Continental crust sits higher and lasts longer than oceanic crust because it's less ... the lithosphere —the upper part of Earth's mantle and part of the crust — has already peeled away ...

Continental and oceanic plates all fit together to form the outer crust of the planet ... forced together by the convection currents in the upper mantle. At collision zones fold mountains will ...

The upper mantle is hard but below that is semi-molten rock called magma. Crust The crust is the outer ... These plates can be oceanic, meaning they're found mainly under the ocean, or continental ...