Crust (geology) the crust. The boundary between the crust and mantle is conventionally placed at the Mohorovičić discontinuity, a boundary defined by a contrast in seismic velocity. The crust of the Earth is of two distinctive types: Because both continental and oceanic crust are less dense than the mantle below, both types of crust "float" on the mantle. This is isostasy, and it's also one of the reasons continental crust is higher than oceanic: continental is less dense and so "floats" higher. As a result, water pools in above the oceanic crust, forming the oceans. The temperature of the crust increases with
The Conflict Over the Sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands -- between Taiwan (ROC), China (PRC), & Japan depth of the Okinawa trough that locates in the east is as deep as 2,717 meters, forming a natural sea boundary with China and the Ryukyu islands. As the geological structure of the Ryukyu Islands belong to "oceanic crust", the Diaoyu Islands are "continental crust" that makes a significant difference in between those two. Also, the Diaoyu Islands has one of the largest scale of continental reef layer that contains an abundant amount of river deposits such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and is therefore potentially rich in oil. The Diaoyu islands are considerably much more strategic