Structure of the Earth easily than does the upper mantle (chemical changes within the mantle may also be important). The viscosity of the mantle ranges between 10 and 10 Pa·s, depending on depth. In comparison, the viscosity of water is approximately 10 Pa·s and that of pitch is 10 Pa·s. The source of heat that drives plate tectonics is the primordial heat left over from the planet’s formation as well as the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium in Earth’s crust and mantle. The average density of Earth is . Because the average density of surface material is only around , we must
Continental crust continental crust. It makes up about 70% of the volume of Earth's crust. Because the surface of continental crust mainly lies above sea level, its existence allowed land life to evolve from marine life. Its existence also provides broad expanses of shallow water known as epeiric seas and continental shelves where complex metazoan life could become established during early Paleozoic time, in what is now called the Cambrian explosion. All continental crust ultimately derives from the fractional differentiation of oceanic crust over many millions of years. This process has occurred, and continues to occur today, primarily as a result of