EARTH'S CRUST

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Earth's crust mean? 

• EARTH'S CRUST (noun)
  The noun EARTH'S CRUST has 1 sense:

1. the outer layer of the Earth

  Familiarity information: EARTH'S CRUST used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EARTH'S CRUST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The outer layer of the Earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

crust; Earth's crust

Hypernyms ("Earth's crust" is a kind of...):

layer (a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another)

Meronyms (parts of "Earth's crust"):

asthenosphere (the lower layer of the crust)

Meronyms (substance of "Earth's crust"):

sial (the granitelike rocks that form the outermost layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and aluminum)

sima (rock that form the continuous lower layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and magnesium)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Earth's crust"):

horst (a ridge of the earth's crust that has been forced upward between two faults and so is higher than the surrounding land)

crustal plate; plate (a rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly)

Holonyms ("Earth's crust" is a part of...):

geosphere; lithosphere (the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle)

 Context examples 

Erionite is one of the more common types of zeolites that are found in the earth's crust.

(Erionite, NCI Thesaurus)

Basin formed by the downward movement of the earth's crust at a geological fault.

(Fault depression, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Lead is a metal that occurs naturally in the earth's crust.

(Lead Poisoning, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry)

Ultimately the system will be able to detect small changes in the stress and strain of the Earth's crust, said Tim Dixon, a marine scientist at the university.

(Geoscientists develop technology to improve forecasting of earthquakes, tsunamis, National Science Foundation)

In total, silica makes up about 60 percent of Earth's crust.

(Exploding Stars Make Key Ingredient in Sand, Glass, NASA)

Ocean water atop the tectonic plate runs down into the Earth's crust and upper mantle along fault lines that lace the area where the plates collide and bend.

(Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior, National Science Foundation)

The seafloor is an alien landscape, with crushing pressures, near-total darkness and fluids wafting from cracks in the Earth's crust.

(Giant group of octopus moms discovered in the deep sea, National Science Foundation)

Researchers have long known that volcanoes form when tectonic plates converge, or as a result of mantle plumes that rise from the core-mantle boundary to make hotspots at Earth's crust.

(Scientists discover a new way volcanoes form, NSF)

However, seismic imaging has shown that mantle heat in this region may reach the ice sheet through a rift, that is, a fracture in Earth's crust such as appears in Africa's Great Rift Valley.

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)