Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Earth

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This marvelous book draws on Garth's substantial research, his perceptive observations about how Tolkien responded to places and changed them for his own purposes, and insights by other Tolkien specialists. Wonderfully supported by a gallery of illustrations, The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien is a fine achievement."—Kevin Crossley-Holland, author of The Norse Myths Filled with beautiful photographs and drawings this book is both visually and mentally stunning. A great way to pass the time especially if you are a fan."— Cassandra Ms Place blog

The hydrosphere helps regulate Earth’s temperature and climate. The ocean absorbs heat from the sun and interacts with the atmosphere to move it around Earth in air currents. M2 Lunar tide of the Earth illustrated by the colour shade. The white lines are called co-tidal lines, they meet up at points on the Earth where there is “no tide” or no change in the surface of the ocean due to the M2 tide. The arrows around them show the direction the tide moves about the point (Image credit NASA). The Mesozoic era began about 251 million years ago. This was the era when dinosaurs flourished. The Mezozoic has three periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. Much like fantasy maps, these maps can be used as a foundation for other things. These maps have since been used to test the state of the tide into the future to understand if the present day does have abnormally strong tides. Over a period of about 10 million years, the dense center of the cloud grew very hot. This massive center became the sun. The rest of the particles and objects continued to revolve around the sun, colliding with each other in clumps. Eventually, these clumps compressed into planets, asteroids, and moons. This process generated a lot of heat.

The carbon cycle involves the exchange of the element carbon through Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Carbon, essential for all life on Earth, enters the biosphere many ways. Carbon is one of the gases that make up the atmosphere. It is also ejected during the eruption of volcanoes and ocean vents. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth has been compiled to enhance the reader’s enjoyment of Tolkien’s books by bringing together in an A-Z sequence all the key facts and information about names, places, languages and events from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. earth illustration, Earth Graphic design, Blue earth, blue, globe, happy Birthday Vector Images png 1547x1540px 678.76KB

The water cycle involves three main phases, related to the three states of water: solid, liquid, and gas. Ice, or solid water, is most common near the poles and at high altitudes. Ice sheets and glaciers hold the most solid water. At the same time that it revolves around the sun, Earth rotates on its own axis. Rotation is when an object, such as a planet, turns around an invisible line running down its center. Earth’s axis is vertical, running from the North Pole to the South Pole. Earth makes one complete rotation about every 24 hours. Earth rotates unevenly, spinning faster at the Equator than at the poles. At the Equator, Earth rotates at about 1,670 kilometers per hour (1,040 miles per hour), while at 45° north, for example, (the approximate latitude of Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States) Earth rotates at 1,180 kilometers per hour (733 miles per hour). Most of Earth’s history took place in the Pre cambrian, which began when Earth was cooling and ended about 542 million years ago. Life began in the Precambrian, in the forms of bacteria and other single-celled organisms. Fossils from the Precambrian are rare and difficult to study. The Precambrian supereon is usually broken into three eons: the Hadean, the Archaean, and the Proterozoic.In addition to Earth’s revolution and rotation periods, we experience light and darkness due to Earth’s axis not being straight up-and-down. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.5°. This tilt influences temperature changes and other weather patterns from season to season. Tectonic activity such as subduction and faulting has shaped the crust into a variety of landscapes. Earth’s highest point is Mount Everest, Nepal, which soars 8,850 kilometers (29,035 feet) in the Himalaya Mountains in Asia. Mount Everest continues to grow every year, as subduction drives the Indo-Australian tectonic plate below the Eurasian tectonic plate. Subduction also creates Earth’s deepest point, the Mariana Trench, about 11 kilometers (6.9 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The heavy Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the small Mariana plate. Magnificent. The commentary is great, really thoroughly researched; the pictures are stunning."—Tom Shippey, author of The Road to Middle-earth and J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have atmospheres made mostly of hydrogen and helium. These planets are called gas giants, because they are mostly made of gas and do not have a solid outer crust. Earth’s rotation causes the periods of light and darkness we call day and night. The part of Earth facing the sun is in daylight; the part facing away from the sun is in darkness. If Earth did not rotate, one-half of Earth would always be too hot to support life, and the other half would be frozen. Earth rotates from west to east, so the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.