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The most abundant silicate minerals on the Earth's surface include quartz, the feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene, and olivine. [25] Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone), aragonite, and dolomite. [26] Elevation histogram of the surface of the Earth—approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water.
The Greenland ice sheet is an ice sheet which forms the second largest body of ice in the world. It is an average of 1.67 km (1.0 mi) thick and over 3 km (1.9 mi) thick at its maximum. [2]
The remaining 30% is ground water, 1% surface water (covering only 2.8% of Earth's land) [200] and other small forms of fresh water deposits such as permafrost, water vapor in the atmosphere, biological binding, etc. [201] [202] In Earth's coldest regions, snow survives over the summer and changes into ice.
1913 saw the beginning of the International Map of the World initiative, which set out to map all of Earth's significant land areas at a scale of 1:1 million, on about one thousand sheets, each covering four degrees latitude by six or more degrees longitude. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and (depending on latitude) up to 66 cm wide.
The Columbia Plateau province is enveloped by one of the world's largest accumulations of basalt. Over 500,000 km 2 (190,000 sq mi) of the Earth's surface is covered by it. The topography here is dominated by geologically young lava flows that inundated the countryside with amazing speed, all within the last 17 million years.
Landforms do not include several man-made features, such as canals, ports and many harbors; and geographic features, such as deserts, forests, and grasslands. Many of the terms are not restricted to refer to features of the planet Earth, and can be used to describe surface features of other planets and similar objects in the Universe.
Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere , a solidified division of Earth 's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle . [ 1 ]
The ice sheet is around 2.2 km (1.4 mi) thick on average and is 4,897 m (16,066 ft) at its thickest point. [2] It is also home to the geographic South Pole, South Magnetic Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The surface of the EAIS is the driest, windiest, and coldest place on Earth.