The interior of the Earth, like that of the other terrestrial planets, is divided into layers by their chemical

or physical (rheological) properties, but unlike the other terrestrial planets, it has a distinct outer and
inner core. The outer layer of the Earth is a chemically distinct silicate solid crust, which is underlain by a
highly viscous solid mantle. The crust is separated from the mantle by the Mohorovii discontinuity,
and the thickness of the crust varies: averaging 6 km (kilometers) under the oceans and 30-50 km on the
continents. The crust and the cold, rigid, top of the upper mantle are collectively known as the
lithosphere, and it is of the lithosphere that the tectonic plates are comprised. Beneath the lithosphere
is the asthenosphere, a relatively low-viscosity layer on which the lithosphere rides. Important changes
in crystal structure within the mantle occur at 410 and 660 km below the surface, spanning a transition
zone that separates the upper and lower mantle. Beneath the mantle, an extremely low viscosity liquid
outer core lies above a solid inner core.[71] The inner core may rotate at a slightly higher angular velocity
than the remainder of the planet, advancing by 0.10.5 per year.[72]

The mechanically rigid outer layer of the Earth, the lithosphere, is broken into pieces called
tectonic plates. These plates are rigid segments that move in relation to one another at one of
three types of plate boundaries: Convergent boundaries, at which two plates come together,
Divergent boundaries, at which two plates are pulled apart, and Transform boundaries, in which
two plates slide past one another laterally. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building,
and oceanic trench formation can occur along these plate boundaries.[85] The tectonic plates ride
on top of the asthenosphere, the solid but less-viscous part of the upper mantle that can flow and
move along with the plates,[86] and their motion is strongly coupled with convection patterns
inside the Earth's mantle.
As the tectonic plates migrate across the planet, the ocean floor is subducted under the leading
edges of the plates at convergent boundaries. At the same time, the upwelling of mantle material
at divergent boundaries creates mid-ocean ridges. The combination of these processes
continually recycles the oceanic crust back into the mantle. Due to this recycling, most of the
ocean floor is less than 100 myr old in age. The oldest oceanic crust is located in the Western
Pacific, and has an estimated age of about 200 myr.[87][88] By comparison, the oldest dated
continental crust is 4030 myr.[89]
The seven major plates are the Pacific, North American, Eurasian, African, Antarctic, IndoAustralian, and South American. Other notable plates include the Arabian Plate, the Caribbean
Plate, the Nazca Plate off the west coast of South America and the Scotia Plate in the southern
Atlantic Ocean. The Australian Plate fused with the Indian Plate between 50 and 55 mya. The
fastest-moving plates are the oceanic plates, with the Cocos Plate advancing at a rate of
75 mm/year[90] and the Pacific Plate moving 5269 mm/year. At the other extreme, the slowestmoving plate is the Eurasian Plate, progressing at a typical rate of about 21 mm/year.[91]

The abundance of water on Earth's surface is a unique feature that distinguishes the "Blue
Planet" from others in the Solar System. The Earth's hydrosphere consists chiefly of the oceans,
but technically includes all water surfaces in the world, including inland seas, lakes, rivers, and

underground waters down to a depth of 2,000 m. The deepest underwater location is Challenger
Deep of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean with a depth of 10,911.4 m.[n 10][101]
The mass of the oceans is approximately 1.351018 metric tons, or about 1/4400 of the total mass
of the Earth. The oceans cover an area of 3.618108 km2 with a mean depth of 3682 m, resulting
in an estimated volume of 1.332109 km3.[102] If all the land on Earth were spread evenly, water
would rise to an altitude of more than 2.7 km.[n 11] About 97.5% of the water is saline, while the
remaining 2.5% is fresh water. Most fresh water, about 68.7%, is ice.[103]
The average salinity of the Earth's oceans is about 35 grams of salt per kilogram of sea water
(3.5% salt).[104] Most of this salt was released from volcanic activity or extracted from cool,
igneous rocks.[105] The oceans are also a reservoir of dissolved atmospheric gases, which are
essential for the survival of many aquatic life forms.[106] Sea water has an important influence on
the world's climate, with the oceans acting as a large heat reservoir.[107] Shifts in the oceanic
temperature distribution can cause significant weather shifts, such as the El Nio-Southern
Oscillation.[108]

