Continent Origin Theory Debunked by Experiments.
A major hypothesis proposing a source of the volcanic magma that forged the continental crusts has come under scrutiny by scientists in the US. Geologist Elizabeth Cottrell and her colleague Megan Holycross measured the iron and iron oxide levels of simulated continental crust using a piston-cylinder which can press tiny molten rock samples with intense pressures and temperatures to match the conditions of magma chambers in Earth's crust. They found that garnet crystallization is "unlikely to be responsible" for the "iron-depletion trend observed in continental crust."