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HOW
MUCH FRESH WATER IS STORED IN EARTH?
More than two million cubic miles of fresh water is
stored in the planet, nearly half of it within a half-mile
of the surface. Mars, too, appears to have a lot of
water near its surface, but what's been detected so
far is locked up as ice.
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THE
TSUNAMI
No, contrary to many artistic images of tsunamis, most
do not result in giant breaking waves. Rather, most
tsunamis come onshore more like very strong and fast
tides. The water can rise higher than anyone along a
given shore area has ever seen,
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THE
HOTTEST PLACE
Count one wrong if you guessed Death Valley in California.
True enough on many days. But El Azizia in Libya recorded
a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius)
on Sept. 13, 1922.
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DUST
FALLS TO THE EARTH EACH YEAR
Estimates vary, but the USGS says at least 1,000 million
grams, or roughly 1,000 tons of material enters the
atmosphere every year and makes its way to Earths surface.
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LARGEST
CANYON IN THE WORLD
The Grand Canyon is billed as
the world's largest canyon system. Its main branch is
277 miles (446 kilometers) long. But let's compare.
Valles Marineris on Mars extends for about 3,000 miles
(4,800 kilometers).
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ANTARCTIC
ICE SHEET MELTED?
The Antarctic Ice Sheet holds nearly 90 percent of the
world's ice and 70 percent of its fresh water. If the
entire ice sheet were to melt, sea level would rise
by nearly 220 feet, or the height of a 20-story building.
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OLDEST
ROCKS FOUND
Since the ocean floor is being continually regenerated
as the continental plates move across the Earth's surface,
the oldest rocks on the ocean floor are less than 300
million years. In contrast, the oldest continental rocks
are 4.5 billion years old.
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HOW
OLD IS EARTH?
Our
planet is more than 4.5 billion years old, just a shade
younger than the Sun. Recent evidence actually shows
that Earth was formed much earlier than previously believed,
just 10 million years after the birth of the Sun, a
stellar event typically put at 4.6 billion years ago.
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IS
EARTH A SPHERE?
Because the planet rotates and is more flexible than
you might imagine, it bulges at the midsection, creating
a sort of pumpkin shape. The bulge was lessening for
centuries but now, suddenly, it is growing, a recent
study showed.
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