Does the Earth look round to you? It is in fact a little top and the flat at the bottom. The outer crust of the Earth is not smooth. Instead, it has mountains and hills, valleys and plains.
Huge patchwork!
The solid part of the earth, or the crust and the outer part of the mantle, is called the Lithosphere. The crust may look like one piece of rock and soil, but it is actually made up of 21 plates. These are constantly moving, hitting each other or slipping away. This is called the Continental Drift.
Always on the move
The plates have been moving or drifting along for millions of years. Scientists believe the land mass was one piece and the continents have been broken apart because of the continental drift. They believe North and South America broke away westwards from what is now the west coast of Europe and Africa.
Fact: The continental crust under the mountains is the deepest on Earth. It runs to a depth of about 22 miles (35 km) under the Himalayan mountain range, making the thickest of crust on Earth.
Fact: The Himalayan mountain range- including some of the highest peaks on Earth.
Different mountains
When there is a weak spot in the crust or the surface of the Earth ( on land or under the sea) , the hot, liquid magma below can gush out. These explosive mountains are called volcanoes. The liquid that pours out is called lava.
The Earth's moving plates hit each other with such huge force millions of years ago that they forced rock upwards to form mountains. These formations, like the Himalayas, are called Fold Mountains. When the tectonic plates move suddenly, we feel an earthquake.
Did you know?
Plate Tectonics is the study of the plates that makes up the Earth's crust.
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The Earth
Non-FictionDiscover our amazing planet! If you would like to know more about anything about the Earth you may comment down below. "Oh," and just to tell you this is not my information, I am just sharing this information with you, if you don't have this book. I...
