what is the earth's surface made of?

Answer 1

Mainly Silicate minerals, silica and oxygen. A lot of quartz and feldspar. The ocean crust has more iron and magnesium than the continental crust.

edit: Salt?!! No. I'm a geologist. there is very little salt on or in the earth's surface. Now, there is sodium in some feldspar, but there is more calcium and potassium in feldspar than sodium. Even so, sodium is not salt.

Answer 2

Actually, the earth's surface, also known as the crust is made of a thick layer of dirt. You will find that not all of the earth's surface is made up of mostly salt. Only the parts of the world that are rich in sand are the one's that are mostly salt. As for the part's of the world that have moist wet dirt and various tree growth, the dirt there is made up of decayed animals and trees. And directly below the crust is a thick layer of rock.

Answer 3

Most of the Earth's surface (70%) is covered with water, and the remaining 30% is taken up by the seven continental landmasses. However, underneath the water that fills the oceans, and the dirt and plants that cover the continents, the Earth’s surface layer is made of rock. This outer layer formed a hard, rocky crust as lava at the surface cooled 4.5 billion years ago.

The crust is broken into many large plates that move slowly relative to each other. Mountain ranges form when two plates collide and their edges are forced up. In addition, many other surface features are the result of the moving plates. The plates move about one inch per year, so millions of years ago the continents and the oceans were in different positions. About 250 million years ago, most of the land was connected together, and over time has separated into seven continents.

As we can see in the image of the surface of the Earth from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), generated from land and sea-floor elevations, the edges of the continents (continental shelves) are covered by shallow water (light blue). Other water covers parts of the continents in the form of lakes and rivers (or glacial ice).

Keep in mind that sea level changes through time as global temperatures change, and the glaciers and polar ice caps fluctuate.

So the amount of flooding of the continental shelves changes over time. During the Ice Ages, much of the Earth's water was tied up in glaciers, so sea level was much lower. In some places, almost the entire continental shelf was exposed as dry land.

Continents cover 40% of Earth's surface
Average elevation of continents = 840 m above sea level; 2750 ft above sea level
For comparison, the elevation of Atlanta is 1000 ft; the elevation of Dalton, GA is about 750 ft

Seven continents (in alphabetical order):
Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
Europe
North America
South America
Ocean basins cover 60% of Earth's surface
Average depth = 3800 m below SL; 12,500 ft below SL
Elevations are largely a reflection of the densities of the rock that makes up the continents or the ocean floor.
The continents are dominated by granite.
The ocean floor is dominated by basalt.
Basalt is more dense than granite, so the oceanic crust "sags" lower as it "floats" on the underlying part of the Earth that flows, called the asthenosphere (a part of the Earth's mantle).


The oceans are:
Pacific Ocean (largest and deepest)
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Most prominent features of continents are linear mountain belts

Circum-Pacific Belt
Alpine-Himalaya Belt

Highest point on Earth?

Mt. Everest (Himalayas) 8848 m or 29,028 ft

Most prominent features of oceans are ocean ridge systems.

Continuous belt 73,600 km or 46,000 mi long
The oceanic ridge system is the longest mountain range on Earth.

Lowest point on Earth?

Mariana Trench -11,033 m or -36,198 ft
Deep sea trenches are subduction zones (see plate tectonics section).

Tallest (not highest) mountain?

Mauna Loa, Hawaiian volcano
Base at -5000 m or -16,400 ft
Top at 4170 m or 13,677 ft
Height = 9170 m or 30,077 ft
Age nearly 1,000,000 years
30,077 ft/1,000,000 years = .03 ft/yr

Answer 4

The earth surface is ROCK with some medals mixed in. Solidified Magma from volcanoes.

Answer 5

There are several layers of earth. The top level is organic matter and waste. The next is considered top soil. Each region varies in what the next layers are, depending on the history of that region. An example is where deserts are and where there is fertile soil.

Answer 6

Approx 70% water 30% land. Interestingly roughly the same proprtion as water in the Human body

Answer 7

Earth's crust is composed mainly of basalt and granite. It's cooler and more rigid than the deeper layers of the mantle and core.

Answer 8

Surprisingly, earth's surface is composed mostly of salt.

Answer 9

silicon aluminium& magnesium

Answer 10

crystals and water primarily