The Earth's atmosphere has no definite boundary, slowly becoming thinner and fading into outer
space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass is contained within the first 11 km of the planet's
surface. This lowest layer is called the troposphere. Energy from the Sun heats this layer, and the
surface below, causing expansion of the air. This lower-density air then rises, and is replaced by
cooler, higher-density air. The result is atmospheric circulation that drives the weather and
climate through redistribution of thermal energy.[113]
The primary atmospheric circulation bands consist of the trade winds in the equatorial region
below 30 latitude and the westerlies in the mid-latitudes between 30 and 60.[114] Ocean
currents are also important factors in determining climate, particularly the thermohaline
circulation that distributes thermal energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions.[115]
Water vapor generated through surface evaporation is transported by circulatory patterns in the
atmosphere. When atmospheric conditions permit an uplift of warm, humid air, this water
condenses and settles to the surface as precipitation.[113] Most of the water is then transported to
lower elevations by river systems and usually returned to the oceans or deposited into lakes. This
water cycle is a vital mechanism for supporting life on land, and is a primary factor in the
erosion of surface features over geological periods. Precipitation patterns vary widely, ranging
from several meters of water per year to less than a millimeter. Atmospheric circulation,
topological features and temperature differences determine the average precipitation that falls in
each region.[116]
The amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's decreases with increasing latitude. At higher
latitudes the sunlight reaches the surface at lower angles and it must pass through thicker
columns of the atmosphere. As a result, the mean annual air temperature at sea level decreases by

about 0.4 C per degree of latitude away from the equator.[117] The Earth can be subdivided into
specific latitudinal belts of approximately homogeneous climate. Ranging from the equator to the
polar regions, these are the tropical (or equatorial), subtropical, temperate and polar climates.[118]
Climate can also be classified based on the temperature and precipitation, with the climate
regions characterized by fairly uniform air masses. The commonly used Kppen climate
classification system (as modified by Wladimir Kppen's student Rudolph Geiger) has five broad
groups (humid tropics, arid, humid middle latitudes, continental and cold polar), which are
further divided into more specific subtypes.[114]

Main article: Earth's orbit

Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers every 365.2564 mean
solar days, or one sidereal year. From Earth, this gives an apparent movement of the Sun
eastward with respect to the stars at a rate of about 1/day, which is one apparent Sun or Moon
diameter every 12 hours. Due to this motion, on average it takes 24 hoursa solar dayfor
Earth to complete a full rotation about its axis so that the Sun returns to the meridian. The orbital
speed of the Earth averages about 29.8 km/s (107,000 km/h), which is fast enough to travel a
distance equal to the planet's diameter, about 12,742 km, in seven minutes, and the distance to
the Moon, 384,000 km, in about 3.5 hours.[3]
The Moon revolves with the Earth around a common barycenter every 27.32 days relative to the
background stars. When combined with the EarthMoon system's common revolution around the
Sun, the period of the synodic month, from new moon to new moon, is 29.53 days. Viewed from
the celestial north pole, the motion of Earth, the Moon and their axial rotations are all
counterclockwise. Viewed from a vantage point above the north poles of both the Sun and the
Earth, the Earth revolves in a counterclockwise direction about the Sun. The orbital and axial
planes are not precisely aligned: Earth's axis is tilted some 23.4 degrees from the perpendicular
to the EarthSun plane (the ecliptic), and the EarthMoon plane is tilted up to 5.1 degrees
against the EarthSun plane. Without this tilt, there would be an eclipse every two weeks,
alternating between lunar eclipses and solar eclipses.[3][137]
The Hill sphere, or gravitational sphere of influence, of the Earth is about 1.5 Gm or
1,500,000 km in radius.[138][n 13] This is the maximum distance at which the Earth's gravitational
influence is stronger than the more distant Sun and planets. Objects must orbit the Earth within
this radius, or they can become unbound by the gravitational perturbation of the Sun.
Earth, along with the Solar System, is situated in the Milky Way galaxy and orbits about
28,000 light years from the center of the galaxy. It is about 20 light years above the galactic
plane in the Orion spiral arm.[139]

ighly energetic chemistry is thought to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 bya
and half a billion years later the last common ancestor of all life existed.[147] The development of
photosynthesis allowed the Sun's energy to be harvested directly by life forms; the resultant
oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and formed a layer of ozone (a form of molecular oxygen
[O3]) in the upper atmosphere.[110] The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted
in the development of complex cells called eukaryotes.[148] True multicellular organisms formed
as cells within colonies became increasingly specialized. Aided by the absorption of harmful
ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer, life colonized the surface of Earth.[149] The earliest
evidences for life on Earth are graphite found to be biogenic in 3.7 billion-year-old
metasedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland[150] and microbial mat fossils found in
3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia.[151][152]
Since the 1960s, it has been hypothesized that severe glacial action between 750 and 580 mya,
during the Neoproterozoic, covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis has been
termed "Snowball Earth", and is of particular interest because it preceded the Cambrian
explosion, when multicellular life forms began to proliferate.[153]
Following the Cambrian explosion, about 535 mya, there have been five major mass
extinctions.[154] The most recent such event was 66 mya, when an asteroid impact triggered the
extinction of the (non-avian) dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared some small animals
such as mammals, which then resembled shrews. Over the past 66 myr, mammalian life has
diversified, and several million years ago an African ape-like animal such as Orrorin tugenensis
gained the ability to stand upright.[155] This enabled tool use and encouraged communication that
provided the nutrition and stimulation needed for a larger brain, which allowed the evolution of
the human race. The development of agriculture, and then civilization, allowed humans to
influence the Earth in a short time span as no other life form had,[156] affecting both the nature
and quantity of other life forms.
Reference: Wikipedia