essay about characteristics of earth

Essay on Earth

500 words essay on earth.

The earth is the planet that we live on and it is the fifth-largest planet. It is positioned in third place from the Sun. This essay on earth will help you learn all about it in detail. Our earth is the only planet that can sustain humans and other living species. The vital substances such as air, water, and land make it possible.

All About Essay on Earth

The rocks make up the earth that has been around for billions of years. Similarly, water also makes up the earth. In fact, water covers 70% of the surface. It includes the oceans that you see, the rivers, the sea and more.

Thus, the remaining 30% is covered with land. The earth moves around the sun in an orbit and takes around 364 days plus 6 hours to complete one round around it. Thus, we refer to it as a year.

Just like revolution, the earth also rotates on its axis within 24 hours that we refer to as a solar day. When rotation is happening, some of the places on the planet face the sun while the others hide from it.

As a result, we get day and night. There are three layers on the earth which we know as the core, mantle and crust. The core is the centre of the earth that is usually very hot. Further, we have the crust that is the outer layer. Finally, between the core and crust, we have the mantle i.e. the middle part.

The layer that we live on is the outer one with the rocks. Earth is home to not just humans but millions of other plants and species. The water and air on the earth make it possible for life to sustain. As the earth is the only livable planet, we must protect it at all costs.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

There is No Planet B

The human impact on the planet earth is very dangerous. Through this essay on earth, we wish to make people aware of protecting the earth. There is no balance with nature as human activities are hampering the earth.

Needless to say, we are responsible for the climate crisis that is happening right now. Climate change is getting worse and we need to start getting serious about it. It has a direct impact on our food, air, education, water, and more.

The rising temperature and natural disasters are clear warning signs. Therefore, we need to come together to save the earth and leave a better planet for our future generations.

Being ignorant is not an option anymore. We must spread awareness about the crisis and take preventive measures to protect the earth. We must all plant more trees and avoid using non-biodegradable products.

Further, it is vital to choose sustainable options and use reusable alternatives. We must save the earth to save our future. There is no Planet B and we must start acting like it accordingly.

Conclusion of Essay on Earth

All in all, we must work together to plant more trees and avoid using plastic. It is also important to limit the use of non-renewable resources to give our future generations a better planet.

FAQ on Essay on Earth

Question 1: What is the earth for kids?

Answer 1: Earth is the third farthest planet from the sun. It is bright and bluish in appearance when we see it from outer space. Water covers 70% of the earth while land covers 30%. Moreover, the earth is the only planet that can sustain life.

Question 2: How can we protect the earth?

Answer 2: We can protect the earth by limiting the use of non-renewable resources. Further, we must not waste water and avoid using plastic.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Planet Earth, explained

Our home planet provides us with life and protects us from space.

Earth, our home planet, is a world unlike any other. The third planet from the sun, Earth is the only place in the known universe confirmed to host life.

With a radius of 3,959 miles, Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, and it's the only one known for sure to have liquid water on its surface. Earth is also unique in terms of monikers. Every other solar system planet was named for a Greek or Roman deity, but for at least a thousand years, some cultures have described our world using the Germanic word “earth,” which means simply “the ground.”

Our dance around the sun

Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. Since our calendar years have only 365 days, we add an extra leap day every four years to account for the difference.

Though we can't feel it, Earth zooms through its orbit at an average velocity of 18.5 miles a second. During this circuit, our planet is an average of 93 million miles away from the sun, a distance that takes light about eight minutes to traverse. Astronomers define this distance as one astronomical unit (AU), a measure that serves as a handy cosmic yardstick.

Earth rotates on its axis every 23.9 hours, defining day and night for surface dwellers. This axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees away from the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, giving us seasons. Whichever hemisphere is tilted closer to the sun experiences summer, while the hemisphere tilted away gets winter. In the spring and fall, each hemisphere receives similar amounts of light. On two specific dates each year—called the equinoxes—both hemispheres get illuminated equally.

Many layers, many features

About 4.5 billion years ago, gravity coaxed Earth to form from the gaseous, dusty disk that surrounded our young sun. Over time, Earth's interior—which is made mostly of silicate rocks and metals—differentiated into four layers.

FREE BONUS ISSUE

At the planet's heart lies the inner core, a solid sphere of iron and nickel that's 759 miles wide and as hot as 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The inner core is surrounded by the outer core, a 1,400-mile-thick band of iron and nickel fluids. Beyond the outer core lies the mantle, a 1,800-mile-thick layer of viscous molten rock on which Earth's outermost layer, the crust, rests. On land, the continental crust is an average of 19 miles thick, but the oceanic crust that forms the seafloor is thinner—about three miles thick—and denser.

Like Venus and Mars, Earth has mountains, valleys, and volcanoes. But unlike its rocky siblings, almost 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered in oceans of liquid water that average 2.5 miles deep. These bodies of water contain 97 percent of Earth's volcanoes and the mid-ocean ridge , a massive mountain range more than 40,000 miles long.

You May Also Like

4.5 billion years ago, another planet crashed into Earth. We may have found its leftovers.

The moon is even older than we thought

Is there a 9th planet out there? We may soon find out.

Earth's crust and upper mantle are divided into massive plates that grind against each other in slow motion. As these plates collide, tear apart, or slide past each other, they give rise to our very active geology. Earthquakes rumble as these plates snag and slip past each other. Many volcanoes form as seafloor crust smashes into and slides beneath continental crust. When plates of continental crust collide, mountain ranges such as the Himalaya are pushed toward the skies.

Protective fields and gases

Earth's atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and one percent other gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and argon. Much like a greenhouse, this blanket of gases absorbs and retains heat. On average, Earth's surface temperature is about 57 degrees Fahrenheit; without our atmosphere, it'd be zero degrees . In the last two centuries, humans have added enough greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to raise Earth's average temperature by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit . This extra heat has altered Earth's weather patterns in many ways .

The atmosphere not only nourishes life on Earth, but it also protects it: It's thick enough that many meteorites burn up before impact from friction, and its gases—such as ozone—block DNA-damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the surface. But for all that our atmosphere does, it's surprisingly thin. Ninety percent of Earth's atmosphere lies within just 10 miles of the planet's surface .

The silhouette of a woman is seen on a Norwegian island beneath the Northern Lights ( aurora borealis ).

We also enjoy protection from Earth's magnetic field, generated by our planet's rotation and its iron-nickel core. This teardrop-shaped field shields Earth from high-energy particles launched at us from the sun and elsewhere in the cosmos. But due to the field's structure, some particles get funneled to Earth's Poles and collide with our atmosphere, yielding aurorae, the natural fireworks show known by some as the northern lights.

Spaceship Earth

Earth is the planet we have the best opportunity to understand in detail—helping us see how other rocky planets behave, even those orbiting distant stars. As a result, scientists are increasingly monitoring Earth from space. NASA alone has dozens of missions dedicated to solving our planet's mysteries.

At the same time, telescopes are gazing outward to find other Earths. Thanks to instruments such as NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have found more than 3,800 planets orbiting other stars, some of which are about the size of Earth , and a handful of which orbit in the zones around their stars that are just the right temperature to be potentially habitable. Other missions, such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, are poised to find even more.

Related Topics

• SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• SOLAR SYSTEM

Earth is a geological oddball in our solar system. This is why.

9 spectacular night sky events to see in 2024

Did Pluto ever actually stop being a planet? Experts debate.

How did life on Earth begin? Here are 3 popular theories.

800,000 years ago, a huge meteorite hit Earth. Scientists may have just found where.

• Environment
• Paid Content

History & Culture

• History Magazine
• History & Culture
• Mind, Body, Wonder
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Planet Earth: Everything you need to know

Earth is the only planet known to support life. Learn about what Earth is made of and where it came from.

• Earth's orbit
• Earth's formation

Earth FAQs answered by an expert

• Earth's core
• Earth's magnetosphere

Earth's atmosphere

• Earth's composition

Earth's moon

Earth observation, life on earth.

Earth, our home, is the third planet from the sun . While scientists continue to hunt for clues of life beyond Earth, our home planet remains the only place in the universe where we've ever identified living organisms. 

Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. It's smaller than the four gas giants — Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune — but larger than the three other rocky planets, Mercury , Mars and Venus .

Earth has a diameter of roughly 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) and is mostly round because gravity generally pulls matter into a ball. But the spin of our home planet causes it to be squashed at its poles and swollen at the equator, making the true shape of the Earth an "oblate spheroid."

Related: How big is Earth?

Our planet is unique for many reasons, but its available water and oxygen are two defining features. Water covers roughly 71% of Earth's surface, with most of that water located in our planet's oceans. About a fifth of Earth's atmosphere consists of oxygen, produced by plants. 

Related: 15 places on Earth that look exoplanetary

Planet Earth's orbit around the sun

While Earth orbits the sun, the planet is simultaneously spinning around an imaginary line called an axis that runs through the core, from the North Pole to the South Pole. It takes Earth 23.934 hours to complete a rotation on its axis and 365.26 days to complete an orbit around the sun — our days and years on Earth are defined by these gyrations.

Earth's axis of rotation is tilted in relation to the ecliptic plane, an imaginary surface through the planet's orbit around the sun. This means the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will sometimes point toward or away from the sun depending on the time of year, and this changes the amount of light the hemispheres receive, resulting in the changing seasons .

Earth happens to orbit the sun within the so-called " Goldilocks zone ," where temperatures are just right to maintain liquid water on our planet's surface. Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, but rather a slightly oval-shaped ellipse, similar to the orbits of all the other planets in our solar system. Our planet is a bit closer to the sun in early January and farther away in July, although this proximity has a much smaller effect on the temperatures we experience on the planet's surface than does the tilt of Earth's axis. 

Statistics about Earth's orbit, according to NASA :

• Average distance from the sun : 92,956,050 miles (149,598,262 km)
• Perihelion (closest approach to the sun): 91,402,640 miles (147,098,291 km)
• Aphelion (farthest distance from the sun): 94,509,460 miles (152,098,233 km)
• Length of solar day (single rotation on its axis): 23.934 hours
• Length of year (single revolution around the sun): 365.26 days
• Equatorial inclination to orbit: 23.4393 degrees

How did Earth form?

Scientists think Earth was formed at roughly the same time as the sun and other planets some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system coalesced from a giant, rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula . As the nebula collapsed under the force of its own gravity, it spun faster and flattened into a disk. Most of the material in that disk was then pulled toward the center to form the sun.

Other particles within the disk collided and stuck together to form ever-larger bodies, including Earth. Scientists think Earth started off as a waterless mass of rock .

"It was thought that because of these asteroids and comets flying around colliding with Earth, conditions on early Earth may have been hellish," Simone Marchi, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, previously told Space.com . 

However, analyses of minerals trapped within ancient microscopic crystals suggest that there was liquid water already present on Earth during its first 500 million years, Marchi said.

Radioactive materials in the rock and increasing pressure deep within the Earth generated enough heat to melt the planet's interior, causing some chemicals to rise to the surface and form water, while others became the gases of the atmosphere. Recent evidence suggests that Earth's crust and oceans may have formed within about 200 million years after the planet took shape.

