37 L4-Incredible Earth

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Oxford Read and Discover level 4 Incredible Earth by Richard Northcott

Introduction Don't go near! This is a volcano, and it's erupting. Volcanoes are dangerous, but they are beautiful, too. There are many other incredible places on Earth— high mountains, great rivers, big deserts... What is the highest mountain on Earth? What is the biggest hot desert? What is the deepest lake? What incredible places do you know? Discover! Now read and discover more about our incredible Earth!

Chapter 1 Earth's Crust Earth is round, like an orange. Oranges have a skin and Earth has a skin, too. We call this skin Earth's crust. Under the crust there is very hot rock. Earth's crust has different pieces. These pieces move very, very slowly. Millions of years ago, the pieces moved and made mountains. Under mountains the crust is thick, but under the ocean it's thinner. When two pieces of the crust move and meet, there can be earthquakes. A volcano is a hole in Earth's crust. When a volcano erupts, hot rock flies out from under the ground, and melted rock pours out over the ground. Volcanoes under the ocean sometimes make new islands. In 1963, a volcano in the Atlantic Ocean made a new island called Surtsey. There are many different rocks in Earth's crust. They are millions of years old. The rocks are often different colors. In the Painted Desert in Arizona in the USA, you can see the different rocks.

Chapter 2 Oceans On Earth there is more ocean than land. The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean. It's bigger than Africa! Did you know that there are mountains and valleys under the ocean? Some of these mountains are bigger than the biggest mountains on land. In the deepest parts of the ocean, the water is 10 kilometers deep. The water in the ocean is always moving. Waves hit the land and break the rocks. Sometimes, big pieces of rock fall into the ocean. They leave big cliffs, like the beautiful Uluwatu Cliffs in Bali in Indonesia. Where the ocean is warm, we sometimes find coral. Coral is made of millions of very small animals that make hard covers around themselves. When the animals die, the hard covers make the coral reef. The Great Barrier Reef near Australia is the biggest coral reef in the world. It's 2,600 kilometers long. Sea turtles, dolphins, and many other amazing animals live there. Discover! In some places, where the coral reef is very big, it comes out of the water. It makes a small island.

Chapter 3 Rivers and Waterfalls Rivers usually begin as streams in mountains. The water comes from rain or snow. All rivers then go to the ocean. Big rivers are very strong. When the ground under a river is soft, the river makes valleys. When the ground under it is hard rock, there are waterfalls or rapids. One incredible waterfall is the Iguazu Falls between Argentina and Brazil. Iguazu means 'big water' in an old language of South America. There's more water in the River Amazon than in any other river in the world. It begins in the mountains in Peru and Ecuador. Then it goes through the rainforest in Brazil, and to the Atlantic Ocean. There are no bridges on the Amazon. First, the river goes through rainforest and there are no roads. Then, near the ocean, the river is very wide so people can't build bridges. They cross the river by boat. Discover! The Amazon is the home of one of the longest snakes, called anacondas. Some grow to 9 meters long.