Land Formations

Fun Facts About Land Formations

• Earth's land formations are temporary on a geological timescale, with continents constantly moving. Based on some projections, in about 250 million years they could merge back into a single supercontinent called Pangaea Proxima.
• Brand-new land formations occasionally emerge, like the volcanic islands which formed off Iceland's southern coast betwween 1963 and 1967 during an eruption. It is currently being studied as a "natural laboratory" for how life colonizes fresh land.
• Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth at 29,032 feet, is still growing thanks to the ongoing collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. It roughly adds an inch in height every 6–7 years.
• The longest mountain range in the world isn't on land. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an underwater chain stretching over 40,000 miles along the ocean floor.
• Deserts are not always hot and sandy. That's because a desert is defined by its low preciptation. That makes Antarctica the largest desert on Earth because it receives less than 2 inches per year.
• The Grand Canyon is so vast (stretching 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep) that you could fit the entire state of Rhode Island inside it.
• Known as the "Roof of the World", the Tibetan Plateau has an average elevation of over 14,800 feet and covers roughly 970,000 square miles. That's approximately 4 times the size of Texas, or larger than all of Western Europe.
• Noisy sand dunes are found in about 30 locations worldwide, like those in the Gobi desert. They produce low-frequency booming or humming sounds when sand slides down them under the right conditions.