Related: 10 Earth impact craters you must see

We asked Jack Wright an ESA Internal Research Fellow a few commonly asked questions about our planet, Earth.  

Jack Wright, is an Internal Research Fellow with the European Space Agency (ESA).  

What sets Earth apart from other planets in the solar system?

From what we know so far, Earth is the only planet that hosts life and the only one in the Solar System with liquid water on the surface. Earth is also the only planet in the solar system with active plate tectonics, where the surface of the planet is divided into rigid plates that collide and move apart, causing earthquakes , mountain building, and volcanism. Sites of volcanism along Earth's submarine plate boundaries are considered to be potential environments where life could have first emerged. 

What makes our planet uniquely suitable to host life?

Earth is the right distance from the sun, such that liquid water has been stable in significant volumes over much of the planet's lifetime. It has the right chemical ingredients for life (e.g. water and carbon), and chemical cycling (such as between the planet's interior and oceans by volcanism and other geological activity) provides chemical pathways for life to extract energy to survive. 

Additional factors that have allowed the evolution of complex life are an oxygenated atmosphere, and protection from solar radiation by its magnetic field.

Which planet is closest to Earth in terms of distance?

New findings show that considering the average distance, Mercury is the nearest planet to Earth; considering the smallest possible distance, instead, Venus is closest. 

Is Mercury the most similar to ours in the solar system?

No. Mercury has no atmosphere and it has an old surface covered in impact craters, so it is very unlike Earth. One similarity is that Mercury and Earth both have internally generated magnetic fields. Venus and Earth are very similar in size. There is emerging evidence for active volcanism on Venus, however, its atmosphere is up to 100 times denser than Earth's and is mostly carbon dioxide with sulfuric acid clouds. The surface of Saturn's moon Titan physically resembles Earth's, with mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas. The difference is that Titan's mountains are made from water ice, which is as strong as rock under its surface temperature (-180°C), and the rivers and seas are full of hydrocarbons.

How many planets in the Milky Way could have conditions like Earth?

Scientists estimated that 1 in 5 stars like our sun has one Earth-like planet orbiting around them, which may support life. Considering that there are more than 200 billion stars in our Milky Way, there might be an estimated 40 billion planets that might support life in our galaxy. 

Why is it vital to preserve our planet?

Earth observation from space provides objective coverage across both space and time. The same space-based sensor gathers data from sites across the world, including places too remote or otherwise inaccessible for ground-based data acquisition.

And because Earth observation satellites remain in place for long periods of time, they can highlight environmental changes occurring gradually. Looking back through archived satellite data shows us the steady clearing of the world's rainforests, an apparent annual rise in sea level approaching 2 mm a year, and the increase of atmospheric pollution.

In the long term, this monitoring of the Earth's environment will enable a reliable assessment of the global impact of human activity and the likely future extent of climate change.

The scientific evidence of global climate change is irrefutable. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching  —  affecting freshwater resources, global food production, and sea level and triggering an increase in extreme weather events. In order to tackle climate change, scientists and decision-makers need reliable data to understand how our planet is changing.

For more than three decades, Earth-observing satellites have been providing the facts needed to address the challenges of our changing world.

Earth is the only naturally habitable planet for complex (e.g. human) life in the solar system. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching and are already threatening some people's ways of life and damaging wider biodiversity. If Earth becomes uninhabitable we have nowhere else to go. Colonizing the Moon and Mars is no substitute for preserving Earth. The Moon and Mars cannot sustain Earth's population of humans and other organisms.

Earth's internal structure

Earth's core is about 4,400 miles (7,100 km) wide, slightly larger than half the Earth's diameter and about the same size as Mars. The outermost 1,400 miles (2,250 km) of the core are liquid, while the inner core is solid. That solid core is about four-fifths as big as Earth's moon, at some 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in diameter. The core is responsible for the planet's magnetic field , which helps to deflect harmful charged particles shot from the sun. 

Above the core is Earth's mantle, which is about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) thick. The mantle is not completely stiff but can flow slowly. Earth's crust floats on the mantle much as a piece of wood floats on water. The slow motion of rock in the mantle shuffles continents around and causes earthquakes, volcanoes and the formation of mountain ranges.

Related: Earth's layers: Exploring our planet inside and out

Above the mantle, Earth has two kinds of crust. The dry land of the continents consists mostly of granite and other light silicate minerals, while the ocean floors are made up mostly of a dark, dense volcanic rock called basalt. Continental crust averages some 25 miles (40 km) thick, although it can be thinner or thicker in some areas. Oceanic crust is usually only about 5 miles (8 km) thick. Water fills in low areas of the basalt crust to form the world's oceans.

Earth gets warmer toward its core. At the bottom of the continental crust, temperatures reach about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius), increasing about 3 degrees F per mile (1 degree C per km) below the crust. Geologists think the temperature of Earth's outer core is about 6,700 to 7,800 degrees F (3,700 to 4,300 degrees C) and that the inner core may reach 12,600 degrees F (7,000 degrees C) — hotter than the surface of the sun.

Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field is generated by currents flowing in Earth's outer core. The magnetic poles are always on the move, with the magnetic North Pole accelerating its northward motion to 24 miles (40 km) annually since tracking began in the 1830s. It will likely exit North America and reach Siberia in a matter of decades.

Earth's magnetic field is changing in other ways, too. Globally, the magnetic field has weakened 10 percent since the 19th century, according to NASA . 

But these changes are mild compared to what Earth's magnetic field has done in the past. A few times in every million years or so, the field completely flips, with the North and the South poles swapping places. The magnetic field can take anywhere from 100 to 3,000 years to complete the flip, Space.com previously reported .

The strength of Earth's magnetic field decreased by about 90 percent when a field reversal occurred in ancient past, according to Andrew Roberts, a professor at the Australian National University. The drop makes the planet more vulnerable to solar storms and radiation, which could significantly damage satellites as well as communication and electrical infrastructure.

"Hopefully, such an event is a long way in the future and we can develop future technologies to avoid huge damage," Roberts said in a statement .

When charged particles from the sun get trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they smash into air molecules above the magnetic poles, causing them to glow. This phenomenon is known as the auroras , the northern and southern lights.

Earth's atmosphere is roughly 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, with trace amounts of water, argon, carbon dioxide and other gases. No other planet in the solar system has an atmosphere loaded with free oxygen, which is vital to one of the other unique features of Earth: life.

Air surrounds Earth and becomes thinner farther from the surface. Roughly 100 miles (160 km) above Earth, the air is so thin that satellites can zip through the atmosphere with little resistance. Still, traces of atmosphere can be found as high as 370 miles (600 km) above the planet's surface.

The lowest layer of the atmosphere is known as the troposphere, which is constantly in motion and why we have weather. Sunlight heats the planet's surface, causing warm air to rise into the troposphere. This air expands and cools as air pressure decreases, and because this cool air is denser than its surroundings, it then sinks and gets warmed by the Earth again.

Above the troposphere, some 30 miles (48 km) above the Earth's surface, is the stratosphere. The still air of the stratosphere contains the ozone layer, which was created when ultraviolet light caused trios of oxygen atoms to bind together into ozone molecules. Ozone prevents most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching Earth's surface, where it can damage and mutate life.

Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun, warming Earth. Without this so-called " greenhouse effect ," Earth would probably be too cold for life to exist, although a runaway greenhouse effect led to the hellish conditions of Venus' current surface.

Earth-orbiting satellites have shown that the upper atmosphere actually expands during the day and contracts at night due to heating and cooling.

Earth's chemical composition

Oxygen is the most abundant element in rocks in Earth's crust, composing roughly 47 percent of the weight of all rock. The second most abundant element is silicon , at 27 percent, followed by aluminum , at 8 percent; iron , at 5%; calcium , at 4%; and sodium , potassium and magnesium , at about 2% each.

Earth's core consists mostly of iron and nickel and potentially smaller amounts of lighter elements, such as sulfur and oxygen. The mantle is made of iron and magnesium-rich silicate rocks (the combination of silicon and oxygen is known as silica, and minerals that contain silica are known as silicate minerals).

Earth's moon is 2,159 miles (3,474 km) wide, about one fourth of Earth's diameter. Our planet has one moon, while Mercury and Venus have none and all the other planets in our solar system have two or more.

The leading explanation for how Earth's moon formed is that a giant impact knocked the raw ingredients for the moon off the primitive, molten Earth and into orbit. Scientists have suggested that the object that hit the planet had roughly 10% the mass of Earth — about the size of Mars.

Astronauts and scientists have learned a lot about our planet by leaving it. From 240 miles (408 kilometers) away, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts are able to observe the thin, fragile atmosphere of Earth. 

Meanwhile, satellites orbiting Earth can track the planet's responses to changes —caused naturally and by humans– on a greater scale. Satellites have been launched to detect changes in the hole in the ozone layer, monitor cloud coverage and weather patterns and manage humans' use of Earth's resources. 

Earth is the only planet in the universe known to possess life. The planet boasts several million described species, living in habitats ranging from the bottom of the deepest ocean to a few miles up into the atmosphere. Researchers think far more species remain that have yet to be described to science.

Researchers suspect that other candidates for hosting life in our solar system — such as Saturn's moon Titan or Jupiter's moon Europa — could house primitive living creatures. Scientists have yet to precisely nail down exactly how our primitive ancestors first showed up on Earth, although most believe that a chemical soup on the planet gave rise to the building blocks of living organisms. (The precise set of circumstances necessary to create life from a lifeless planet are pretty unlikely, according to previous Space.com report , so it seems we got very lucky.)

Read more from Live Science: How did life arise on Earth?

Another theory suggests that life first evolved on the nearby planet Mars, which could once have been habitable, then traveled to Earth on meteorites hurled from the Red Planet by impacts from other space rocks.

"It's lucky that we ended up here, nevertheless, as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life," biochemist Steven Benner, of the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in Florida, told Space.com . "If our hypothetical Martian ancestors had remained on Mars, there might not have been a story to tell."

Additional resources

• Read more about our planet in " A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters " (Custom House, 2021) by Andrew H. Knoll.
• Check out NASA 's page all about planet Earth.
• Consider a different perspective from Discover Magazine about what makes Earth unique: its minerals.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Space.com and Live Science. He covers all things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica. Visit him at http://www.sciwriter.us

NASA gets $25.4 billion in White House's 2025 budget request

'Interstellar meteor' vibrations actually caused by a truck, study suggests

Total solar eclipse 2024: Live updates

Most Popular

By Tantse Walter February 06, 2024

By Fran Ruiz January 29, 2024

By Fran Ruiz January 26, 2024

By Conor Feehly January 05, 2024

By Keith Cooper December 22, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 20, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 19, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 18, 2023

By Tantse Walter December 18, 2023

By Robert Lea December 05, 2023

By Robert Lea December 04, 2023

• 2 In Indiana, the best spot to see the 2024 solar eclipse is wherever you are
• 3 Chasing the 2024 solar eclipse means dorm life for some New York spectators (including me)
• 4 The total solar eclipse 2024 is happening today! Here's what you need to know
• 5 Maya nobility performed bloodletting sacrifices to strengthen a 'dying' sun god during solar eclipses

Home — Essay Samples — Science — Earth Science — The Beauty of Earth: An Essay on the Magnificence of Our Planet

The Beauty of Earth: an Essay on The Magnificence of Our Planet

• Categories: Earth Science

About this sample

Words: 598 |

Published: Mar 8, 2024

Words: 598 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

The natural wonders of earth, the diverse inhabitants of earth, preserving the beauty of earth.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Science

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 678 words

1 pages / 608 words

1 pages / 358 words

3 pages / 1505 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Earth Science

Similarities Between Natural Sciences And HistoryIntroduction:Imagine walking through a vast library, with shelves upon shelves of books stretching out in every direction. On one side, you see volumes dedicated to the mysteries [...]

