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The answer depends on who you talk to.

A geographer - someone who studies Earth's surface, climate, countries, peoples, and so on - might say that continents are big and islands are small. For example, Greenland, the largest island, is only about a third as big as Australia.

On the other hand, a geologist - someone who studies the physics of Earth as a planet - might say that density accounts for the difference between continents and islands. Continents are made up of low-density rock, so they float high on Earth's molten mantle like big rafts. Ocean crust is denser, so it floats low on the mantle. Most islands are really extensions of the ocean floor - undersea volcanoes pump out dense lava that cools into ocean floor crust and sometimes piles up to poke above sea level. Greenland is ancient continental crust, but it isn't big enough to fit the geographer's definition of a continent. So geologists compromise by calling it a microcontinent.

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13y ago
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11y ago

continenets are large masses of land while oceans are large masses of water.

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13y ago

oceans are water and continents are land...

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12y ago

cause their both land and how?well sand is part of land and whole bunch of other stuff.

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14y ago

diffing word lake

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Q: How are oceans different from continents?
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Related questions

How are aceans different from continents?

Oceans are made out of sea water, and continents are made out of land; dirt and rocks. Oceans are liquids, continents are solids.


Paleontologists noticed that these were the same on different continents even through the continents were separated by oceans?

Animals


A 7 letter word where paleontologists noticed that these were the same on different continents even though the continents were separated by oceans?

fossils


What is an antipodal arrangement of oceans and continents?

An antipodal arrangement of oceans and continents refers to the opposite points on Earth's surface that are directly across from each other. For example, the Pacific Ocean is antipodal to the Indian Ocean. This concept is used in geography to study the relationships between different regions and their corresponding antipodes.


What does the oceans plus the number of continents equal?

7 continents and 5 oceans = 12


What has greater seasonality oceans or continents?

continents


Paleontologists noticed that these were the same on different continents even though the contients were separated by oceans?

fossils


If you were looking at a real globe what would you have to do to see the other continents and oceans?

you have to spin it to see the continents and the oceans


The global ocean is divided by the continents into main oceans?

There are different answers. 5 oceans in total but only the Pacific, atlantic, and Artic are the main ones.


What are the large landmasses in the earth's oceans?

The large landmasses in the Earth's oceans are the continents. There are a total of 7 continents in the world.


Why do we know more about continents than oceans?

Because we tend to spend more time on the continents than in the oceans.


How can the earth's surface be organized into continents and oceans?

the earth can be organized into 4 oceans, 7 seas, and 7 continents