Crust (geology) crustal rocks formed before 2.5 billion years ago are located in cratons. Such old continental crust and the underlying mantle asthenosphere are less dense than elsewhere in Earth and so are not readily destroyed by subduction. Formation of new continental crust is linked to periods of intense orogeny; these periods coincide with the formation of the supercontinents such as Rodinia, Pangaea and Gondwana. The crust forms in part by aggregation of island arcs including granite and metamorphic fold belts, and it is preserved in part by depletion of the underlying mantle to form buoyant lithospheric mantle. A theoretical protoplanet named
Precious (given name) were 154 American girls given the name. In the United States, the name has been used predominantly by African Americans. According to one study, of 454 girls named Precious in California during the 1990s, 431 of them were African American. It remained a popular name in the Philippines, where it was the ninth most popular name given to newborn girls in 2011. There were 394 newborn Filipino girls named Precious in 2011. Precious (given name) Precious is a predominantly feminine given name derived from the English word meaning "of great worth." It is also in occasional use for males. It