Science, the systematic study of the natural world, plays a vital role in our everyday lives. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, we are surrounded by the wonders of science. It is [...]

The Earth is like a giant layer cake made up of many different layers and different fillings. Except the Earth fillings are not made up of good tasting frosting and cake but more rocks and metal. There are four different layers [...]

The of the State of Tennessee is very diverse. This is characterized by the variety of landscapes in the area. Tennessee landscape is majorly made up of these landforms; river valley plains, highlands and basins, and mountains. [...]

Carbon in its various forms has been known since ancient times in the form of soot, charcoal, graphite and diamonds. Its name is derived from a Latin word "carbo" which means "charcoal". Ancient cultures did not realize, of [...]

Basaltic magma - SiO2 45-55 wt%, high in Fe, Mg, Ca, low in K, NaAndesitic magma - SiO2 55-65 wt%, intermediate. in Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, KRhyolitic magma - SiO2 65-75%, low in Fe, Mg, Ca, high in K, NaTemperature of magmas is [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Suggested Searches

• Climate Change
• Expedition 64
• Mars perseverance
• SpaceX Crew-2
• International Space Station
• View All Topics A-Z

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

NASA Receives 13 Nominations for the 28th Annual Webby Awards

Through Astronaut Eyes, Virtual Reality Propels Gateway Forward  

How NASA Spotted El Niño Changing the Saltiness of Coastal Waters

• Search All NASA Missions
• A to Z List of Missions
• Upcoming Launches and Landings
• Spaceships and Rockets
• Communicating with Missions
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Why Go to Space
• Astronauts Home
• Commercial Space
• Destinations
• Living in Space
• Explore Earth Science
• Earth, Our Planet
• Earth Science in Action
• Earth Multimedia
• Earth Science Researchers
• Pluto & Dwarf Planets
• Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
• The Kuiper Belt
• The Oort Cloud
• Skywatching
• The Search for Life in the Universe
• Black Holes
• The Big Bang
• Dark Energy & Dark Matter
• Earth Science
• Planetary Science
• Astrophysics & Space Science
• The Sun & Heliophysics
• Biological & Physical Sciences
• Lunar Science
• Citizen Science
• Astromaterials
• Aeronautics Research
• Human Space Travel Research
• Science in the Air
• NASA Aircraft
• Flight Innovation
• Supersonic Flight
• Air Traffic Solutions
• Green Aviation Tech
• Drones & You
• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Space Travel Technology
• Technology Living in Space
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Science Instruments
• For Kids and Students
• For Educators
• For Colleges and Universities
• For Professionals
• Science for Everyone
• Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
• STEM Engagement at NASA
• NASA's Impacts
• Centers and Facilities
• Directorates
• Organizations
• People of NASA
• Internships
• Our History
• Doing Business with NASA
• Get Involved
• Aeronáutica
• Ciencias Terrestres
• Sistema Solar
• All NASA News
• Video Series on NASA+
• Newsletters
• Social Media
• Media Resources
• Upcoming Launches & Landings
• Virtual Events
• Sounds and Ringtones
• Interactives
• STEM Multimedia

NASA Technology Helps Guard Against Lunar Dust

From NASA’s First Astronaut Class to Artemis II: The Importance of Military Jet Pilot Experience

NASA Shares Medical Expertise with New Space Station Partners

Commercial Space Frequently Asked Questions

NASA’s Lola Fatoyinbo Receives Royal Geographical Society Prize

Earth Day Toolkit

More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science

NASA Names Finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge

NASA’s LRO Finds Photo Op as It Zips Past SKorea’s Danuri Moon Orbiter

NASA’s New Hubble E-Book Spotlights Universe’s Best-Kept Dark Secrets

Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies

SRPD Gamma-ray Astrophysics

Making Ultra-fast Electron Measurements in Multiple Directions to Reveal the Secrets of the Aurora

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry

ARMD Solicitations

Tech Today: Synthetic DNA Diagnoses COVID, Cancer

David Woerner

NASA Partnerships Bring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse to Everyone

Launch Week Event Details

La presentación del X-59 de la NASA personifica la tradición aeronáutica

What is earth (grades 5-8), nasa stem team, what does earth look like, how do we know earth is round, how does earth move, why do we have day and night, why does earth have seasons, what are earth’s different parts, why and how does nasa study earth, more about earth.

This article is for students grades 5-8.

Earth is our home planet. Scientists believe Earth and its moon formed around the same time as the rest of the solar system. They think that was about 4.5 billion years ago. Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 8,000 miles. And Earth is the third-closest planet to the sun. Its average distance from the sun is about 93 million miles. Only Mercury and Venus are closer.

Earth has been called the “Goldilocks planet.” In the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” a little girl named Goldilocks liked everything just right. Her porridge couldn’t be too hot or too cold. And her bed couldn’t be too hard or too soft. On Earth, everything is just right for life to exist. It’s warm, but not too warm. And it has water, but not too much water.

Earth is the only planet known to have large amounts of liquid water. Liquid water is essential for life. Earth is the only planet where life is known to exist.

From space, Earth looks like a blue marble with white swirls and areas of brown, yellow, green and white. The blue is water, which covers about 71 percent of Earth’s surface. The white swirls are clouds. The areas of brown, yellow and green are land. And the areas of white are ice and snow.

The equator is an imaginary circle that divides Earth into two halves. The northern half is called the Northern Hemisphere. The southern half is called the Southern Hemisphere. The northernmost point on Earth is called the North Pole. The southernmost point on Earth is called the South Pole.

Humans have known that Earth is round for more than 2,000 years! The ancient Greeks measured shadows during summer solstice and also calculated Earth’s circumference. They used positions of stars and constellations to estimate distances on Earth. They could even see the planet’s round shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse. (We still can see this during lunar eclipses.)

Today, scientists use geodesy, which is the science of measuring Earth’s shape, gravity and rotation. Geodesy provides accurate measurements that show Earth is round. With GPS and other satellites, scientists can measure Earth’s size and shape to within a centimeter. Pictures from space also show Earth is round like the moon.

Even though our planet is a sphere, it is not a perfect sphere. Because of the force caused when Earth rotates, the North and South Poles are slightly flat. Earth’s rotation, wobbly motion and other forces are making the planet change shape very slowly, but it is still round.

Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days, or one year. The shape of its orbit is not quite a perfect circle. It’s more like an oval, which causes Earth’s distance from the sun to vary during the year. Earth is nearest the sun, or at “perihelion,” in January when it’s about 91 million miles away. Earth is farthest from the sun, or at “aphelion,” in July when it’s about 95 million miles away.

At the equator, Earth spins at just over 1,000 miles per hour. Earth makes a full spin around its axis once every 24 hours, or one day. The axis is an imaginary line through the center of the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole. Rather than straight up and down, Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees.

At all times, half of Earth is lighted by the sun and half is in darkness. Areas facing toward the sun experience daytime. Areas facing away from the sun experience nighttime. As the planet spins, most places on Earth cycle through day and night once every 24 hours. The North Pole and South Pole have continuous daylight or darkness depending on the time of year.

Earth has seasons because its axis is tilted. Thus, the sun’s rays hit different parts of the planet more directly depending on the time of year.

From June to August, the sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere more directly than the Southern Hemisphere. The result is warm (summer) weather in the Northern Hemisphere and cold (winter) weather in the Southern Hemisphere.

From December to February, the sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere less directly than the Southern Hemisphere. The result is cold (winter) weather in the Northern Hemisphere and warm (summer) weather in the Southern Hemisphere.

From September to November, the sun shines equally on both hemispheres. The result is fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sun also shines equally on both hemispheres from March to May. The result is spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

Earth consists of land, air, water and life. The land contains mountains, valleys and flat areas. The air is made up of different gases, mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The water includes oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, rain, snow and ice. Life consists of people, animals and plants. There are millions of species, or kinds of life, on Earth. Their sizes range from very tiny to very large.

Below Earth’s surface are layers of rock and metal. Temperatures increase with depth, all the way to about 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit at Earth’s inner core.

Earth’s parts once were seen as largely separate from each other. But now they are viewed together as the “Earth system.” Each part connects to and affects each of the other parts. For example:

• Clouds in the air drop rain and snow on land.
• Water gives life to plants and animals.
• Volcanoes on land send gas and dust into the air.
• People breathe air and drink water.

Earth system science is the study of interactions between and among Earth’s different parts.

NASA studies Earth to learn about how the planet changes. Earth’s parts – land, air, water and life – are always changing. Some of the changes are natural and some are caused by humans. Scientists want to understand how Earth has changed in the past and how it is changing now. This information helps them predict how Earth might change in the future.

NASA studies Earth using satellites. Satellites look toward Earth from space. They take pictures of, and collect information about, all of Earth’s parts. NASA satellites are especially good for observing clouds, oceans, land and ice. They also measure gases in the atmosphere, such as ozone and carbon dioxide. They measure how much energy enters and leaves Earth’s atmosphere. And they monitor wildfires, volcanoes and their smoke.

Information gathered by NASA satellites helps scientists predict weather and climate. It also helps public health officials track disease and famine. It helps farmers decide when to plant crops and what kinds to plant. And it helps emergency workers respond to natural disasters.

The more people know about Earth and its current and predicted changes, the better decisions they can make.

Earth: NASA’s Space Place Earth: 10 Need-To-Know Things Earth Image Gallery Earth: Our Home Planet NASA’s Visible Earth Earth Image of the Day Why Are Planets Round? Space Place in a Snap: The Solar System’s Formation What Is a Satellite?

Read What Is Earth? (Grades K-4)

• Science Notes Posts
• Contact Science Notes
• Todd Helmenstine Biography
• Anne Helmenstine Biography
• Free Printable Periodic Tables (PDF and PNG)
• Periodic Table Wallpapers
• Interactive Periodic Table
• Periodic Table Posters
• How to Grow Crystals
• Chemistry Projects
• Fire and Flames Projects
• Holiday Science
• Chemistry Problems With Answers
• Physics Problems
• Unit Conversion Example Problems
• Chemistry Worksheets
• Biology Worksheets
• Periodic Table Worksheets
• Physical Science Worksheets
• Science Lab Worksheets
• My Amazon Books

Layers of the Earth

The Earth, like an onion, consists of several concentric layers, each with its own unique set of properties and characteristics. The four primary layers are the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. However, geologists subdivide these layers into a complex structure that better describes the Earth’s intricate composition and behavior. Let’s start with the basic four-layer model before delving into greater detail.

