THE DOMAIN OF LAND LITHOSPHERE

THE DOMAIN OF LAND LITHOSPHERE
    'Lithos' means 'stone' and as such lithosphere means the solid crust of the earth, It includes all types of land masses, big or small, even or uneven, high mountains and deep valleys, vast plains and plateaus, etc.
    Major landmasses are called continents while smaller landmasses are called islands. They are surrounded by water on all sides
    Continents –
    There are seven continents on the earth,
    In order of their size they are-(1) Asia (2) Africa (3) North America (4) South America     (5) Antarctica (6) Europe (7) Australia. Their size and population is given as under.
    Asia is the largest continent on the earth and it occupies about one-third the land of the world, About 58% of the people of the world live in Asia, There are now more than 46 countries in Asia, Our country is one of them.
    In fact, Asia and Europe together belong to the same landmass. They are not separated by a large watermass. Rural mountains and the Rural river separate Europe from Asia. Together they are called Eurasia. But for all practical purposes, Europe is treated      as a separate continent. In size it is the sixth out of the seven continents of the world, only bigger than Australia.

    Africa is next to Asia in size. The Suez Canal separates it from Asia. It is the only continent of the world which has the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn passing through it.

    North America is the third largest continent of the world after Asia and Africa. It is about eight times the size of India. It was Columbus who discovered this continent in 1492 A.D.

    South America is the fourth largest continent of the world after Asia, Africa and North America. It is more than five times the size of India.
    North America and the South America also formed a single landmass before they were separated by the Panama Canal.

    Australia is the smallest continent on the earth. It is sometimes called an island continent. It is surrounded on all sides by seas and oceans. Can you name them?

    Antarctica is a big continent. It lies around the South Pole. It is always covered with snow and ice, and as such there is no permanent human settlement here. It was first discovered in 1921.

Hydrosphere
    All the water bodies on the earth's surface, namely oceans, seas, lakes, rivers together with snow and ice, are collectively called the hydrosphere.