The continental crust is typically from 30 km (20 mi) to 50 km (30 mi) thick, and it is mostly composed of less dense rocks, such as granite, than is the oceanic crust. The continental crust has an av
erage composition similar to that of the igneous rock, andesite.[Wikipedia]
A continuous sheet of land ice that covers a very large area and moves outward in many directions. This type of ice mass is so thick as to mask the land surface contours, in contrast to the smaller an
d thinner highland ice. The continental glacier of Greenland is sometimes called the Inland Ice. This term is often used to describe the great ice masses that characterized the ice ages.
Unconstrained by topography Continental size Derive their morphological shape from ice flow properties, internal dynamics, and bedrock conditions Inundates areas of Continental size May incorporate in
dividual ice domes
[Mechanical or Seismic Definition of Structure] In the Earth, the lithosphere includes the crust and the uppermost mantle, which constitute the hard and rigid outer layer of the planet. The [Wikipedia
]
The extensive central cratons of continents may consist of both shields and platforms, and the crystalline basement. A platform is that part of the craton for which the basement is overlain by horizon
tal or subhorizontal sediments. [Wikipedia]
Air mass that forms over extensive landmass areas of middle to high latitudes. In North America, these system form over northern Canada. Continental Polar air masses are cold and very dry in the winte
r and cool and dry in the summer. These air masses are also atmospherically stable in both seasons.
A long, narrow fissure in the Earth marking a zone of the lithosphere that has become thinner due to extensional forces associated with plate teconics. Continental rifts are thousands of kilometers in
length and hundreds of kilometers in width, and they are associated with normal faults and with grabens. [FreeDictionary]