The 4 Basic Layers of the Earth

The crust is the Earth’s outermost layer and it’s where we live. It has an irregular thickness, varying from about 5 km beneath the oceans (oceanic crust) to about 30 km beneath the continents (continental crust). The crust mainly consists of lighter rocks , such as basalt in the oceanic crust and granite in the continental crust.

The Mohorovičić discontinuity, often referred to as the Moho, is the boundary between the Earth’s crust and the mantle. Named after the Croatian seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić who discovered it in 1909, the Moho occurs from 5 to 10 kilometers beneath the ocean floor to about 20 to 70 kilometers beneath continental interiors.

The significance of the Moho discontinuity lies in the change in seismic wave velocities that it represents. Seismic waves from earthquakes travel at different speeds depending on the material they move through. Mohorovičić noted that seismic waves speed up abruptly below certain depths. This observation led him to conclude that Earth has a layered structure. The Moho represents the transition from the relatively low- density crust to the higher-density mantle.

Beneath the crust lies the mantle, extending to a depth of about 2,900 km. It contains silicate rocks that are rich in iron and magnesium . There are two sections of the mantle: the upper mantle, which is more rigid and behaves elastically on short time scales, and the lower mantle, which is solid but flows on geological timescales.

The Outer Core

The outer core extends from 2,900 km to about 5,150 km beneath the Earth’s surface. It mainly consists of liquid iron and nickel . The motion within this layer generates the Earth’s magnetic field.

The Inner Core

The inner core is the central part of the Earth. It extends from a depth of about 5,150 km to the Earth’s center at about 6,371 km. Although it is very hot, the inner core is solid due to the immense pressure at this depth. It’s composed primarily of iron, with minor amounts of nickel and other lighter elements.

Detailed Layer Model of the Earth

For a more intricate understanding of the Earth’s structure, geologists divide the layers of the Earth a bit differently, based on their physical and chemical properties.

1. The Lithosphere

The lithosphere, about 10 to 200 km thick, includes the uppermost mantle and the crust. It’s rigid and breaks under stress, which is why it’s broken up into tectonic plates . The lithosphere varies in thickness, being thinner at oceanic ridges and thicker beneath older oceanic and continental regions.

2. The Asthenosphere

Beneath the lithosphere, from about 100 to 350 km, lies the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere is the part of the upper mantle that exhibits plastic (or ductile) behavior. The tectonic plates slide around on top of this layer. It’s composed of similar material to the rest of the upper mantle – mainly peridotite, a rock rich in silicate minerals.

3. The Mesosphere

Below the asthenosphere and extending to about 2,900 km is the mesosphere or lower mantle. The mesosphere is a region of strong, rigid rocks that deform slowly under the intense heat and pressure. It’s composed of silicate minerals that change in structure with depth due to increasing pressure.

4. The Outer Core

The outer core spans from 2,900 to about 5,150 km deep. The convection currents within this liquid layer create the Earth’s magnetosphere through a dynamo effect.

5. The Inner Core

The inner core extends from 5,150 km to the center of the Earth at about 6,371 km. In recent years, it has been suggested that the inner core itself may have an inner-inner core with distinct physical properties, but this remains an area of active research.

Physical Properties of the Earth’s Layers

Each of these layers has unique physical properties, including temperature, pressure, density, and composition. The crust and uppermost mantle (lithosphere) are cool and rigid, while the asthenosphere is partially molten and plastic. Deeper in the Earth, temperatures and pressures rise dramatically. The core, for example, has temperatures similar to the Sun’s surface and pressures more than 3 million times atmospheric pressure.

The Earth’s density also increases with depth, from around 2.2 g/cm³ in the crust to over 13 g/cm³ in the core. This density gradient is due to both increasing pressure and changes in composition.

In terms of composition, the crust is mostly silicate rocks and oxygen, while the core is largely iron and nickel. The mantle, which comprises the majority of Earth’s volume, is predominantly composed of silicate minerals rich in iron and magnesium.

10 Facts About the Layers of the Earth

Now, let’s explore ten interesting facts about the layers of the Earth:

• Thickest Layer: The mantle is the thickest layer of the Earth, accounting for about 84% of the Earth’s volume. It extends approximately 2,900 kilometers beneath the crust, which makes it nearly twice the thickness of the Earth’s outer and inner cores combined.
• Pressure: The pressure of the inner core at the Earth’s center is extreme. Estimates place it at over 3.5 million times greater than the pressure at sea level.
• Temperature: The temperature of the core is similar to that of the Sun’s surface, around 5,500 degrees Celsius.
• Dynamo Effect: The Earth’s magnetic field results from the convection of liquid iron and nickel in the outer core, a phenomenon known as the dynamo effect.
• Oceanic vs. Continental Crust: Oceanic crust is thinner and denser than continental crust. The average thickness of oceanic crust is 5 km, while continental crust averages around 35 km.
• Crust Composition: The crust is primarily composed of silicate rocks. The oceanic crust is mainly basalt, and the continental crust is primarily granite.
• Tectonic Plates: The Earth’s lithosphere is broken into variously sized “tectonic plates.” It’s the movement of these plates that causes earthquakes, volcanic activity, and the creation of mountain ranges.
• Asthenosphere Behavior: Despite being solid, the asthenosphere flows over geologic time scales, which assists the movement of the tectonic plates of the lithosphere.
• Core Composition: The core is primarily composed of iron, with smaller amounts of nickel and other lighter elements. It’s also believed that there might be “oceans” of liquid iron in the core.
• Inner Core Anomaly: Recent studies suggest that the inner core itself may have an “inner inner core” with distinctive physical properties, although this is still a topic of ongoing research.

Layers of the Earth Worksheet

Quiz yourself!

[ Google Apps worksheet ][ worksheet PDF ][ worksheet PNG ][ answers PNG ]

• Engdahl, E.R.; Flinn, E.A.; Massé, R.P. (1974). “Differential PKiKP travel times and the radius of the inner core”. Geophysical Journal International . 39 (3): 457–463. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1974.tb05467.x
• Harris, P. (1972). “ The Composition of the Earth “. In Gass, I. G.; et al. (eds.). Understanding the Earth: A Reader in the Earth Sciences . Horsham: Artemis Press for the Open University Press. ISBN 978-0-85141-308-2.
• Haynes, William M.; David R., Lide; Bruno, Thomas J., eds. (2017). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (97th ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4987-5429-3.
• O’Reilly, Suzanne Y.; Griffin, W.L. (December 2013). “Moho vs crust–mantle boundary: Evolution of an idea”. Tectonophysics . 609: 535–546. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.12.031
• Rogers, N., ed. (2008). An Introduction to Our Dynamic Planet . Cambridge University Press and The Open University. ISBN 978-0-521-49424-3.

Related Posts

Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics Essay

Aquatic biome, deserts biome, forest biome, grasslands biome, tundra biome, forest sustainability threats.

The aquatic biome is the largest of all biomes on the planet, covering about 75% of its surface, providing the majority of the oxygen we breathe. It is divided into two sections: freshwater and marine (Aquatic Biome, 2020). Salt concentrations are poor in freshwater areas such as lakes and rivers and higher in marine areas like estuaries and the ocean. Oceans are divided into four zones: Intertidal, Pelagic, Benthic, and Abyssal.

Animals living in the aquatic biome learned to adapt to their nature. For example, many species manage to live in the deepest parts of the ocean, which are too dark to support photosynthesis. Coral reefs are home to thousands of different fish species. River and stream mouths have more sediment and less oxygen, resulting in species like carp and catfish that need less oxygen to survive. The soils, the pattern and pace of water flow, and the local environment all affect freshwater ecosystems.

In the last 30 years, the world has lost 50 percent of its coral. If the others disappear, the results would be catastrophic. Without reefs, billions of marine creatures would perish, millions of people would lose their primary source of food, and economies would suffer.

Around one-fifth of the Earth’s surface is covered by the desert biome. Depending on the form of the desert, this biome has a layer of soil that can be sandy, gravelly, or stony (Desert Biome, 2020). Several features can be used to distinguish desert biomes. Deserts are divided into four categories: hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold (Desert Biome, 2020).

Cacti in the Americas can consume and store water, allowing them to endure prolonged droughts. Animals have evolved to extract water from the food they consume and to retain what little water they do have.

If cacti are removed from the desert biome birds that nest on them will no longer have a habitat, so they will migrate to other areas with a more suitable ecosystem. The number of birds in this ecosystem will be decreased as a result of this. Consequently, since a predator has been eliminated from the environment, the animals that were fed by the birds would have the opportunity to multiply in numbers.

Forests now occupy about one-third of the world’s land surface and can be found in a variety of terrestrial environments around the world. Temperate forests, tropical forests, and boreal forests are the three main types of forests. The forest biome plays a significant role in global carbon dioxide absorption and oxygen production;

Because of the four distinct seasons at these latitudes, temperate forests experience a wide range of temperatures during the year, which has adapted the flora and fauna of the area. Tropical rainforests, with their mild climate (temperatures ranging from 20 to 31°C), are the epitome of biodiversity. Since temperatures in boreal forests are usually below zero, the animals that live there have adapted to be accustomed to such conditions.

A cascading extinction cycle could occur if bonobos were to vanish from all of their habitats. Not only would the trees perish, but many of the other animals that depend on them for food or shelter would also perish. It’s referred to as “empty forest syndrome.”(Platt, 2015)

Grasslands are described as areas where grasses predominate over large shrubs or trees. There are two types of grasslands in the grasslands biome: temperate grasslands and tropical grasslands. They are often found between temperate forests and deserts at high latitudes and subtropical latitudes.

Low rainfall, wildfires, and livestock grazing are three factors that keep grasslands alive. Grassland habitats are often maintained by periodic fires. Grasses have evolved to recover quickly after a burn. Its animals are often fire-ready, fleeing or burrowing underground to escape the flames. Large animals, such as African elephants, can trample the ground, preventing trees from growing.

Prairie dogs’ extinction would result from a predator-prey mismatch, which would result in the extinction of threatened specialist predators. Since prairie dogs make up such a large part of the fauna, there will almost certainly be more competition among predators for the limited food sources.

Frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons are all features of the tundra. This biome has a short growing season, followed by harsh conditions that require unique adaptations for plants and animals to survive. Tundra grows in two types of climates: cold and dry. Arctic tundra can be found on high-latitude landmasses, while Alpine tundra can be found at extremely high elevations atop mountains, where temperatures drop below zero at night.

Tiny shrubs, grasses, mosses, sedges, and lichens make up the tundra’s patchy, low-to-ground vegetation, which is ideally suited to withstand tundra conditions. Animals in the tundra are also accustomed to harsh environments, and they take advantage of the brief growing season’s temporary explosion of plant and insect life.

In several respects, the arctic fox is an important part of the arctic food system. Many species would overpopulate if the arctic fox went extinct, and they would struggle to find enough food. Another risk is that the arctic fox’s predators would be unable to find food, allowing the animal to become vulnerable or extinct.

