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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 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.
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 ]
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.
Here, is the thickness of the oceanic mantle lithosphere, is the thermal diffusivity (approximately 1.0 × 10 −6 m 2 /s or 6.5 × 10 −4 sq ft/min) for silicate rocks, and is the age of the given part of the lithosphere. The age is often equal to L/V, where L is the distance from the spreading centre of mid-ocean ridge, and V is velocity of ...
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]
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 17 January 2025. Linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources ...
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.