Krustendicke

Krustendicke is a fictional geographic region introduced for geology education and speculative world-building. The name combines the German words Kruste (crust) and Dicke (thickness), highlighting its defining feature: a relatively thick continental crust.

Geography and geology

In the imagined world, Krustendicke lies on the eastern margin of a large fictional landmass and is described as having a crustal thickness that is greater than that of surrounding regions. Estimates in hypothetical sources place the crustal thickness in the range of about 40 to 50 kilometers, thicker than the average continental crust in many Earth analogues. This thickness is attributed in the lore to a history of tectonic collision, granitoid intrusions, and subsequent thermal and isostatic adjustments that preserved substantial crustal mass.

Purpose and use

Krustendicke is used in educational contexts to illustrate concepts such as crust formation, crustal thickening, isostasy, and lithospheric dynamics. It also appears in world-building and speculative geoscience primers, where authors explore how a region with unusually thick crust would influence topography, mineralization, geothermal gradients, and tectonic activity within a fictitious planetary setting.

Notability and limitations

There is no real-world location named Krustendicke. It serves as a conceptual example rather than a mapped place. When referenced, it is typically framed as part of a fictional or hypothetical scenario in geology discussions or imaginative literature. Related topics include crust, mantle, isostasy, plate tectonics, and crustal thickening processes.