A number of destructive agents have long endangered forests. As a result of human activities and global climate change, natural disasters are becoming more frequent, intense, and time, making forest habitats much more vulnerable to destruction.

• Climate change is one of the most pressing issues confronting humanity today. Although forests may aid in the fight against climate change, they are also extremely vulnerable to changing weather patterns.
• Deforestation has the potential to have a significant negative effect on forest biodiversity. It is responsible for the loss of 13 million hectares of land per year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2020). While it will take 1000 years for some tropical forests to re-establish their biodiversity, others have already been irreversibly affected.
• Natural disasters are combining with climate change to accelerate the degrading of forests. Many trees would be unable to recover as temperatures rise, favoring more extreme wildfires. In addition to fires, floods and hurricane-force winds have become more common, causing forest destruction.

Aquatic Biome. (2020). National Geographic Society. Web.

Desert Biome. (2020). National Geographic Society. Web.

FAO. (2020). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020. FAO. Web.

Platt, J. R. (2015). If Apes Go Extinct, So Could Entire Forests. Scientific American Blog Network. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, October 12). Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics. https://ivypanda.com/essays/biomes-of-the-earth-and-their-characteristics/

"Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics." IvyPanda , 12 Oct. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/biomes-of-the-earth-and-their-characteristics/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics'. 12 October.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics." October 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/biomes-of-the-earth-and-their-characteristics/.

1. IvyPanda . "Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics." October 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/biomes-of-the-earth-and-their-characteristics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Biomes of the Earth and Their Characteristics." October 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/biomes-of-the-earth-and-their-characteristics/.

• Tundra Biome: Environmental Impacts on Organisms
• The Tundra Biome and Its Keystone Species
• The Biome and Ecosystem Concepts and Importance
• The Temperate Forest Biome's Greatest Sustainability Threats
• Environmental Anthropology and Human Survival at The Arctic Biome
• Sustainability and Human Impact on Environment
• Adaptations of trees in the rainforest biomes
• Biomes and Ecosystems: Aquatic & Coral Reefs
• Ecotourism in Tropical Biome: Preserving New Zealand
• Polar Ice Caps in Antarctica and the Arctic
• Conserving Biodiversity: The Loggerhead Turtle
• Salt and Drinking Water Shortage
• Camel Grazing, Species Diversity and Community Structure in the Deserts of the UAE
• Aspects of Ecosystems
• Language Without Numbers: Relationships Among Ecosystem Services

Essay on Our Beautiful Earth

Students are often asked to write an essay on Our Beautiful Earth in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Our Beautiful Earth

Introduction.

Our Beautiful Earth is a unique planet brimming with life and beauty. It’s the only known celestial body to support life, making it extraordinary.

Earth’s Beauty

Earth’s beauty is diverse, from towering mountains to deep oceans. The changing seasons further enhance its charm, each bringing its own magic.

Nature’s Wonders

The Earth is home to various species of plants and animals. The diversity in ecosystems, from dense forests to arid deserts, is truly amazing.

Our Responsibility

As inhabitants, it’s our responsibility to preserve Earth’s beauty. By practicing sustainable living, we can ensure a healthy planet for future generations.

250 Words Essay on Our Beautiful Earth

Introduction: a blue marble in space.

Our beautiful Earth, a celestial body in the solar system, is an awe-inspiring testament to the universe’s capacity for life. It is a unique oasis, a ‘blue marble’ as seen from space, with its swirling clouds, blue oceans, and green landmasses.

The Earth’s Biodiversity

Earth’s biodiversity is a marvel, with millions of species coexisting in various ecosystems. From the microscopic organisms dwelling in the deepest trenches of the oceans to the gigantic mammals roaming the vast savannahs, Earth is a cradle of life. The intricate web of life forms an interconnected system, where each species plays a crucial role in maintaining the overall balance.

Earth’s Geographical Wonders

The geographical wonders of Earth are equally mesmerizing. Towering mountain ranges, expansive deserts, lush rainforests, tranquil lakes, and roaring rivers all contribute to the planet’s stunning beauty. Each geographical feature represents a different facet of Earth’s dynamic nature, shaped by millions of years of geological processes.

Human Interaction with Earth

Humans, as intelligent beings, have the privilege and responsibility of interacting with Earth in a mindful manner. Our actions can either enhance Earth’s beauty or lead to its degradation. The current environmental crisis is a stark reminder of the consequences of irresponsible interaction. Therefore, it is imperative to adopt sustainable practices to preserve Earth’s beauty for future generations.

Conclusion: A Call for Preservation

Our beautiful Earth is an irreplaceable gem in the vast cosmos. As we marvel at its beauty, we must also remember our duty to protect and preserve it. The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth. In this understanding lies the key to ensuring the continued beauty and vitality of our shared home.

500 Words Essay on Our Beautiful Earth

The splendor of our beautiful earth.

The Earth, our shared home, is an enchanting spectacle of life, diversity, and beauty. Its grandeur is not confined to its biological diversity, but extends to its geographical peculiarities, climatic variations, and the intricate harmony that exists among its various elements.

Geographical Diversity

Earth’s geographical diversity is a testament to its beauty. From the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sandy dunes of the Sahara, the geographical variations are profound. The verdant Amazon rainforest, the expansive savannas of Africa, the serene beaches of the Caribbean, and the icy landscapes of the Arctic, all contribute to the Earth’s stunning panorama. Each geographical feature holds a unique charm, offering a different perspective of beauty.

Climatic Variations

The climatic variations on Earth further add to its allure. The Earth’s tilt and revolution result in distinct seasons, each with its unique characteristics. The blossoming of flowers in spring, the warmth of summer, the falling leaves of autumn, and the serenity of winter, all present a cyclic spectacle of change and renewal. These climatic variations not only add to the Earth’s beauty but also play a crucial role in the survival and evolution of various species.

Biodiversity: The Earth’s Living Tapestry

Earth’s biodiversity is another aspect that accentuates its beauty. It is home to an estimated 8.7 million species, each with its unique traits and roles in the ecosystem. From the microscopic organisms in the ocean depths to the majestic elephants in the African plains, life on Earth is a vibrant tapestry of interdependence and co-existence. This biodiversity is a testament to the Earth’s capacity to sustain life in all its forms, adding to the planet’s aesthetic and intrinsic value.

The Harmony of Earth

Perhaps the most striking feature of our beautiful Earth is the harmony that exists among its various elements. The water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle are all examples of how different components of the Earth interact to maintain balance. This intricate harmony is a testament to the Earth’s resilience and its ability to support life. The Earth’s beauty lies not just in its individual components, but in the way these components interact and co-exist to create a balanced and sustainable system.

While we marvel at the Earth’s beauty, we must also acknowledge our responsibility towards its preservation. The Earth’s beauty is under threat due to human activities like deforestation, pollution, and climate change. As inhabitants of this beautiful planet, it is our duty to protect and preserve it for future generations.

In conclusion, our Earth is a beautiful entity, a complex amalgamation of various elements working in harmony. Its beauty lies in its diversity, its capacity to sustain life, and its resilience. As we continue to explore and understand our planet, let’s also strive to protect and preserve its beauty. After all, there is no Planet B.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on My Earth My Responsibility
• Essay on Importance of Earth
• Essay on Importance of Earth Day

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Characteristics of the Earth

Earth's relationship with the sun, life on earth, atmospheric layers, the earth's crust.

Image provided by nineplanets.org

Our planet Earth is a rotating sphere that orbits the Sun.

The main characteristic of Earth is its relationship with the Sun

The Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Its unique position gives the Earth a temperate climate , allowing the chemical reactions necessary to sustain life.

The Earth goes around the Sun in a counterclockwise orbit, taking a year or about 365 days to make one revolution . The orbit is an ellipse, so the Sun is not centered.

The average distance from the Sun is 149,597,890 kilometres (92,955,820 miles). It takes light about 8 minutes to reach the Earth from the Sun.

Another characteristic of Earth is that its spins or rotates on its axis of 23 ½ ˚ in a counterclockwise motion, as viewed from above the North Pole . It makes one revolution (one complete turn) in 24 hours. As a result, the spinning of the Earth on its axis is what causes the Sun to appear to move across the sky.

Image provided by solarsystemscope.com

Axis affects seasons

The Earth’s axis also impacts the changes of the seasons. Furthermore, another characteristic of Earth is that in summer, the Earth is tilted and causes the Sun to fall more directly on the equator, while in winter the Sun looks in the Southern Hemisphere and the light is at an angle. The tilt of the Earth also causes the summer days to be longer than the nights. In contrast, the days are shorter in winter and there is less light to heat the ground thus the cold temperatures.

The further north you go, the more the effect of the tilt of the Earth is apparent. Above the Arctic Circle, daylight can be seen for a full 24 hours in the summer or night can be 24 hours in the winter. That is why they call the area “the land of the midnight sun.”

Earth is characterized as being the only planet in the universe known to possess life. The planet boasts several million species of life, living in habitats ranging from the bottom of the deepest ocean to a few miles into the atmosphere.

The Earth has only one moon. Earth’s moon is 2,159 miles (3,474 km) wide, about one-fourth of Earth’s diameter.

The diameter of the Earth at the equator is 12,756 km (7,926 miles), and its circumference or distance around the Earth at the equator is 40,075 km (24,901 miles).

Composition

The composition’s characteristics of Earth consists of the solid and liquid portion and the atmosphere or gaseous portion. Water covers roughly 71 percent of Earth’s surface, and most of that is in the oceans.

Solid and liquid

The percentage composition of the Earth’s solid and liquid materials (by mass) is:

• Oxygen is chemically combined with many substances to produce liquid and solid compounds. Although water ( H 2 O ) is a dominant compound on Earth, Hydrogen is not listed above because of its small mass.
• Silicon Dioxide ( SiO 2 ) is sand, and that compound makes up a large portion of the Earth’s mass. Much of the Iron is in the Earth’s core and is responsible for the Earth’s magnetic field.

The atmosphere of the Earth consists of 79% Nitrogen ( N 2 ), 20% Oxygen ( O 2 ) and 1% of other gases such as Carbon Dioxide ( CO 2 ).

Force Field

The Earth has two major force fields: gravity and magnetism.

Gravity is the force at a distance that attracts objects of mass toward each other. The force of gravity from the Earth holds down our atmosphere, oceans, and everything else.

Composition of the Earth's crust.

Magnetic Field

The Earth is like a giant magnet with a magnetic pole near the North Pole and the opposite near the South Pole. The north pole of a magnet seeks the North Magnetic Pole. The rotation of the Earth and the core of the Earth is made of iron are major factors in creating the magnetic field.

Troposphere The troposphere starts at the Earth’s surface and extends 8 to 14.5 kilometers high (5 to 9 miles). This part of the atmosphere is the densest. Almost all weather is in this region.

Stratosphere The stratosphere starts just above the troposphere and extends to 50 kilometers (31 miles) high. The ozone layer, which absorbs and scatters the solar ultraviolet radiation, is in this layer. Mesosphere The mesosphere starts just above the stratosphere and extends to 85 kilometers (53 miles) high. Meteors burn up in this layer.

