subducted nearly as readily and the continental rocks as a rule are not typically subducted. There are many different types of silicate rock so sandstone quartz and granite are sort of correct. Continental crust the outermost layer of earth s lithosphere that makes up the planet s continents and continental shelves and is formed near subduction zones at plate boundaries between continental and oceanic tectonic plates.

Continents are hot because they are where the majority of our planet s uranium and potassium exist. Granite first formed when underwater volcanoes erupted and the magma was cooled extremely quickly forming a less dense but much more durable rock than basalt. Basaltic crust is dark and thin and heavy while granite is light and accumulates into continent sized rafts which bob about like corks in this sea of basalt when a continent runs into a piece of seafloor it s much like a mac truck. Granite is an igneous rock made up of primarily quartz feldspar micas amphiboles and a mixture of additional trace minerals.

They heat up their surroundings through radioactive decay. These minerals and their variation in abundance and alteration give granite the numerous colors and textures we see in granite countertops. As granite was formed and continents formed these elements tend to stay on the surface and clump. Though it is believed that different types of feldspars make up up to 60 of the earth s crust it is technically a tectosilicate.

Granite forms when the continental rocks melt a process that occurs from high heat and the addition of volatiles water and or carbon dioxide. The continental crust forms nearly all of earth s land surface. The process is self reinforcing. These early granite formations.

Out of the minerals listed quartz is the most abundant and the second most overall. Of the continents are granite. This makes sense because granite must cool very slowly at deeply buried locations to produce such large mineral grains. Plutons smaller than 100 square kilometers in the area are called stocks and larger ones are called batholiths.

Oceanic crust comes from the mantle which is dominated by. The continental crust has a density of about 2 6 g cm3 which helps the continents of the world to stay in one place.