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The crust of Earth is of two distinct types:

1. Oceanic: 5 km (3 mi) to 10 km (6 mi) thick[4] and composed primarily of

denser, more mafic rocks, such as basalt, diabase, and gabbro.
2. Continental: 30 km (20 mi) to 50 km (30 mi) thick and mostly composed of
less dense, more felsic rocks, such as granite.
The average thickness of the crust is about 15 km (9 mi) to 20 km (12 mi).
Because both continental and oceanic crust are less dense than the mantle below, both
types of crust "float" on the mantle. The surface of the continental crust is significantly
higher than the surface of the oceanic crust, due to the greater buoyancy of the thicker,
less dense continental crust (an example of isostasy). As a result, the continents form
high ground surrounded by deep ocean basins. [5]
The continental crust has an average composition similar to that of andesite,[6] though
the composition is not uniform, with the upper crust averaging a more felsic composition
similar to that of dacite, while the lower crust averages a more mafic composition
resembling basalt.[7] The most abundant minerals in Earth's continental
crust are feldspars, which make up about 41% of the crust by weight, followed
by quartz at 12%, and pyroxenes at 11%.[8]
Earth formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from a disk of dust and gas orbiting the
newly formed Sun. It formed via accretion, where planetesimals and other smaller rocky
bodies collided and stuck, gradually growing into a planet. This process generated an
enormous amount of heat, which caused early Earth to melt completely. As planetary
accretion slowed, Earth began to cool, forming its first crust, called a primary or
primordial crust.[13] This crust was likely repeatedly destroyed by large impacts, then
reformed from the magma ocean left by the impact. None of Earth's primary crust has
survived to today; all was destroyed by erosion, impacts, and plate tectonics over the
past several billion years.[14]
Since then, Earth has been forming secondary and tertiary crust, which correspond to
oceanic and continental crust respectively. Secondary crust forms at mid-ocean
spreading centers, where partial-melting of the
underlying mantle yields basaltic magmas and new ocean crust forms. This "ridge push"
is one of the driving forces of plate tectonics, and it is constantly creating new ocean
crust. That means that old crust must be destroyed somewhere so, opposite a
spreading center, there is usually a subduction zone: a trench where an ocean plate is
sinking back into the mantle. This constant process of creating new ocean crust and
destroying old ocean crust means that the oldest ocean crust on Earth today is only
about 200 million years old.[15]
In contrast, the bulk of the continental crust is much older. The oldest continental crustal
rocks on Earth have ages in the range from about 3.7 to 4.28 billion years [16][17] and
have been found in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane in Western Australia, in the Acasta
Gneiss in the Northwest Territories on the Canadian Shield, and on
other cratonic regions such as those on the Fennoscandian Shield. Some zircon with
age as great as 4.3 billion years has been found in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane.
Continental crust is tertiary crust, formed at subduction zones through recycling of
subducted secondary (oceanic) crust.[15]