Image provided by smart2zero.com

Thermosphere The thermosphere starts just above the mesosphere and extends to 600 kilometers (372 miles) high. Aurora and satellites occur in this layer. Ionosphere The ionosphere is an abundant layer of electrons and ionized atoms and molecules that stretches from about 48 kilometers (30 miles) above the surface to the edge of space at about 965 km (600 mi), overlapping into the mesosphere and thermosphere. This dynamic region grows and shrinks based on solar conditions and divides further into the sub-regions: D, E and F; based on what wavelength of solar radiation is absorbed. In the same way, the ionosphere is a critical link in the chain of Sun-Earth interactions. This region is what makes radio communications possible. Exosphere This is the upper limit of our atmosphere. It extends from the top of the thermosphere up to 10,000 km (6,200 mi).

The Earth’s Crust

The inner core

This solid metal ball has a radius of 1,220 kilometers. It’s located almost 6,400 to 5,180 kilometers beneath Earth’s surface. It’s made mostly of iron and nickel which means that section is dense. Temperatures range at 5,400°C almost as hot as the surface of the sun.

The outer core

This part of the core is also made from liquefied iron and nickel. Furthermore, it sits between 5,180 to 2,880 kilometers below the surface of the Earth. The core is heated by radioactive decay and this liquid churns in huge, turbulent currents. Consequently, this generates electrical currents which generate Earth’s magnetic field. Earth’s magnetic field reverses about every 200,000 to 300,000 years.

Approximately 3,000 kilometers thick, this is Earth’s thickest layer. It starts a mere 30 kilometers beneath the surface. It is made mostly of iron, magnesium, and silicon, it is dense, hot, and semi-solid.

Earth’s crust is like the shell of a hard-boiled egg. It is extremely thin, cold, and brittle. The crust is made of relatively light elements such as silica, aluminum, and oxygen. Additionally, it is highly variable in its thickness. It may be as little as 5 kilometers thick or 30 to 70 kilometers thick. The crust is broken into big pieces, like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. These are known as tectonic plates. These move slowly at just 3 to 5 centimeters per year. Overtime these plates converge, pull apart (diverge) or slide past each other (destructive) which lead to most earthquakes and volcanoes.

Index of Key Terms

Earth’s crust

Troposphere

Stratosphere

Thermosphere

• Social Studies
• Mathematics
• Language Arts
• #ProjectPEP
• #ProjectSTEM

Privacy Overview

The Earth Element: Symbolism, Meaning, Functions and More

The earth element is the last element of the order of the Pancha mahabhutus and is called Prithvi in Sanskrit. All the other 4 elements combine to form the dense element of earth. Ether provides space to exist, air provides movement, fire manifests in the form of energy, and water acts as a bridge between the gaseous states (ether, air, and fire) and solid-state (earth).

Thus, the earth element represents the solid state of all 4 elements.

Mudras: The Yoga of The Hands

Know mudras for various health conditions and wellness

The solid structure of our body such as bones, cartilage, muscles, tendons, skin, nails, and hair are provided by this element.

It is a feminine element that nourishes and protects. This is one of the reasons why the earth is also referred to as Mother Earth.

Cool, stabilizing, dense, hard, rough, dull, heavy, dry, gross, clear are some qualities that can be related to it. 

A unique quality of this element is that it is the only element that helps you smell. Your nose, which has also been built and supported by the earth element gives you the inherent potential to smell.

Let us go into detail to understand this element.

The symbolism of earth Element

The earth element manifests itself in the form of loyalty, faith, a sense of responsibility, and ethics in human beings. It symbolizes prosperity, fertility, stability, orderliness, groundedness, sustenance, creativity, physical abundance, nourishment, solidity, dependability, security, permanence, intuition, introspection, and wisdom. 

Anything that you can smell, see, touch is being governed by this element.

The most physical form of earth that you can see is the earth that you live on. 

Let us see other symbolic meanings of the earth element.

As per Ayurveda, the Kapha dosha is made up of water and earth elements. Even though the dominant element is water, the earth element provides the stability and structure to the tissues and bones for this element to make these organs work properly.

And with the help of the water element, it also insulates the body by forming a layer of fat.

Most characteristics of the Kapha dosha apply to this element as well.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

In TCM, the shift in seasons from summer to fall is the season for the earth element. This season is a damp season where we need to nourish the earth element and focus on the digestive system.

And the organs that it governs are the spleen and the stomach. In 1180, the Chinese physician Li Dong Yuan formulated the Earth School because he thought that most diseases in the body occur due to the disruptive state of the digestive system. 

This thought can be related to the current scenario where it has been seen how the functioning of the gut helps build our immunity.

The Root chakra or the Muladhara is related to the earth element. This chakra is responsible for grounding, stability, vitality, a sense of security, and safety, which, interestingly, are also some characteristics of the earth element as well.

This chakra is also considered the dense out of all the 7 chakras, which, again, is quite similar to the earth element.

Functions of earth element in the body

It cannot be reiterated enough that the earth element gives all the other elements a solid structure to exist in the body. Just like how mother earth gives all the living beings a solid base to walk and live on, similarly, the muscles, tissues, bones, cells, hair, skin give the human body its structure.

The role of the earth element in forming a healthy fetus is also important. Samhanana, which means compactness of the body, is provided to the fetus by the earth element. The skeletal structure and the formation of other supporting structures, with the help of water, is all done by the earth element.

In short, the definition and form of each structure are formed by this element. So if you see an expecting mother craving earth-based foods, it means the fetus needs more earth elements to form a healthy baby.

Your sense of smell is also governed by the earth element. This is why we are able to smell air and water as they control the sense of smell is also governed by the earth element. The smell of earth after the rain is one of those unique smells that is relaxing to the mind.

So if you find an imbalance in your sense of smell, you know there is something wrong with your earth element.

Imbalances in the Earth Element

An imbalance in the earth element can be caused by either excess or deficiency of the element. The cause can be as simple as not being in touch with the physical earth.

Barefoot walking on the ground or simply walking with the purpose of connecting with not only your inner self but also to the earth seems like a thing of the past.

Other causes can be the food you are eating, improper functioning of the digestive system that can cause constipation or diarrhea, unhealthy lifestyle, or medical issues.

Below are some signs of excess and deficient earth element to look out for

Excess of earth element

• Dull and depressed
• Unmotivated and uninspired
• Poor digestion and difficult elimination
• Hopeless and cynical
• Overeating leading to excess weight
• Thicker skin, fingernails 
• Losing interest in life
• stubborn, despondent
• inability to perceive the world clearly

Deficiency of earth element

• Unstable, ungrounded, insecure, restless
• Anxious, emaciated, flighty
• Cold, heavy
• Unable to manage stress, jittery, spacy 
• Weakness of body structures, reduction in muscle mass and body fat 
• Weak bones which often lead to osteoporosis, weak teeth
• Inability to face challenges or lack of depth
• Struggling to stay in relationships for long periods
• Excess weight gain
• Unreliable, undependable

Practices to connect with the earth element

The earth element enters into your body through the food you consume and leaves when you defecate. Hence one of the key factors in balancing the element is the food you consume.

Other than that, you can also perform yoga, meditation, nature walks, etc to stay connected to the earth element.

Have a look at a few practices to regain or reduce this element.

Practices to adopt in case of excess fire element

• Eat light, energizing foods, especially fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables
• Pungent and bitter food such as black pepper, mustard, ginger, onion, garlic, turmeric, clove, leafy greens, eggplants should be included in your food preparation.
• Avoid overeating as it may lead to weight gain.
• Drink room-temperature or warm water however, do not overdo it as it may diminish the digestive fire.
• Practice more energizing cardiovascular exercise or yoga routine, to improve your blood circulation.
• Twisting yoga poses will help improve your digestion. Padma Sadhana is a great practice for energized grounding.
• Try something new and exciting
• Tap into your creative side and try activities like journaling, painting, or dancing.
• Practice Surya Mudra as it will increase the fire element in the body which will help in digestion and counter the cold and heavy feelings. It can be performed by placing the tip of your ring finger at the base of the thumb and gently pressing the back of the finger with the thumb.

Practices to adopt in case of deficient fire element

• Eat earthy foods, such as grains, nuts, and root vegetables, and include sweet and sour tastes in your meals to make you feel grounded.
• Naturally sweet foods include rice, basil, cashews, dates, milk, bananas, melon, beetroot, sweet potato, cardamom, and cinnamon
• Sour foods include grapefruit, lemon, lime, pickles, tomatoes, bread, vinegar, and garlic will also benefit in increasing the earth element.
• Stabilizing yoga poses like Paschimottanasana, or pranayam like Kapalabhati will stimulate digestion, elimination, and detoxification
• Practice mindfulness in your daily tasks
• If you feel scattered, start making a checklist of the things you need to do. This will get your brain organized and make you feel responsible.
• Spend some quiet time in nature. Walking barefoot in your garden is one of the best ways to get in touch with the earth. 
• Perform meditation or yoga asanas while staying close to the earth as you will be able to release your negative energy to the earth.
• The Prithvi Mudra (join the tips of thumb and ring finger) is beneficial in increasing the earth element. The mudras should be practiced for 15 minutes 3 times a day for 10 days.
• While doing pranayama or meditation, the Bhu mudra can be practiced, which is one of the most beneficial and closest ways to connect to the earth element. Join the tips of the ring and little finger to the tip of the thumb. The index and middle finger are straight and relaxed. Place the tip of these fingers on the ground.

You cannot imagine a world without trees, soil, mountains, flowers, and grass. Nor can you imagine looking at yourself in any other form. The earth element is important for the formation of the fetus and till the time of death, it plays an important role.

You need the earth element to sustain your body as well as your mental well-being. So the next time you are feeling heavy, insecure, scattered, cold, you know which element needs to be worked on.

Related Posts

Three Bodies in Yoga: Sthula-Gross Body, Linga-Subtle Body & Karan-Causal Body

Dharana – The Discipline of Concentration

Samyama: The Combined Practice of Dharana, Dhyana & Samadhi

About the author.

Ashish is a certified Yoga Teacher having experience of teaching at various schools in India. He started learning yoga from renowned yoga schools in the world capital of yoga, Rishikesh. Through his teaching, he realized how Yoga & Ayurveda can be used to increase the longevity and wellness of one's life.

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

All About the Ocean

The ocean covers 70 percent of Earth's surface.

Biology, Earth Science, Oceanography, Geography, Physical Geography

Loading ...

This article is also available in Spanish .

