Lateral and radial density heterogeneities of the continental and oceanic lithosphere and their connection with the process of formation of earth’s crust
In this paper, we present the results on the study of density heterogeneities in the lithosphere of continents and oceans on the basis of calculation of the anomalies of the free surface of the mantle. The task of this study is to explain the reason for the observed dependence of the depth of the free surface of the mantle from the thickness of the earth’s crust. This dependence was discovered by Soviet scientists in the eighties of the last century, but it still received no reasonable explanation. The results of the conducted studies showed an explicit relationship between the depth of the free surface of the mantle and the mechanisms of crustal formation. So, the assumption of numerical scientists has been confirmed, concerning the different way of crust formation in the Archean and in subsequent stages of the Earth’s development.