The continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the continents and

the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental

shelves. This layer is sometimes called sial because its bulk composition is more felsic compared to the oceanic crust, called sima which has a more mafic bulk composition. Changes
in seismic wave velocities have shown that at a certain depth (the Conrad discontinuity), there is a reasonably sharp contrast between the more felsic upper continental crust and the
lower continental crust, which is more mafic in character.

Importance.
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.

differs from continentalcrust in several ways: it is thinner, denser, younger, and of different chemical composition. the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of a tectonic plate. The
crust overlies the solidified and uppermost layer of the mantle. The crust and the solid mantle layer together constitute oceanic lithosphere.

the result of erupted mantle material originating from below the plate, cooled and in most instances, modified chemically by seawater. This occurs mostly at
mid-ocean ridges, but also at scattered hotspots, and also in rare but powerful occurrences known as flood basalt eruptions. It is primarily composed
of mafic rocks, or sima, which is rich in iron and magnesium. It is thinner than continental crust, or sial, generally less than 10 kilometers thick; however it is
denser, having a mean density of about 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter[1] as opposed to continental crust which has a density of about 2.7 grams per cubic
centimeter.[2]