The ocean covers 70 percent of Earth 's surface. It contains about 1.35 billion cubic kilometers (324 million cubic miles) of water, which is about 97 percent of all the water on Earth. The ocean makes all life on Earth possible, and makes the planet appear blue when viewed from space. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is definitely known to contain liquid water. Although the ocean is one continuous body of water, oceanographers have divided it into five principal areas: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans. The Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans merge into icy waters around Antarctica. Climate The ocean plays a vital role in climate and weather . The sun’s heat causes water to evaporate , adding moisture to the air. The oceans provide most of this evaporated water. The water vapor condenses to form clouds, which release their moisture as rain or other kinds of precipitation . All life on Earth depends on this process, called the water cycle . The atmosphere receives much of its heat from the ocean. As the sun warms the water, the ocean transfers heat to the atmosphere. In turn, the atmosphere distributes the heat around the globe. Because water absorbs and loses heat more slowly than land masses, the ocean helps balance global temperatures by absorbing heat in the summer and releasing it in the winter. Without the ocean to help regulate global temperatures, Earth’s climate would be bitterly cold. Ocean Formation After Earth began to form about 4.6 billion years ago, it gradually separated into layers of lighter and heavier rock. The lighter rock rose and formed Earth’s crust . The heavier rock sank and formed Earth’s core and mantle . The ocean’s water came from rocks inside the newly forming Earth. As the molten rocks cooled, they released water vapor and other gases. Eventually, the water vapor condensed and covered the crust with a primitive ocean. Today, hot gases from the Earth’s interior continue to produce new water at the bottom of the ocean. Ocean Floor Scientists began mapping the ocean floor in the 1920s. They used instruments called echo sounders , which measure water depths using sound waves . Echo sounders use sonar technology. Sonar is an acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging. The sonar showed that the ocean floor has dramatic physical features, including huge mountains, deep canyons , steep cliffs , and wide plains . The ocean’s crust is a thin layer of volcanic rock called basalt . The ocean floor is divided into several different areas. The first is the continental shelf , the nearly flat, underwater extension of a continent. Continental shelves vary in width. They are usually wide along low-lying land, and narrow along mountainous coasts. A shelf is covered in sediment from the nearby continent. Some of the sediment is deposited by rivers and trapped by features such as natural dams. Most sediment comes from the last glacial period , or Ice Age, when the oceans receded and exposed the continental shelf. This sediment is called relict sediment . At the outer edge of the continental shelf, the land drops off sharply in what is called the continental slope . The slope descends almost to the bottom of the ocean. Then it tapers off into a gentler slope known as the continental rise. The continental rise descends to the deep ocean floor, which is called the abyssal plain . Abyssal plains are broad, flat areas that lie at depths of about 4,000 to 6,000 meters (13,123 to 19,680 feet). Abyssal plains cover 30 percent of the ocean floor and are the flattest feature on Earth. They are covered by fine-grained sediment like clay and silt. Pelagic sediments, the remains of small ocean organisms, also drift down from upper layers of the ocean. Scattered across abyssal plains are abyssal hills and underwater volcanic peaks called seamounts. Rising from the abyssal plains in each major ocean is a huge chain of mostly undersea mountains. Called the mid-ocean ridge , the chain circles Earth, stretching more than 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles). Much of the mid-ocean ridge is split by a deep central rift, or crack. Mid-ocean ridges mark the boundaries between tectonic plates . Molten rock from Earth’s interior wells up from the rift, building new seafloor in a process called seafloor spreading . A major portion of the ridge runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and is known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was not directly seen or explored until 1973. Some areas of the ocean floor have deep, narrow depressions called ocean trenches . They are the deepest parts of the ocean. The deepest spot of all is the Challenger Deep , which lies in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam. Its true depth is not known, but the most accurate measurements put the Challenger Deep at 11,000 meters (36,198 feet) below the ocean’s surface—that’s more than 2,000 meters (6,000 feet) taller than Mount Everest, Earth’s highest point. The pressure in the Challenger Deep is about eight tons per square inch.

Ocean Life Zones From the shoreline to the deepest seafloor, the ocean teems with life. The hundreds of thousands of marine species range from microscopic algae to the largest creature to have ever lived on Earth, the blue whale. The ocean has five major life zones, each with organisms uniquely adapted to their specific marine ecosystem . The epipelagic zone (1) is the sunlit upper layer of the ocean. It reaches from the surface to about 200 meters (660 feet) deep. The epipelagic zone is also known as the photic or euphotic zone, and can exist in lakes as well as the ocean. The sunlight in the epipelagic zone allows photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is the process by which some organisms convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy and oxygen . In the ocean, photosynthesis takes place in plants and algae. Plants such as seagrass are similar to land plants—they have roots, stems, and leaves. Algae is a type of aquatic organism that can photosynthesize sunlight. Large algae such as kelp are called seaweed . Phytoplankton also live in the epipelagic zone. Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that include plants, algae, and bacteria. They are only visible when billions of them form algal blooms , and appear as green or blue splotches in the ocean. Phytoplankton are a basis of the ocean food web . Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton are responsible for almost half the oxygen released into Earth’s atmosphere. Animals such as krill (a type of shrimp), fish, and microscopic organisms called zooplankton all eat phytoplankton. In turn, these animals are eaten by whales, bigger fish, ocean birds, and human beings. The next zone down, stretching to about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) deep, is the mesopelagic zone (2). This zone is also known as the twilight zone because the light there is very dim. The lack of sunlight means there are no plants in the mesopelagic zone, but large fish and whales dive there to hunt prey . Fish in this zone are small and luminous . One of the most common is the lanternfish, which has organs along its side that produce light. Sometimes, animals from the mesopelagic zone (such as sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) and squid) dive into the bathypelagic zone (3), which reaches to about 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) deep. The bathypelagic zone is also known as the midnight zone because no light reaches it. Animals that live in the bathypelagic zone are small, but they often have huge mouths, sharp teeth, and expandable stomachs that let them eat any food that comes along. Most of this food comes from the remains of plants and animals drifting down from upper pelagic zones. Many bathypelagic animals do not have eyes because they are unneeded in the dark. Because the pressure is so great and it is so difficult to find nutrients , fish in the bathypelagic zone move slowly and have strong gills to extract oxygen from the water. The water at the bottom of the ocean, the abyssopelagic zone (4), is very salty and cold (2 degrees Celsius, or 35 degrees Fahrenheit). At depths up to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), the pressure is very strong—11,000 pounds per square inch. This makes it impossible for most animals to live. Animals in this zone have bizarre adaptations to cope with their ecosystem. Many fish have jaws that look unhinged. The jaws allow them to drag their open mouth along the seafloor to find food, such as mussels, shrimp, and microscopic organisms. Many of the animals in this zone, including squid and fish, are bioluminescent. Bioluminescent organisms produce light through chemical reactions in their bodies. A type of angler fish, for example, has a glowing growth extending in front of its huge, toothy mouth. When smaller fish are attracted to the light, the angler fish simply snaps its jaws to eat its prey. The deepest ocean zone, found in trenches and canyons, is called the hadalpelagic zone (5). Few organisms live here. They include tiny isopods , a type of crustacean related to crabs and shrimp. Invertebrates such as sponges and sea cucumbers thrive in the abyssopelagic and hadalpelagic zones. Like many sea stars and jellyfish, these animals are almost entirely dependent on falling parts of dead or decaying plants and animals, called marine detritus . Not all bottom dwellers, however, depend on marine detritus. In 1977, oceanographers discovered a community of creatures on the ocean floor that feed on bacteria around openings called hydrothermal vents. These vents discharge superheated water enriched with minerals from Earth’s interior. The minerals nourish unique bacteria, which in turn nourish creatures such as crabs, clams, and tube worms. Ocean Currents Currents are streams of water running through a larger body of water. Oceans, rivers, and streams have currents. The ocean’s salinity and temperature and the coast’s geographic features determine an ocean current’s behavior. Earth’s rotation and wind also influence ocean currents. Currents flowing near the surface transport heat from the tropics to the poles and move cooler water back toward the Equator . This keeps the ocean from becoming extremely hot or cold. Deep, cold currents transport oxygen to organisms throughout the ocean. They also carry rich supplies of nutrients that all living things need. The nutrients come from plankton and the remains of other organisms that drift down and decay on the ocean floor. Along some coasts, winds and currents produce a phenomenon called upwelling . As winds push surface water away from shore, deep currents of cold water rise to take its place. This upwelling of deep water brings up nutrients that nourish new growth of plankton, providing food for fish. Ocean food chains constantly recycle food and energy this way.

Some ocean currents are enormous and extremely powerful. One of the most powerful is the Gulf Stream , a warm surface current that originates in the tropical Caribbean Sea and flows northeast along the eastern coast of the United States. The Gulf Stream measures up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) wide and is more than a kilometer (3,281 feet) deep. Like other ocean currents, the Gulf Stream plays a major role in climate. As the current travels north, it transfers moisture from its warm tropical waters to the air above. Westerly, or prevailing, winds carry the warm, moist air to the British Isles and to Scandinavia , causing them to have milder winters than they otherwise would experience at their northern latitudes . Northern parts of Norway are near the Arctic Circle but remain ice-free for most of the year because of the Gulf Stream. The weather pattern known as El Niño includes a change to the Humboldt Current (also called the Peru Current) off the western coast of South America. In El Niño conditions, a current of warm surface water travels east along the Equator and prevents the normal upwelling of the cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current. El Niño, which can devastate the fisheries of Peru and Ecuador, occurs every two to seven years, usually in December. The paths of ocean currents are partially determined by Earth’s rotation. This is known as the Coriolis effect . It causes large systems, such as winds and ocean currents that would normally move in a straight line, to veer to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere . People and the Ocean For thousands of years, people have depended on the ocean as a source of food and as a route for trade and exploration . Today, people continue to travel on the ocean and rely on the resources it contains. Nations continue to negotiate how to determine the extent of their territory beyond the coast. The United Nations’ Law of the Sea treaty established exclusive economic zones (EEZs), extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation’s coastline. Even though some countries have not signed or ratified the treaty (including the U.S.), it is regarded as standard. Russia has proposed extending its EEZ beyond 200 nautical miles because two mid-ocean ridges, the Lomonosov and Medeleev Ridges, are extensions of the continental shelf belonging to Russia. This territory includes the North Pole. Russian explorers in a submersible vehicle planted a metal Russian flag on the disputed territory in 2007. Through the centuries, people have sailed the ocean on trade routes . Today, ships still carry most of the world’s freight , particularly bulky goods such as machinery, grain, and oil . Ocean ports are areas of commerce and culture. Water and land transportation meet there, and so do people of different professions: businesspeople who import and export goods and services; dockworkers who load and unload cargo ; and ships’ crews. Ports also have a high concentration of migrants and immigrants with a wide variety of ethnicities, nationalities, languages, and religions. Important ports in the U.S. are New York/ New Jersey and New Orleans. The busiest ports around the world include the Port of Shanghai in China and the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Ocean ports are also important for a nation’s armed forces. Some ports are used exclusively for military purposes, although most share space with commercial businesses. “The sun never sets on the British Empire” is a phrase used to explain the scope of the empire of Great Britain , mostly in the 19th century. Although based on the small European island nation of Great Britain, British military sea power extended its empire from Africa to the Americas, Asia, and Australia. Scientists and other experts hope the ocean will be used more widely as a source of renewable energy . Some countries have already harnessed the energy of ocean waves, temperature, currents, or tides to power turbines and generate electricity. One source of renewable energy are generators that are powered by tidal streams or ocean currents. They convert the movement of currents into energy. Ocean current generators have not been developed on a large scale, but are working in some places in Ireland and Norway. Some conservationists criticize the impact the large constructions have on the marine environment. Another source of renewable energy is ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). It uses the difference in temperature between the warm, surface water and cold, deep water to run an engine. OTEC facilities exist in places with significant differences in ocean depth: Japan, India and the U.S. state of Hawai'i, for instance. An emerging source of renewable energy is salinity gradient power , also known as osmotic power. It is an energy source that uses the power of freshwater entering into saltwater. This technology is still being developed, but it has potential in delta areas where fresh river water is constantly interacting with the ocean. Fishing Fishers catch more than 90 million tons of seafood each year, including more than 100 species of fish and shellfish . Millions of people, from professional fishers to business owners like restaurant owners and boat builders, depend on fisheries for their livelihood . Fishing can be classified in two ways. In subsistence fishing, fishers use their catch to help meet the nutritional needs of their families or communities. In commercial fishing , fishers sell their catch for money, goods or services. Popular subsistence and commercial fish are tuna, cod, and shrimp. Ocean fishing is also a popular recreational sport. Sport fishing can be competitive or noncompetitive. In sport fishing tournaments, individuals or teams compete for prizes based on the size of a particular species caught in a specific time period. Both competitive and noncompetitive sport fishers need licenses to fish, and may or may not keep the caught fish. Increasingly, sport fishers practice catch-and-release fishing, where a fish is caught, measured, weighed, and often recorded on film before being released back to the ocean. Popular game fish (fish caught for sport) are tuna and marlin. Whaling is a type of fishing that involves the harvesting of whales and dolphins. It has declined in popularity since the 19th century but is still a way of life for many cultures, such as those in Scandinavia, Japan, Canada, and the Caribbean. The ocean offers a wealth of fishing and whaling resources, but these resources are threatened. People have harvested so much fish and marine life for food and other products that some species have disappeared. During the 1800s and early 1900s, whalers killed thousands of whales for whale oil (wax made from boiled blubber ) and ivory (whales’ teeth). Some species, including the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and the right whale, were hunted nearly to extinction . Many species are still endangered today. In the 1960s and 1970s, catches of important food fish, such as herring in the North Sea and anchovies in the Pacific, began to drop off dramatically. Governments took notice of overfishing —harvesting more fish than the ecosystem can replenish . Fishers were forced to go farther out to sea to find fish, putting them at risk. (Deep-sea fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.) Now, they use advanced equipment, such as electronic fish finders and large gill nets or trawling nets, to catch more fish. This means there are far fewer fish to reproduce and replenish the supply. In 1992, the collapse, or disappearance, of cod in Canada’s Newfoundland Grand Banks put 40,000 fishers out of work. A ban was placed on cod fishing, and to this day, neither the cod nor the fisheries have recovered. To catch the dwindling numbers of fish, most fishers use trawl nets. They drag the nets along the seabed and across acres of ocean. These nets accidentally catch many small, young fish and mammals. Animals caught in fishing nets meant for other species are called bycatch . The fishing industry and fisheries management agencies argue about how to address the problem of bycatch and overfishing. Those involved in the fishing industry do not want to lose their jobs, while conservationists want to maintain healthy levels of fish in the ocean. A number of consumers are choosing to purchase sustainable seafood . Sustainable seafood is harvested from sources (either wild or farmed) that do not deplete the natural ecosystem. Mining and Drilling Many minerals come from the ocean. Sea salt is a mineral that has been used as a flavoring and preservative since ancient times. Sea salt has many additional minerals, such as calcium, that ordinary table salt lacks. Hydrothermal vents often form seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits , which contain precious metals. These SMS deposits sit on the ocean floor, sometimes in the deep ocean and sometimes closer to the surface. New techniques are being developed to mine the seafloor for valuable minerals such as copper, lead, nickel, gold, and silver. Mining companies employ thousands of people and provide goods and services for millions more. Critics of undersea mining maintain that it disrupts the local ecology . Organisms—corals, shrimp, mussels—that live on the seabed have their habitat disturbed, upsetting the food chain. In addition, destruction of habitat threatens the viability of species that have a narrow niche . Maui’s dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori maui ), for instance, is a critically endangered species native to the waters of New Zealand’s North Island. The numbers of Maui’s dolphin are already reduced because of bycatch. Seabed mining threatens its habitat, putting it at further risk of extinction. Oil is one of the most valuable resources taken from the ocean today. Offshore oil rigs pump petroleum from wells drilled into the continental shelf. About one-quarter of all oil and natural gas supplies now comes from offshore oil deposits around the world. Offshore drilling requires complex engineering . An oil platform can be constructed directly onto the ocean floor, or it can “float” above an anchor. Depending on how far out on the continental shelf an oil platform is located, workers may have to be flown in. Underwater, or subsea, facilities are complicated groups of drilling equipment connected to each other and a single oil rig. Subsea production often requires remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Some countries invest in offshore drilling for profit and to prevent reliance on oil from other regions. The Gulf of Mexico near the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana is heavily drilled. Several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands, drill in the North Sea. Offshore drilling is a complicated and expensive program, however. There are a limited number of companies that have the knowledge and resources to work with local governments to set up offshore oil rigs. Most of these companies are based in Europe and North America, although they do business all over the world. Some governments have banned offshore oil drilling. They cite safety and environmental concerns. There have been several accidents where the platform itself has exploded, at the cost of many lives. Offshore drilling also poses threats to the ocean ecosystem. Spills and leaks from oil rigs and oil tankers that transport the material seriously harm marine mammals and birds. Oil coats feathers, impairing birds’ ability to maintain their body temperature and remain buoyant in the water. The fur of otters and seals are also coated, and oil entering the digestive tract of animals may damage their organs. Offshore oil rigs also release metal cuttings, minute amounts of oil, and drilling fluid into the ocean every day. Drilling fluid is the liquid used with machinery to drill holes deep in the planet. This liquid can contain pollutants such as toxic chemicals and heavy metals . Pollution Most oil pollution does not come from oil spills, however. It comes from the runoff of pollutants into streams and rivers that flow into the ocean. Most runoff comes from individual consumers. Cars, buses, motorcycles, and even lawn mowers spill oil and grease on roads, streets, and highways. (Runoff is what makes busy roads shiny and sometimes slippery.) Storm drains or creeks wash the runoff into local waterways, which eventually flow into the ocean. The largest U.S. oil spill in the ocean took place in Alaska in 1989, by the tanker Exxon Valdez . The Exxon Valdez spilled at least 10 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. In comparison, American and Canadian consumers spill about 16 million gallons of oil runoff into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans every year. For centuries, people have used the ocean as a dumping ground for sewage and other wastes. In the 21st century, the wastes include not only oil, but also chemical runoff from factories and agriculture . These chemicals include nitrates and phosphates , which are often used as fertilizers . These chemicals encourage algae blooms. An algae bloom is an increase in algae and bacteria that threatens plants and other marine life. Algae blooms limit the amount of oxygen in a marine environment, leading to what are known as dead zones , where little life exists beneath the ocean’s surface. Algae blooms can spread across hundreds or even thousands of miles. Another source of pollution is plastics . Most ocean debris, or garbage, is plastic thrown out by consumers. Plastics such as water bottles, bags, six-pack rings, and packing material put marine life at risk. Sea animals are harmed by the plastic either by getting tangled in it or by eating it. An example of marine pollution consisting mainly of plastics is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch . The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a floating dump in the North Pacific. It’s about twice the size of Texas and probably contains about 100 million tons of debris. Most of this debris comes from the western coast of North America (the U.S. and Canada) and the eastern coast of Asia (Japan, China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea). Because of ocean currents and weather patterns, the patch is a relatively stable formation and contains new and disintegrating debris. The smaller pieces of plastic debris are eaten by jellyfish or other organisms, and are then consumed by larger predators in the food web. These plastic chemicals may then enter a human’s diet through fish or shellfish. Another source of pollution is carbon dioxide. The ocean absorbs most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, which is necessary for life, is known as a greenhouse gas and traps radiation in Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide forms many acids, called carbonic acids , in the ocean. Ocean ecosystems have adapted to the presence of certain levels of carbonic acids, but the increase in carbon dioxide has led to an increase in ocean acids. This ocean acidification erodes the shells of animals such as clams, crabs, and corals. Global Warming Global warming contributes to rising ocean temperatures and sea levels . Warmer oceans radically alter the ecosystem. Global warming causes cold-water habitats to shrink, meaning there is less room for animals such as penguins, seals, or whales. Plankton, the base of the ocean food chain, thrives in cold water. Warming water means there will be less plankton available for marine life to eat. Melting glaciers and ice sheets contribute to sea level rise . Rising sea levels threaten coastal ecosystems and property. River deltas and estuaries are put at risk for flooding. Coasts are more likely to suffer erosion . Seawater more often contaminates sources of fresh water. All these consequences—flooding, erosion, water contamination—put low-lying island nations, such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, at high risk for disaster. To find ways to protect the ocean from pollution and the effects of climate change, scientists from all over the world are cooperating in studies of ocean waters and marine life. They are also working together to control pollution and limit global warming. Many countries are working to reach agreements on how to manage and harvest ocean resources. Although the ocean is vast, it is more easily polluted and damaged than people once thought. It requires care and protection as well as expert management. Only then can it continue to provide the many resources that living things—including people—need.

The Most Coast . . . Canada has 202,080 kilometers (125,567 miles) of coastline. Short But Sweet . . . Monaco has four kilometers (2.5 miles) of coastline.

No, the Toilet Doesn't Flush Backward in Australia The Coriolis effect, which can be seen in large-scale phenomena like trade winds and ocean currents, cannot be duplicated in small basins like sinks.

Extraterrestrial Oceans Mars probably had oceans billions of years ago, but ice and dry seabeds are all that remain today. Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, is probably covered by an ocean of water more than 96 kilometers (60 miles) deep, but it is trapped beneath a layer of ice, which the warmer water below frequently cracks. One of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, has cryovolcanism, or ice volcanoes. Instead of erupting with lava, ice volcanoes erupt with water, ammonia, or methane. Ice volcanoes may indicate oceanic activity.

International Oil Spill The largest oil spill in history, the Gulf War oil spill, released at least 40 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. Valves at the Sea Island oil terminal in Kuwait were opened on purpose after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991. The oil was intended to stop a landing by U.S. Marines, but the oil drifted south to the shores of Saudi Arabia. A study of the Gulf War oil spill (conducted by the United Nations, several countries in the Middle East and the United States) found that most of the spilled oil evaporated and caused little damage to the environment.

Ocean Seas The floors of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea are more like the ocean than other seas they do not rest on a continent, but directly on the ocean's basalt crust.

Early Ocean Explorers Polynesian people navigated a region of the Pacific Ocean now known as the Polynesian Triangle by 700 C.E. The corners of the Polynesian Triangle are islands: the American state of Hawai'i, the country of New Zealand, and the Chilean territory of Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui). The distance between Easter Island and New Zealand, the longest length of the Polynesian Triangle, is one-quarter of Earth's circumference, more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). Polynesians successfully traveled these distances in canoes. It would be hundreds of years before another culture explored the ocean to this extent.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Illustrators

Educator reviewer, expert reviewer, last updated.

March 5, 2024

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources