Land

Land is often defined as the solid, dry surface of Earth.{{cite book |last1=Allaby |first1=M. |author1-link=Michael Allaby |title=A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation |last2=Park |first2=C. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-964166-6 |location=Oxford |page=239}} The word land may also collectively refer the collective natural resources of Earth,{{Cite web |date=2024-07-31 |title=Definition of LAND |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}} including its land cover, rivers, shallow lakes, its biosphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere (troposphere), groundwater reserves, and the physical results of human activity on land, such as architecture and agriculture.{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |page=21 |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=September 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172701/https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch1.pdf |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |url-status=live |chapter-url=https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch1.pdf |chapter=Chapter 1 – Meaning of Land}} The boundary between land and sea is called the shoreline.{{Rp|page=625}}{{cite thesis |first=Melissa Myra |last=Gniadek |title=Unsettled spaces, Unsettled stories; Travel and Historical Narrative in the United States, 1799-1859 |date=August 2011 |type=PhD |publisher=Cornell University}}

The word land is derived from Old English, from the Proto-Germanic word {{lang|gem-x-proto|*landą}}, "untilled land", and then the Proto-Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|*lendʰ-}}, especially in northern regions that were home to languages like Proto-Celtic and Proto-Slavic. Examples include Old Irish land, "land, plot, church building" and Old Irish ithlann, "threshing floor", and Old East Slavic ljadina "wasteland, weeds".

A country or nation may be referred to as the motherland, fatherland, or homeland of its people.{{cite book |last=Grosby |first=Steven |title=Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-177628-1 |location=Oxford |author-link=Steven Grosby}}{{Rp|page=43}} Many countries and other places have names incorporating the suffix -land (e.g. England,{{cite web |title=England |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/England |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary }} Greenland,{{cite web |title=Greenland |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Greenland#etymonline_v_11952 |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary }} and New Zealand{{cite web |title=New Zealand |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/New%20Zealand#etymonline_v_35532 |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary }}). The equivalent suffix -stan from Indo-Iranian, ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-Iranian {{PIE|* sthāna-}},{{cite book |last=Macdonell |first=A. A. |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/macdonell_query.py? |title=A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout |date=1929 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |page=365 |author-link=Arthur Anthony Macdonell |access-date=September 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144545/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/macdonell_query.py?page=365 |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live}} is also present in many country and location names, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and others throughout Central Asia.{{cite news |last1=Ford |first1=Matt |title=Kazakhstan's President Is Tired of His Country's Name Ending in 'Stan' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/02/kazakhstans-president-is-tired-of-his-countrys-name-ending-in-stan/283676/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=The Atlantic |date=February 7, 2014 |language=en }} The suffix is also used more generally, as in Persian {{transliteration|fa|rigestân}} ({{lang|fa|ریگستان}}) "place of sand, desert", {{transliteration|fa|golestân}} ({{lang|fa|گلستان}}) "place of flowers, garden", {{transliteration|fa|gurestân}} ({{lang|fa|گورستان}}) "graveyard, cemetery",{{cite book |first=Leila |last=Moshiri |chapter=English-Persian Glossary |title=Colloquial Persian |year=1988 |publisher=Routledge |page=150 |isbn=0-415-00886-7}} and Hindustân ({{lang|fa|هندوستان}}) "land of the Indo people".{{cite book |last1=Kapur |first1=Anu |title=Mapping Place Names of India |date=2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-61421-7 |language=en}}

The study of land and its history in general is called geography. Mineralogy is the study of minerals, and petrology is the study of rocks. Soil science is the study of soils, encompassing the sub-disciplines of pedology, which focuses on soil formation, and edaphology, which focuses on the relationship between soil and life.

{{Further|History of Earth}}

File:Earth formation.jpg Earth|alt=A depiction of the early Earth, with much of its surface covered in lava.]]

The earliest material found in the Solar System is dated to {{val|4.5672|0.0006|ul=bya}} (billion years ago);{{Cite journal |last1=Bowring |first1=S. |last2=Housh |first2=T. |date=September 15, 1995 |title=The Earth's early evolution |journal=Science |volume=269 |issue=5230 |pages=1535–1540 |bibcode=1995Sci...269.1535B |doi=10.1126/science.7667634 |pmid=7667634}} therefore, Earth itself must have been formed by accretion around this time. The formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies occurred in tandem with the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out of a molecular cloud by gravitational collapse, which begins to spin and flatten into a circumstellar disc, out of which the planets then grow (in tandem with the star). A nebula contains gas, ice grains and dust (including primordial nuclides). In the nebular hypothesis, planetesimals begin to form as particulate matter accumulates by cohesive clumping and then by gravity. The primordial Earth's assembly took 10–{{val|20|ul=myr}}.{{Cite journal |last1=Yin |first1=Q. |last2=Jacobsen |first2=S. B. |last3=Yamashita |first3=K. |last4=Blichert-Toft |first4=J. |author4-link=Janne Blichert-Toft |last5=Télouk |first5=P. |last6=Albarède |first6=F. |date=August 29, 2002 |title=A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf-W chronometry of meteorites |journal=Nature |volume=418 |issue=6901 |pages=949–952 |bibcode=2002Natur.418..949Y |doi=10.1038/nature00995 |pmid=12198540 |s2cid=4391342}} By {{val |4.54 |0.04|u=bya}}, the primordial Earth had formed.{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=G. Brent |author-link=Brent Dalrymple |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7S3zaLBrkgC |title=The age of the earth |date=1991 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804723312 |location=Stanford, Calif. |oclc=22347190 }}{{cite journal |last=Dalrymple |first=G. Brent |author-link=Brent Dalrymple |year=2001 |title=The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved |url=http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/190/1/205 |url-status=dead |journal=Geological Society of London, Special Publications |publisher=Geological Society of London |volume=190 |issue=1 |pages=205–221 |bibcode=2001GSLSP.190..205D |doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2001.190.01.14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111141237/http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/190/1/205 |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |access-date=September 20, 2007 |s2cid=130092094}}

Earth's atmosphere and oceans were formed by volcanic activity and outgassing that included water vapour. The origin of the world's oceans was condensation augmented by water and ice delivered by asteroids, protoplanets, and comets.{{Cite journal |last1=Morbidelli |first1=A. |last2=Chambers |first2=J. |last3=Lunine |first3=J.I. |last4=Petit |first4=J.M. |last5=Robert |first5=F. |last6=Valsecchi |first6=G.B. |last7=Cyr |first7=K.E. |display-authors=3 |year=2000 |title=Source regions and time scales for the delivery of water to Earth |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=1309–1320 |bibcode=2000M&PS...35.1309M |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2000.tb01518.x |doi-access=free}} In this model, atmospheric "greenhouse gases" kept the oceans from freezing while the newly formed Sun was only at 70% luminosity.{{Cite conference |last1=Guinan |first1=E.F. |last2=Ribas |first2=I. |year=2002 |editor1-last=Montesinos |editor1-first=Benjamin |editor2-last=Gimenez |editor2-first=Alvaro |editor3-last=Guinan |editor3-first=Edward F. |title=Our Changing Sun: The Role of Solar Nuclear Evolution and Magnetic Activity on Earth's Atmosphere and Climate |url=https://www.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2002ASPC..269...85G |conference=ASP Conference Proceedings |location=San Francisco |publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific |volume=269 |bibcode=2002ASPC..269...85G |isbn=1-58381-109-5 |url-access= |access-date=27 July 2009 |via=SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System |book-title=ASP Conference Proceedings: The Evolving Sun and its Influence on Planetary Environments}} By {{val|3.5|u=bya}}, the Earth's magnetic field was established, which helped prevent the atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind.{{Cite news |author=University of Rochester |date=March 4, 2010 |title=Oldest measurement of Earth's magnetic field reveals battle between Sun and Earth for our atmosphere |work=Physorg.news |url=http://www.physorg.com/news186922627.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427064855/http://www.physorg.com/news186922627.html |archive-date=April 27, 2011}} The atmosphere and oceans of the Earth continuously shape the land by eroding and transporting solids on the surface.{{cite web |title=Ocean Literacy |url=http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/literacy/ocean_literacy.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127095900/http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/literacy/ocean_literacy.pdf |archive-date=November 27, 2014 |website=NOAA |edition=2nd}}

Earth's crust formed when the molten outer layer of Planet Earth cooled to form a solid mass{{Cite journal |last=Chambers |first=John E. |year=2004 |title=Planetary accretion in the inner Solar System |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=223 |issue=3–4 |pages=241–252 |bibcode=2004E&PSL.223..241C |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2004.04.031}} as the accumulated water vapour began to act in the atmosphere. Once land became capable of supporting life, biodiversity evolved over hundreds of millions of years, expanding continually except when punctuated by mass extinctions.{{Cite journal |last1=Sahney |first1=S. |last2=Benton |first2=M. J. |last3=Ferry |first3=P. A. |year=2010 |title=Links between global taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the expansion of vertebrates on land |journal=Biology Letters |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=544–547 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2009.1024 |pmc=2936204 |pmid=20106856}}

The two models{{Cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=John James William |title=Continents and Supercontinents |last2=Santosh |first2=M. |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-516589-0 |page=48}} that explain land mass propose either a steady growth to the present-day forms{{Cite journal |last1=Hurley |first1=P.M. |last2=Rand |first2=J.R. |date=June 1969 |title=Pre-drift continental nuclei |journal=Science |volume=164 |issue=3885 |pages=1229–1242 |bibcode=1969Sci...164.1229H |doi=10.1126/science.164.3885.1229 |pmid=17772560}} or, more likely, a rapid growth{{Cite journal |last1=De Smet |first1=J. |last2=Van Den Berg |first2=A.P. |last3=Vlaar |first3=N.J. |year=2000 |title=Early formation and long-term stability of continents resulting from decompression melting in a convecting mantle |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/1874/1653/1/desmet_etal_00.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Tectonophysics |volume=322 |issue=1–2 |page=19 |bibcode=2000Tectp.322...19D |doi=10.1016/S0040-1951(00)00055-X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331100352/https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/1653/desmet_etal_00.pdf;jsessionid=72BE4EE7164C98D3E91FAC2C1347084F?sequence=1 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |access-date=October 2, 2019 |hdl=1874/1653}} early in Earth history{{Cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=R.L. |year=1968 |title=A model for the evolution of strontium and lead isotopes in a dynamic earth |journal=Reviews of Geophysics |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=175–199 |bibcode=1968RvGSP...6..175A |doi=10.1029/RG006i002p00175}} followed by a long-term steady continental area.{{Cite journal |last1=Kleine |first1=Thorsten |last2=Palme |first2=Herbert |last3=Mezger |first3=Klaus |last4=Halliday |first4=Alex N. |author4-link=Alex N. Halliday |date=November 24, 2005 |title=Hf-W Chronometry of Lunar Metals and the Age and Early Differentiation of the Moon |journal=Science |volume=310 |issue=5754 |pages=1671–1674 |bibcode=2005Sci...310.1671K |doi=10.1126/science.1118842 |pmid=16308422 |s2cid=34172110|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Hong |first1=D. |last2=Zhang |first2=Jisheng |last3=Wang |first3=Tao |last4=Wang |first4=Shiguang |last5=Xie |first5=Xilin |year=2004 |title=Continental crustal growth and the supercontinental cycle: evidence from the Central Asian Orogenic Belt |journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences |volume=23 |issue=5 |page=799 |bibcode=2004JAESc..23..799H |doi=10.1016/S1367-9120(03)00134-2}}{{Cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=R.L. |year=1991 |title=The persistent myth of crustal growth |journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=613–630 |bibcode=1991AuJES..38..613A |citeseerx=10.1.1.527.9577 |doi=10.1080/08120099108727995}} Continents are formed by plate tectonics, a process ultimately driven by the continuous loss of heat from the Earth's interior. On time scales lasting hundreds of millions of years, the supercontinents have formed and broken apart three times. Roughly {{val|750|ul=mya}} (million years ago), one of the earliest known supercontinents, Rodinia, began to break apart.{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Z. X. |last2=Bogdanova |first2=S. V. |last3=Collins |first3=A. S. |last4=Davidson |first4=A. |last5=De Waele |first5=B. |last6=Ernst |first6=R. E. |last7=Fitzsimons |first7=I. C. W. |last8=Fuck |first8=R. A. |last9=Gladkochub |first9=D. P. |last10=Jacobs |first10=J. |last11=Karlstrom |first11=K. E. |last12=Lul |first12=S. |last13=Natapov |first13=L. M. |last14=Pease |first14=V. |last15=Pisarevsky |first15=S. A. |display-authors=3 |year=2008 |title=Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis |url=http://www.bdewaele.be/pdfs/Lietal_IGCP440_map_2008.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Precambrian Research |volume=160 |issue=1–2 |pages=179–210 |bibcode=2008PreR..160..179L |doi=10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304231035/http://www.bdewaele.be/pdfs/Lietal_IGCP440_map_2008.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=February 6, 2016 |last16=Thrane |first16=K. |last17=Vernikovsky |first17=V.}} The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600–{{val|540|u=mya}}, then finally Pangaea, which also broke apart {{val|180|u=mya}}.{{Cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=J.B. |last2=Nance |first2=R.D. |year=1965 |title=How do supercontinents assemble? |url=http://scienceweek.com/2004/sa040730-5.htm |url-status=dead |journal=American Scientist |volume=92 |issue=4 |pages=324–333 |doi=10.1511/2004.4.324 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713194319/http://scienceweek.com/2004/sa040730-5.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2007 |access-date=March 5, 2007}}

{{Main|Landmass}}

Image:Continental models.gif

A continuous area of land surrounded by an ocean is called a landmass. Although it is most often written as one word to distinguish it from the usage "land mass"—the measure of land area—it may also be written as two words.{{cite book |last1=Nijman |first1=Jan |title=Regions: Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts |last2=Muller |first2=Peter O. |last3=de Blij |first3=H.J. |date=2017 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-119-30189-9 |edition=17th |page=11 |chapter=Introduction}} There are four major continuous landmasses on Earth: Africa-Eurasia, America (landmass), Antarctica, and Australia (landmass), which are subdivided into continents.{{cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=continents |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Geography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA215 |access-date=August 25, 2022 |editor-last=McColl |editor-first=R.W. |volume=1 |page=215 |isbn=978-0-8160-7229-3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101165838/https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA215 |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} Up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from greatest to least land area, these continents are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.{{Cite web |title=Continent |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/Continent/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001044025/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/Continent/ |archive-date=October 1, 2022 |access-date=September 9, 2022 |website=National Geographic}}

{{Main|Terrain}}

File:Island arc of Japan.jpg map of Japan showing the elevation of the terrain.|alt=A topographical map of Japan and the surrounding ocean and landmasses, showing different elevations with different colors.]]

Terrain refers to an area of land and its features.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-01 |title=Definition of TERRAIN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrain |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en}} Terrain affects travel, mapmaking, ecosystems, and surface water flow and distribution. Over a large area, it can influence climate and weather patterns. The terrain of a region largely determines its suitability for human settlement: flatter alluvial plains tend to have better farming soils than steeper, rockier uplands.{{cite journal |last1=Dwevedi |first1=A. |last2=Kumar |first2=P. |last3=Kumar |first3=P. |last4=Kumar |first4=Y. |last5=Sharma |first5=Y. K. |last6=Kayastha |first6=A. M. |date=January 1, 2017 |editor-last=Grumezescu |editor-first=A. M. |title=15 – Soil sensors: detailed insight into research updates, significance, and future prospects |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128042991000163 |url-status=live |journal=New Pesticides and Soil Sensors |language=en |pages=561–594 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-804299-1.00016-3 |isbn=978-0128042991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011143409/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128042991000163 |archive-date=October 11, 2022 |access-date=October 11, 2022|url-access=subscription }}

Elevation is defined as the vertical distance between an object and sea level, while altitude is defined as the vertical distance from an object to Earth's surface.{{Cite web |date=December 17, 2021 |title=What Is The Difference Between Elevation, Relief And Altitude ? |url=https://mapscaping.com/what-is-the-difference-between-elevation-relief-and-altitude/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009071034/https://mapscaping.com/what-is-the-difference-between-elevation-relief-and-altitude/ |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |access-date=October 11, 2022 |language=en-US}} The elevation of Earth's land surface varies from the low point of {{convert|-418|m|ft|abbr=off}} at the Dead Sea, to a maximum altitude of {{convert|8,848|m|ft|abbr=off}} at the top of Mount Everest. The mean height of land above sea level is about {{convert|797|m|ft|abbr=off}},{{cite web |author=National Geophysical Data Center |title=Hypsographic Curve of Earth's Surface from ETOPO1 |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/etopo-global-relief-model |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915114233/https://ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/etopo1_surface_histogram.html |archive-date=September 15, 2017 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=ngdc.noaa.gov |publisher=NOAA}} with 98.9% of dry land situated above sea level.{{Cite web |title=Land area where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total land area) {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.EL5M.ZS?end=2010&start=1990&view=chart |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173625/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.EL5M.ZS?end=2010&start=1990&view=chart |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |access-date=September 18, 2022 |website=data.worldbank.org |publisher=World Bank}}

Relief refers to the difference in elevation within a landscape; for example, flat terrain would have "low relief", while terrain with a large elevation difference between the highest and lowest points would be deemed "high relief". Most land has relatively low relief.{{Cite book |last=Summerfield |first=M.A. |title=Global Geomorphology |date=1991 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-0582301566 |page=537}} The change in elevation between two points of the terrain is called a slope or gradient. A topographic map is a form of terrain cartography which depicts terrain in terms of its elevation, slope, and the orientation of its landforms. It has prominent contour lines, which connect points of similar elevation, while perpendicular slope lines point in the direction of the steepest slope.{{Cite book |last1=Mark |first1=David M. |title=Geographic Information Science and Mountain Geomorphology |last2=Smith |first2=Barry |publisher=Springer-Praxis |year=2004 |editor1-last=Bishop |editor1-first=Michael P. |pages=75–100 |chapter=A science of topography: From qualitative ontology to digital representations |author1-link=David Mark (scientist) |editor2-last=Shroder |editor2-first=John F.}} Hypsometric tints are colors placed between contour lines to indicate elevation relative to sea level.{{Cite journal |last1=Siebert |first1=E. A. |last2=Dornbach |first2=J. E. |date=1953 |title=Chart Altitude As A Function Of Hypsometric Layer Tints |journal=Journal of the Institute of Navigation |volume=3 |issue=8 |pages=270–274 |doi=10.1002/j.2161-4296.1953.tb00669.x}}

A difference between uplands, or highlands, and lowlands is drawn in several earth science fields. In river ecology, "upland" rivers are fast-moving and colder than "lowland" rivers, encouraging different species of fish and other aquatic wildlife to live in these habitats. For example, nutrients are more present in slow-moving lowland rivers, encouraging different species of macrophytes to grow there.{{cite journal |last1=Staniszewski |first1=Ryszard |last2=Jusik |first2=Szymon |last3=Kupiec |first3=Jerzy |date=January 1, 2012 |title=Variability of Taxonomic Structure of Macrophytes According to Major Morphological Modifications of Lowland and Upland Rivers With Different Water Trophy |journal=Nauka Przyroda Technologie |volume=6}} The term "upland" is also used in wetland ecology, where "upland" plants indicate an area that is not a wetland.{{cite book |last1=Lichvar |first1=Robert W. |url=https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/documents/national-wetland-plant-list-indicator-rating-definitions.pdf |title=National Wetland Plant List Indicator Definitions |last2=Melvin |first2=Norman C. |last3=Butterwick |first3=Mary L. |last4=Kirchner |first4=William N. |date=July 2012 |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012213651/http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/documents/national-wetland-plant-list-indicator-rating-definitions.pdf |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |url-status=live}} In addition, the term moorland refers to upland shrubland biomes with acidic soils, while heathlands are lowland shrublands with acidic soils.{{cite book |last1=Polunin |first1=Oleg |title=A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe |last2=Walters |first2=Martin |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-19-217713-3 |page=220 |author1-link=Oleg Polunin}}

{{Main|Geomorphology}}

Geomorphology refers to the study of the natural processes that shape land's surface, creating landforms.{{Cite book |last=Huggett |first=Richard John |title=Fundamentals Of Geomorphology |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-86008-3 |edition=3rd |series=Routledge Fundamentals of Physical Geography Series}}{{Rp|page=3}} Erosion and tectonics, volcanic eruptions, flooding, weathering, glaciation, the growth of coral reefs, and meteorite impacts are among the processes that constantly reshape Earth's surface over geological time.{{cite web |last1=Kring |first1=David A |title=Terrestrial Impact Cratering and Its Environmental Effects |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/epo_web/impact_cratering/intro/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513055527/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/epo_web/impact_cratering/intro/ |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |access-date=March 22, 2007 |publisher=Lunar and Planetary Laboratory}}{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agaOKrvAoeAC |title=Earth's Evolving Systems: The History of Planet Earth |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7637-8001-2 |oclc=635476788 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144551/https://books.google.com/books?id=agaOKrvAoeAC |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}

Erosion transports one part of land to another via natural processes, such as wind, water, ice, and gravity. In contrast, weathering wears away rock and other solid land without transporting the land somewhere else.{{Cite book |last1=Tarbuck |first1=Edward J. |title=Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology |last2=Lutgens |first2=Frederick K. |date=2016 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-0-13-407425-2 |edition=12th |language=en}}{{rp|pages=210–211}} Natural erosional processes usually take a long time to cause noticeable changes in the landscape—for example, the Grand Canyon was created over the past 70 million years by the Colorado River,{{cite journal |last1=Witze |first1=Alexandra |date=February 26, 2019 |title=A deeper understanding of the Grand Canyon |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2019/deeper-understanding-grand-canyon |url-status=live |journal=Knowable Magazine |doi=10.1146/knowable-022619-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623131708/https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2019/deeper-understanding-grand-canyon |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |access-date=June 23, 2022 |doi-access=free|url-access=subscription }}{{cite Q|Q56082876}} which scientists estimate continues to erode the canyon at a rate of {{convert|0.3|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} every 200 years.{{cite web |title=Canyon |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/canyon/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013023737/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/canyon/ |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |access-date=October 12, 2022 |website=National Geographic}} However, humans have caused erosion to be 10–40 times faster than normal,{{Cite journal |last=Dotterweich |first=Markus |date=November 1, 2013 |title=The history of human-induced soil erosion: Geomorphic legacies, early descriptions and research, and the development of soil conservation – A global synopsis |journal=Geomorphology |volume=201 |pages=1–34 |bibcode=2013Geomo.201....1D |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.07.021|s2cid=129797403 }} causing half the topsoil of the surface of Earth's land to be lost within the past 150 years.{{cite web |title=Soil Erosion and Degradation |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925194817/https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation |archive-date=September 25, 2022 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |website=World Wildlife Fund}}

Plate tectonics refers to the theory that Earth's lithosphere is divided into "tectonic plates" that move over the mantle.{{Rp|page=66}} This results in continental drift, with continents moving relative to each other.{{Cite web |author=University of the Witwatersrand |date=2019 |title=Drop of ancient seawater rewrites Earth's history: Research reveals that plate tectonics started on Earth 600 million years before what was believed earlier |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190801104108.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806072854/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190801104108.htm |archive-date=August 6, 2019 |access-date=August 11, 2019 |publisher=ScienceDaily}} The scientist Alfred Wegener first hypothesized the theory of continental drift in 1912.{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Patrick |date=February 8, 2001 |title=Alfred Wegener (1880–1930): A Geographic Jigsaw Puzzle |url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Wegener/wegener_2.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014154657/https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Wegener/wegener_2.php |archive-date=October 14, 2022 |access-date=December 26, 2007 |website=On the Shoulders of Giants |publisher=Earth Observatory, NASA |quote=... on January 6, 1912, Wegener... proposed instead a grand vision of drifting continents and widening seas to explain the evolution of Earth's geography.}} More researchers developed his idea throughout the 20th century into the now widely accepted theory of plate tectonics.

Several key characteristics define the modern understanding of plate tectonics. The place where two tectonic plates meet is called a plate boundary,{{cite web |title=What are the different types of plate tectonic boundaries? |url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/plate-boundaries.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009082707/https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/plate-boundaries.html |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |access-date=October 9, 2022 |website=Ocean Explorer |publisher=NOAA}} with different geological phenomena occurring across different kinds of boundaries. For example, at divergent plate boundaries, seafloor spreading is usually seen,{{Rp|pages=74–75}} in contrast with the subduction zones of convergent or transform plate boundaries.{{Rp|pages=78–80}}

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are common in all types of boundaries. Volcanic activity refers to any rupture in Earth's surface where magma escapes, therefore becoming lava.{{Rp|pages=170–172}} The Ring of Fire, containing two-thirds of the world's volcanos, and over 70% of Earth's seismological activity, comprises plate boundaries surrounding the Pacific Ocean.{{cite journal |year=2013 |editor1-last=Venzke |editor1-first=E. |title=Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.3.4 |url=https://volcano.si.edu/gvp_votw.cfm |url-status=live |journal=Global Volcanism Program |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |doi=10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805173609/https://volcano.si.edu/gvp_votw.cfm |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |access-date=October 14, 2022|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last1=Siebert |first1=L. |title=Volcanoes of the World |last2=Simkin |first2=T. |last3=Kimberly |first3=P. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution; Berkeley; University of California Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-520-94793-1 |edition=3rd}}{{rp|page=68}}{{cite journal |last1=Duda |first1=Seweryn J. |date=November 1965 |title=Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt |journal=Tectonophysics |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=409–452 |bibcode=1965Tectp...2..409D |doi=10.1016/0040-1951(65)90035-1}}{{rp|pages=409–452}}{{efn|name=VolcsExactCount|The exact number of volcanoes depends on the geographic boundaries used by the source. This number excludes Antarctica and the western islands of Indonesia and includes the Izu, Bonin, and Mariana Islands.}}

{{See also|Land surface effects on climate}}

File:Satellite image of Bolivia in June 2002.jpg create a rain shadow, separating the wet Amazon basin from the dry Altiplano.]]

Earth's land interacts with and influences its climate heavily, since the land's surface heats up and cools down faster than air or water.{{Cite web |title=The Effect of Land Masses on Climate |url=http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ttv10.sci.ess.land/the-effect-of-land-masses-on-climate/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092309/http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ttv10.sci.ess.land/the-effect-of-land-masses-on-climate/ |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |website=PBS Learning Media |publisher=PBS}} Latitude, elevation, topography, reflectivity, and land use all have varying effects on climate. The latitude of the land will influence how much solar radiation reaches its surface. High latitudes receive less solar radiation than low latitudes. The land's topography is important in creating and transforming airflow and precipitation. Large landforms, such as mountain ranges, can divert wind energy and make air parcels less dense and therefore able to hold less heat. As air rises, this cooling effect causes condensation and precipitation.

Different types of land cover will influence the land's albedo, a measure of the solar radiation that is reflected, rather than absorbed and transferred to Earth.{{cite web |last=Betts |first=Alan |title=The Climate Energy Balance of the Earth |url=http://alanbetts.com/understanding-climate-change/question/the-climate-energy-balance-of-the-earth/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305041546/http://alanbetts.com/understanding-climate-change/question/the-climate-energy-balance-of-the-earth |archive-date=March 5, 2015 |website=Alan Betts: Atmospheric Research}} Vegetation has a relatively low albedo, meaning that vegetated surfaces are good absorbers of the sun's energy. Forests have an albedo of 10–15 percent while grasslands have an albedo of 15–20 percent. In comparison, sandy deserts have an albedo of 25–40 percent.

Land use by humans also plays a role in the regional and global climate. Densely populated cities are warmer and create urban heat islands that have effects on the precipitation, cloud cover, and temperature of the region.

{{Main|Landform}}

A landform is a natural or manmade{{cite book |last=Howard |first=Jeffrey |chapter=Anthropogenic Landforms and Soil Parent Materials |date=2017 |title=Anthropogenic Soils |pages=25–51 |editor-last=Howard |editor-first=Jeffrey |series=Progress in Soil Science |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-54331-4_3 |isbn=978-3-319-54331-4}} land feature. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, mountains, canyons, and valleys, as well as shoreline features such as bays, capes, and peninsulas.

File:Littoral Zones.jpg, which includes the coast and nearby waters|alt=See caption]]

The shoreline is the interface between the land and the ocean. It migrates each day as tides rise and fall and moves over long periods of time as sea levels change. The shore extends from the low tide line to the highest elevation that can be reached by storm waves, and the coast stretches out inland until the point where ocean-related features are no longer found.{{Rp|page=625–626}}

When land is in contact with bodies of water, it can be eroded. The weathering of a coastline may be impacted by the tides, caused by changes in gravitational forces on larger bodies of water.{{rp|352–353}}{{cite book |first=Robert H. |last=Stewart |title=Introduction to Physical Oceanography |date=September 2006 |publisher=Texas A&M University |pages=301–302 |url=https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/20}} Coasts are important zones in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity.{{cite book |last1=Heckbert |first1=S. |title=Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science |last2=Costanza |first2=R. |last3=Poloczanska |first3=E. S. |last4=Richardson |first4=A. J. |date=2011 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-08-087885-0 |editor-last=Wolanski |editor-first=Eric |volume=12 |place=Waltham |pages=199–216 |language=en |chapter=12.10 – Climate Regulation as a Service from Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems |author2-link=Robert Costanza |access-date=October 11, 2022 |editor2-last=McLusky |editor2-first=Donald |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123747112012110 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013120334/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123747112012110 |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |url-status=live}} On land, they harbour important ecosystems such as freshwater or estuarine wetlands, which are important for bird populations and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas they harbor saltmarshes, mangroves or seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic species. Rocky shores are usually found along exposed coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessile animals (e.g. mussels, starfish, barnacles) and various kinds of seaweeds. Along tropical coasts with clear, nutrient-poor water, coral reefs can often be found between depths of {{convert|1|–|50|m|ft|sp=us}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.marinebio.org/creatures/coral-reefs/ |title=Coral Reefs |website=marinebio.org |date=June 17, 2018 |access-date=October 28, 2022 }}

According to a United Nations atlas, 44% of all people live within {{convert|150|km|mi|abbr=on}} of the sea.{{Cite web |date=July 5, 2018 |title=Human Settlements on the Coast |url=http://www.oceansatlas.org/subtopic/en/c/114/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705135719/http://www.oceansatlas.org/subtopic/en/c/114/ |archive-date=July 5, 2018 |access-date=October 11, 2022 |website=UN Atlas of the Oceans}} Because of their importance in society and high concentration of population, the coast is important for major parts of the global food and economic system, and they provide many ecosystem services to humankind. For example, important human activities happen in port cities. Coastal fisheries for commercial, recreational, and subsistence purposes, and aquaculture are major economic activities and provide jobs, livelihoods, and protein for the majority of coastal human populations. Other coastal spaces like beaches and seaside resorts generate economic activity through tourism. Marine coastal ecosystems can also provide protection against sea level rise and tsunamis. In many countries, the coastal mangrove is the primary source of wood for fuel (e.g. charcoal) and building materials. Coastal ecosystems have a much higher capacity for carbon sequestration than many terrestrial ecosystems, and as such can play a critical role in the near future to help mitigate climate change effects by uptake of atmospheric anthropogenic carbon dioxide.{{Cite web |title=Coastal functions « World Ocean Review |url=https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-5/living-with-the-coasts/coastal-functions/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012180749/https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-5/living-with-the-coasts/coastal-functions/ |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |access-date=October 11, 2022 |language=en-US}}

A subcontinental area of land surrounded by water is an island,{{cite book |editor1-last=Gillespie |editor1-first=Rosemary G. |editor1-link=Rosemary Gillespie (biologist) |editor2-last=Clague |editor2-first=David A. |date=2009 |title=Encyclopedia of Islands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C&pg=PAxxxi |publisher=University of California |isbn=978-0520256491 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223073352/https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C&pg=PAxxxi |archive-date=December 23, 2021 |access-date=October 22, 2022 |via=Google Books}}{{rp|xxxi}} and a chain of islands is an archipelago. The smaller the island, the larger the percentage of its land area will be adjacent to the water, and subsequently will be coast or beach.{{cite web |url=https://www.cbd.int/island/whymatters.shtml |title=Island Biodiversity – Why is it Important? |website=Convention on Biological Diversity |date=October 19, 2009 |access-date=October 24, 2022 }} Islands can be formed by a variety of processes. The Hawaiian islands, for example, even though they are not near a plate boundary, formed from isolated volcanic activity.{{rp|406}} Atolls are ring-shaped islands made of coral, created when subsidence causes an island to sink beneath the ocean surface and leaves a ring of reefs around it.{{rp|69}}{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles R. |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F271&pageseq=1 |title=The structure and distribution of coral reefs. Being the first part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. Fitzroy, R.N. during the years 1832 to 1836 |via=Darwin Online |publisher=Smith Elder and Co |year=1842 |location=London |ref=darwincr-1 |author-link=Charles Darwin |access-date=October 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925140420/http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F271&viewtype=text&pageseq=1 |archive-date=September 25, 2006 |url-status=live}}

File:Vihren Pirin IMG 8898.jpg, a mountain range in Bulgaria.]]

Mountains are features that usually rise at least {{convert|300|m|ft}} higher than the surrounding terrain.{{cite web |title=Mountains |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mountains |website=National Geographic |access-date=April 30, 2023 |language=en |date=October 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301050550/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mountains |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 1, 2021}} The formation of mountain belts is called orogenesis, and results from plate tectonics.{{Rp|page=|pages=448–449}} For example, where a plate at a convergent plate boundary pushes one plate above the other, mountains could be formed by either collisional events, such that Earth's crust is pushed upwards,{{Rp|page=454–460}} or subductional events, where Earth's crust is pushed into the mantle, causing the crust to melt, rise due to its low density, and solidify into hardened rock, thickening the crust.{{Rp|page=449–453}}

A plateau, also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side, creating steep cliffs or escarpments.{{Rp|page=99}} Both volcanic activity such as the upwelling of magma and extrusion of lava, or erosion of mountains caused from water, glaciers, or aeolian processes, can create plateaus. Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment as intermontane, piedmont, or continental.{{Cite book |last=Leong |first=Goh Cheng |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhJ4RAAACAAJ&q=certificate+physical+and+human+geography |title=Certificate Physics And Human Geography |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562816-6 |edition=Indian |pages=17 |language=en |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144552/https://books.google.com/books?id=XhJ4RAAACAAJ&q=certificate+physical+and+human+geography |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} A few plateaus may have a small flat top while others are wider. Buttes are smaller, with less extrusive and more intrusive igneous rock, while plateaus or highlands are the widest, and mesas are a general-sized plateau with horizontal bedrock strata.{{cite journal |last1=Duszyński |first1=F. |last2=Migoń |first2=P. |author2-link=Piotr Migoń |last3=Strzelecki |first3=M.C. |date=2019 |title=Escarpment retreat in sedimentary tablelands and cuesta landscapes–Landforms, mechanisms and patterns |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=196 |page=102890 |bibcode=2019ESRv..19602890D |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102890 |number=102890 |s2cid=198410403}}{{cite book |last=Migoń |first=P. |author-link=Piotr Migoń |title=Encyclopedia of Geomorphology |date=2004a |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415272988 |editor-last=Goudie |editor-first=A.S. |editor-link=Andrew Goudie (geographer) |location=London |page=668 |chapter=Mesa}}{{cite book |last1=Neuendorf |first1=Klaus K.E. |title=Glossary of Geology |last2=Mehl Jr. |first2=James P. |last3=Jackson |first3=Julia A. |date=2011 |publisher=American Geosciences Institute |isbn=978-1680151787 |edition=5th}}

File:AlluvialPlain.JPG alluvial plain from Red Rock Canyon State Park (California).|alt=An alluvial plain near dry, rolling hills]]

Wide, flat areas of land are called plains, which cover more than one-third of Earth's land area.{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Geoff C. |author1-link=:de:Geoff Brown |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kgk4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93 |title=Understanding the Earth |last2=Hawkesworth |first2=C. J. |author2-link=Christopher Hawkesworth |last3=Wilson |first3=R. C. L. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-521-42740-1 |edition=2nd |page=93 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603090000/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kgk4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93 |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} When they occur as lowered areas between mountains, they can create valleys, canyons or gorges, and ravines.{{Cite journal |last1=Rood |first1=Stewart B. |last2=Pan |first2=Jason |last3=Gill |first3=Karen M. |last4=Franks |first4=Carmen G. |last5=Samuelson |first5=Glenda M. |last6=Shepherd |first6=Anita |date=February 1, 2008 |title=Declining summer flows of Rocky Mountain rivers: Changing seasonal hydrology and probable impacts on floodplain forests |journal=Journal of Hydrology |volume=349 |issue=3–4 |pages=397–410 |doi=10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.11.012 |bibcode=2008JHyd..349..397R}} A plateau can be thought of as an elevated plain. Plains are known to have fertile soils and be important for agriculture due to their flatness supporting grasses suitable for livestock and facilitating the harvest of crops.{{cite thesis |last=Powell |first=W. Gabe |date=2009 |title=Identifying Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Data as a Hydrologic Model Input for Local Flood Plain Management |type=Applied Research Project |publisher=Texas State University}} Floodplains provided agricultural land for some of the earliest civilizations.{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-818234-5.00003-1 |pmc=7392566 |chapter=Natural Hazards, Landscapes and Civilizations |title=Treatise on Geomorphology |year=2022 |last1=Leroy |first1=Suzanne A.G. |series=Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences |pages=620–634 |isbn=978-0-12-818235-2}} Erosion is often a main driver for the creation of plains and valleys, with rift valleys being a noticeable exception. Fjords are glacial valleys that can be thousands of meters deep, opening out to the sea.{{cite web |title=Fjord |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/fjord/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144552/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/fjord/ |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |access-date=October 14, 2022 |website=National Geographic}}

Any natural void in the ground which can be entered by a human can be considered a cave.{{cite encyclopedia |title="Cave, n.1." def. 1. |dictionary=The Century dictionary: An encyclopedic lexicon of the English language |publisher=The Century Company |location=New York |last=Whitney |first=W. D. |date=1889 |volume=1 |page=871}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cave |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2009 |edition=2nd}} They have been important to humans as a place of shelter since the dawn of humanity.{{cite journal |last1=Marean |first1=Curtis W. |last2=Bar-Matthews |first2=Miryam |last3=Bernatchez |first3=Jocelyn |first4=Erich |last4=Fisher |first5=Paul |last5=Goldberg |first6=Andy I. R. |last6=Herries |first7=Zenobia |last7=Jacobs |first8=Antonieta |last8=Jerardino |first9=Panagiotis |last9=Karkanas |first10=Tom |last10=Minichillo |first11=Peter J. |last11=Nilssen |first12=Erin |last12=Thompson |first13=Ian |last13=Watts |first14=Hope M. |last14=Williams |date=2007 |title=Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene |journal=Nature |volume=449 |issue=7164 |pages=905–908 |doi=10.1038/nature06204 |pmid=17943129 |bibcode=2007Natur.449..905M |s2cid=4387442 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15550/files/PAL_E2962.pdf }}

Craters are depressions in the ground, but unlike caves, they do not provide shelter or extend underground. There are many kinds of craters, such as impact craters, volcanic calderas, and isostatic depressions. Karst processes can create both solution caves, the most frequent cave type, and craters, as seen in karst sinkholes.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/solution-caves.htm |title=Solution Caves – Caves and Karst |website=U.S. National Park Service }}

The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's continental surface and is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. Below it, the lithosphere encompasses both Earth's crust and the uppermost layer of the mantle.{{cite book |last1=Skinner |first1=B. J. |title=Physical Geology |last2=Porter |first2=S. C. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=1987 |isbn=0-471-05668-5 |page=17 |chapter=The Earth: Inside and Out}} The lithosphere rests, or "floats", on top of the mantle below it via isostasy.{{Rp|page=463}} Above the solid ground, the troposphere and humans' use of land can be considered layers of the land.

{{Main|Land cover|Land cover mapping}}

File:Land cover IGBP.png (IGBP) into 17 classes|alt=A map of the earth showing different forms of land cover in different colors]]

Land cover refers to the material physically present on the land surface, for example, woody crops, herbaceous crops, barren land, and shrub-covered areas. Artificial surfaces (including cities) account for about a third of a percent of all land.{{Cite web |title=Land Cover |url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/LC/visualize |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106022112/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/LC/visualize |archive-date=January 6, 2022 |access-date=September 18, 2022 |website=Food and Agriculture Organization }} Land use refers to human allocation of land for various purposes, including farming, ranching, and recreation (e.g. national parks); worldwide, there are an estimated {{convert|16.7|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} of cropland, and {{convert|33.5|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} of pastureland.{{cite journal |last1=Hooke |first1=Roger LeB. |last2=Martín-Duque |first2=José F. |last3=Pedraza |first3=Javier |date=December 2012 |title=Land transformation by humans: A review |url=https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/12/pdf/gt1212.pdf |url-status=live |journal=GSA Today |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=4–10 |doi=10.1130/GSAT151A.1 |bibcode=2012GSAT...12l...4H |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109181247/https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/12/pdf/gt1212.pdf |archive-date=January 9, 2018 |access-date=September 22, 2022}}

Land cover change detection using remote sensing and geospatial data provides baseline information for assessing the climate change impacts on habitats and biodiversity, as well as natural resources, in the target areas. Land cover change detection and mapping is a key component of interdisciplinary land change science, which uses it to determine the consequences of land change on climate.{{cite book |last1=Verma |first1=P. |title=Urban Ecology |last2=Singh |first2=R. |last3=Singh |first3=P. |last4=Raghubanshi |first4=A.S. |date=January 1, 2020 |publisher=Elsevier |pages=3–16 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 1 – Urban ecology – current state of research and concepts |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-820730-7.00001-X |isbn=978-0128207307 |s2cid=226524905 |chapter-url=}} Land change modeling is used to predict and analyze changes in land cover and use.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Daniel G. |title=Advancing Land Change Modeling: Opportunities and Research Requirements |publisher=The National Academic Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-309-28833-0 |location=Washington, DC |pages=11–12 |display-authors=etal}}

{{Main|Soil}}

File:2013-morbihan-ile-berder-rankosol-granite0109.jpg soil, with plants and protruding roots near the top|alt=See caption]]

Soil is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix),{{Rp|page=222}} as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution).{{multiref|1={{cite book |last1=Voroney |first1=R. Paul |title=Soil microbiology, ecology and biochemistry |last2=Heck |first2=Richard J. |date=2007 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-12-546807-7 |editor-last=Paul |editor-first=Eldor A. |edition=3rd |location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands |pages=25–49 |chapter=The soil habitat |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-047514-1.50006-8}}|2={{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Sterling A. |url=https://archive.org/details/physicaledapholo0000tayl |title=Physical edaphology: the physics of irrigated and nonirrigated soils |last2=Ashcroft |first2=Gaylen L. |date=1972 |publisher=W.H. Freeman |isbn=978-0-7167-0818-6 |location=San Francisco, California |url-access=registration}}}} Accordingly, soil is a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases.{{cite book |last=McCarthy |first=David F. |url=https://fr.book4you.org/book/3555343/0f8f97 |title=Essentials of soil mechanics and foundations: basic geotechnics |date=2014 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-1292039398 |edition=7th |location=London |access-date=March 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144604/https://fr.b-ok.cc/book/3555343/0f8f97 |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live}} Soil is a product of several factors: the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and the soil's parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time.{{cite book |last1=Gilluly |first1=James |url=https://archive.org/details/principlesofgeol0000gill |title=Principles of geology |last2=Waters |first2=Aaron Clement |last3=Woodford |first3=Alfred Oswald |date=1975 |publisher=W.H. Freeman |isbn=978-0-7167-0269-6 |edition=4th |location=San Francisco, California |author1-link=James Gilluly |author3-link=Alfred Woodford |url-access=registration}} It continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering and erosion.{{Rp|pages=148–150}}

Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness, soil ecologists regard soil as an ecosystem.{{cite journal |last=Ponge |first=Jean-François |year=2015 |title=The soil as an ecosystem |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00374-015-1016-1 |url-status=live |journal=Biology and Fertility of Soils |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=645–648 |doi=10.1007/s00374-015-1016-1 |bibcode=2015BioFS..51..645P |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226163831/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00374-015-1016-1 |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |s2cid=18251180}} Soil acts as an engineering medium, a habitat for soil organisms, a recycling system for nutrients and organic wastes, a regulator of water quality, a modifier of atmospheric composition, and a medium for plant growth, making it a critically important provider of ecosystem services.{{cite journal |last1=Dominati |first1=Estelle |last2=Patterson |first2=Murray |last3=Mackay |first3=Alec |year=2010 |title=A framework for classifying and quantifying the natural capital and ecosystem services of soils |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800910001928 |url-status=live |journal=Ecological Economics |volume=69 |issue=9 |pages=1858‒68 |doi=10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.05.002 |bibcode=2010EcoEc..69.1858D |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808082847/http://esanalysis.colmex.mx/Sorted%20Papers/2010/2010%20NZL%20-3F%20Phys.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2017 |access-date=April 10, 2022|url-access=subscription }} Since soil has a tremendous range of available niches and habitats, it contains a prominent part of the Earth's genetic diversity. A gram of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands of species, mostly microbial and largely still unexplored.{{multiref|1={{cite journal |last=Dykhuizen |first=Daniel E. |year=1998 |title=Santa Rosalia revisited: why are there so many species of bacteria? |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1000665216662 |url-status=live |journal=Antonie van Leeuwenhoek |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=25‒33 |doi=10.1023/A:1000665216662 |pmid=9602276 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926125402/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1000665216662 |archive-date=September 26, 2022 |access-date=April 10, 2022 |s2cid=17779069|url-access=subscription }}|2={{cite journal |last1=Torsvik |first1=Vigdis |last2=Øvreås |first2=Lise |year=2002 |title=Microbial diversity and function in soil: from genes to ecosystems |url=https://www.academia.edu/13038690 |url-status=live |journal=Current Opinion in Microbiology |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=240‒45 |doi=10.1016/S1369-5274(02)00324-7 |pmid=12057676 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922110013/https://www.academia.edu/13038690 |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |access-date=April 10, 2022}}}}

Soil is a major component of the Earth's ecosystem. The world's ecosystems are impacted in far-reaching ways by the processes carried out in the soil, with effects ranging from ozone depletion and global warming to rainforest destruction and water pollution. With respect to Earth's carbon cycle, soil acts as an important carbon reservoir,{{{multiref|1={{Cite journal |last1=Amelung |first1=Wulf |last2=Bossio |first2=Deborah |last3=De Vries |first3=Wim |last4=Kögel-Knabner |first4=Ingrid |author4-link=Ingrid Kögel-Knabner |last5=Lehmann |first5=Johannes |last6=Amundson |first6=Ronald |author6-link=Ronald G. Amundson |last7=Bol |first7=Roland |last8=Collins |first8=Chris |last9=Lal |first9=Rattan |author9-link=Rattan Lal |last10=Leifeld |first10=Jens |last11=Minasny |first11=Buniman |last12=Pan |first12=Gen-Xing |last13=Paustian |first13=Keith |last14=Rumpel |first14=Cornelia |last15=Sanderman |first15=Jonathan |date=October 27, 2020 |title=Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18887-7.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=5427 |bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5427A |doi=10.1038/s41467-020-18887-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=7591914 |pmid=33110065 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226032034/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18887-7.pdf |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |doi-access=free |last16=Van Groeningen |first16=Jan Willem |last17=Mooney |first17=Siân |last18=Van Wesemael |first18=Bas |last19=Wander |first19=Michelle |last20=Chabbi |first20=Abad}}|2={{Cite journal |last1=Pielke |first1=Roger A. |author1-link=Roger A. Pielke |last2=Mahmood |first2=Rezaul |last3=McAlpine |first3=Clive |date=November 1, 2016 |title=Land's complex role in climate change |journal=Physics Today |volume=69 |issue=11 |pages=40–46 |bibcode=2016PhT....69k..40P |doi=10.1063/PT.3.3364 |issn=0031-9228 |doi-access=free}}}} and it is potentially one of the most reactive to human disturbance{{cite journal |last1=Pouyat |first1=Richard |last2=Groffman |first2=Peter |last3=Yesilonis |first3=Ian |last4=Hernandez |first4=Luis |year=2002 |title=Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749101002639 |url-status=live |journal=Environmental Pollution |volume=116 |issue=Supplement 1 |pages=S107–S118 |doi=10.1016/S0269-7491(01)00263-9 |pmid=11833898 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531094946/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749101002639 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |quote=Our analysis of pedon data from several disturbed soil profiles suggests that physical disturbances and anthropogenic inputs of various materials (direct effects) can greatly alter the amount of C stored in these human "made" soils.|url-access=subscription }} and climate change.{{cite journal |last1=Davidson |first1=Eric A. |last2=Janssens |first2=Ivan A. |year=2006 |title=Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04514.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Nature |volume=440 |issue=9 March 2006 |pages=165‒73 |bibcode=2006Natur.440..165D |doi=10.1038/nature04514 |pmid=16525463 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706182824/https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04514.pdf |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |doi-access=free |s2cid=4404915}} As the planet warms, it has been predicted that soils will add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to increased biological activity at higher temperatures, a positive feedback (amplification).{{cite journal |last=Powlson |first=David |year=2005 |title=Will soil amplify climate change? |url=https://fr.art1lib.org/book/10543301/528a68 |url-status=live |journal=Nature |volume=433 |issue=20 January 2005 |pages=204‒05 |bibcode=2005Natur.433..204P |doi=10.1038/433204a |pmid=15662396 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922110017/https://fr.art1lib.org/book/10543301/528a68 |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |s2cid=35007042}} This prediction has, however, been questioned on consideration of more recent knowledge on soil carbon turnover.{{cite journal |last1=Bradford |first1=Mark A. |last2=Wieder |first2=William R. |last3=Bonan |first3=Gordon B. |last4=Fierer |first4=Noah |author4-link=Noah Fierer |last5=Raymond |first5=Peter A. |last6=Crowther |first6=Thomas W. |author6-link=Thomas Crowther (ecologist) |year=2016 |title=Managing uncertainty in soil carbon feedbacks to climate change |url=http://fiererlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bradford_etal_2016_NCC.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Nature Climate Change |volume=6 |issue=27 July 2016 |pages=751–758 |bibcode=2016NatCC...6..751B |doi=10.1038/nclimate3071 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410025316/http://fiererlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bradford_etal_2016_NCC.pdf |archive-date=April 10, 2017 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |hdl-access=free |hdl=20.500.11755/c1792dbf-ce96-4dc7-8851-1ca50a35e5e0 |s2cid=43955196}}

{{Main|Continental crust|Continental shelf}}

{{See also|Abundance of elements in Earth's crust}}

Image:Mohomap.png's depth from the surface, indicating the thickness of the Earth's crust.|alt=A world map of the Earth's crust thickness. It is lowest in deep oceans, higher on continental shelves and landmasses, and highest in highland regions such as the Tibetan Plateau.]]

Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called sial because its bulk composition is richer in aluminium silicate and has a lower density compared to the oceanic crust,{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrogeology |publisher=Reinhold Publishing |year=1967 |editor-last=Fairbridge |editor-first=Rhodes W. |editor-link=Rhodes Fairbridge |location=New York |page=323 |oclc=430153}} called sima which is richer in magnesium silicate. Changes in seismic wave velocities have shown that at a certain depth (the Conrad discontinuity), there is a reasonably sharp contrast between the more felsic upper continental crust and the lower continental crust, which is more mafic in character.{{cite book |last=McGuire |first=Thomas |title=Earth Science: The Physical Setting |date=2005 |publisher=AMSCO School Publications Inc. |isbn=978-0-87720-196-0 |pages=182–184 |chapter=Earthquakes and Earth’s Interior}}

The composition of land is not uniform across the Earth, varying between locations and between strata within the same location. The most prominent components of upper continental crust include silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide, and magnesium.{{Cite book |last1=Rudnick |first1=Roberta L. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080983004/treatise-on-geochemistry |title=Treatise on Geochemistry |last2=Gao |first2=S. |publisher=Elsevier |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-08-098300-4 |editor1-last=Holland |editor1-first=Heinrich D. |editor1-link=Heinrich Holland |edition=2nd |volume=4: The Crust |pages=1–51 |chapter=Composition of the Continental Crust |author1-link=Roberta Rudnick |access-date=September 3, 2022 |editor2-last=Turekian |editor2-first=Karl K. |editor2-link=Karl Turekian |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080959757003016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903010959/https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080983004/treatise-on-geochemistry |archive-date=September 3, 2022 |url-status=live}} The continental crust consists of lower density material such as the igneous rocks granite{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=George H. |title=Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions |last2=Reynolds |first2=Stephen J. |last3=Kluth |first3=Charles F. |date=2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-15231-6 |edition=3rd |page=18 |chapter=Nature of Structural Geology}} and andesite. Less common is basalt, a denser volcanic rock that is the primary constituent of the ocean floors.{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Layers of the Earth |url=http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/plate_tectonics/part1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211014443/http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/plate_tectonics/part1.html |archive-date=February 11, 2013 |access-date=March 11, 2007 |work=Volcano World |publisher=Oregon State University}} Sedimentary rock is formed from the accumulation of sediment that becomes buried and compacted together. Nearly 75% of the continental surfaces are covered by sedimentary rocks, although they form about 5% of the crust.{{cite web |last1=Jessey |first1=David |title=Weathering and Sedimentary Rocks |url=http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/class/Gsc101/Weathering.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703170212/http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/class/Gsc101/Weathering.html |archive-date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2007 |website=California State Polytechnic University, Pomona}}

The most abundant silicate minerals on Earth's surface include quartz, feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene and olivine.{{cite book |last1=de Pater |first1=Imke |title=Planetary Sciences |last2=Lissauer |first2=Jack J. |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85371-2 |edition=2nd |page=154 |author1-link=Imke de Pater |author2-link=Jack J. Lissauer}} Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone) and dolomite.{{cite book |last1=Wenk |first1=Hans-Rudolf |title=Minerals: their constitution and origin |last2=Bulakh |first2=Andreĭ Glebovich |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52958-7 |page=359 |author1-link=Hans-Rudolf Wenk |author2-link=:ru:Булах, Андрей Глебович}} The rock that makes up land is thicker than oceanic crust, and it is far more varied in terms of composition. About 31% of this continental crust is submerged in shallow water, forming continental shelves.

{{Main|Terrestrial ecosystem|Landscape ecology}}

Land provides many ecosystem services, such as mitigating climate change, regulating water supply through drainage basins and river systems, and supporting food production. Land resources are finite, which has led to regulations intended to safeguard these ecosystem services, and a set of practices called sustainable land management.

{{Main|Biome}}

A biome is an area "characterized by its vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife."{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2022 |title=The Five Major Types of Biomes {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/five-major-types-biomes/ |access-date=October 4, 2022 |website=National Geographic |archive-date=October 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008074316/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/five-major-types-biomes/ |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Rull |first=Valentí |chapter=Organisms: adaption, extinction, and biogeographical reorganizations |title=Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography |date=2020 |publisher=Academic Press |page=67 |isbn=978-0-12-820473-3}} There are five major types of biomes on land: grasslands, forests, deserts, tundras, and freshwater. Other types of biomes include shrublands,{{efn|World Wildlife Fund's definition of 14 biomes includes Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands, Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub, and Deserts and xeric shrublands.{{cite web |url=https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=d60ec415febb4874ac5e0960a6a2e448 |title=WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions Of The World (Biomes) |publisher=World Wildlife Fund |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-date=July 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713001111/https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=d60ec415febb4874ac5e0960a6a2e448 |url-status=live}}}} wetlands,{{efn|World Wildlife Fund's definition of 14 biomes includes Flooded grasslands and savannas, and Mangroves, which are both wetlands.}} and polar ice caps.{{cite journal |last1=Anesio |first1=Alexandre |last2=Laybourn-Parry |first2=Johanna |date=October 2011 |title=Glaciers and ice sheets as a biome |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51723127 |journal=Trends in Ecology and Evolution |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=219–225 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2011.09.012 |pmid=22000675 }} An ecosystem refers to the interaction between organisms within a particular environment, and a habitat refers to the environment where a given species or population of organisms lives. Biomes may span more than one continent, and contain a variety of ecosystems and habitats.{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2022 |title=Biomes, Ecosystems, and Habitats {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/biomes-ecosystems-and-habitats/ |access-date=October 4, 2022 |website=National Geographic |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007050126/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/biomes-ecosystems-and-habitats/ |url-status=live}}

File:White Desert, Rock formations, Egypt.jpg in Egypt]]

File:Ryssebergen 2012b.jpg in Ryssbergen, Sweden|alt=A dense forest, showing various sorts of tree and underbrush]]

• Deserts have an arid climate, generally defined to mean that they receive less than {{convert|25|cm|in}} of precipitation per year. They make up around one fifth of the Earth's land area, are found on every continent, and can be very hot or very cold (see polar desert). They are home to animals and plants which evolved to be tolerant of droughts. In deserts, most erosion is caused by running water, usually during violent thunderstorms, which cause flash floods. Deserts are expanding due to desertification, which is caused by excessive deforestation and overgrazing.{{Cite web |title=desert {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/desert/ |access-date=October 11, 2022 |website=National Geographic |archive-date=August 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810202815/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/desert/ |url-status=live}}{{Rp|pages=598–621}}
• Tundra is a biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons.{{cite web |title=Tunturista jängälle |trans-title=From fell to mountain |language=fi |work=Kieli-ikkunat |url=http://www.kotus.fi/julkaisut/ikkunat/1999/kielii1999_19.shtml |last=Aapala |first=Kirsti |access-date=January 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001211854/http://www.kotus.fi/julkaisut/ikkunat/1999/kielii1999_19.shtml |archive-date=October 1, 2006}} There are types of tundra associated with different regions: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra.{{cite web |title=The Tundra Biome |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/tundra.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121074551/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/tundra.html |archive-date=January 21, 2016 |access-date=March 5, 2006 |work=The World's Biomes |publisher=University of California, Berkeley}}{{cite web |title=Terrestrial Ecoregions: Antarctica |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial_an.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805095438/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial_an.html |archive-date=August 5, 2011 |access-date=November 2, 2009 |work=Wild World |publisher=National Geographic Society}}
• A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Many definitions of "forest" are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as: "land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use."{{Cite book |url=http://www.fao.org/3/I8661EN/i8661en.pdf |title=Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 – Terms and definitions |publisher=FAO |year=2018 |location=Rome |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208192636/https://www.fao.org/3/i8661en/i8661en.pdf |url-status=live}} Types of forests include rainforests, deciduous forests, and boreal forests.
• Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found, along with variable proportions of legumes like clover and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. Types include natural, semi-natural, and agricultural grasslands. Savannas are grasslands with occasional, scattered trees.{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=David J. |title=Grasses and grassland ecology |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-154609-9 |location=New York |oclc=308648056 |pages=1–3}}

Land plants evolved from green algae, and are called embryophytes. They include trees, shrubs, ferns, grass, moss, and flowers. Most plants are vascular plants, meaning that their tissues distribute water and minerals throughout the plant.{{Cite journal |last1=Puttick |first1=Mark N. |last2=Morris |first2=Jennifer L. |last3=Williams |first3=Tom A. |last4=Cox |first4=Cymon J. |last5=Edwards |first5=Dianne |last6=Kenrick |first6=Paul |last7=Pressel |first7=Silvia |last8=Wellman |first8=Charles H. |last9=Schneider |first9=Harald |date=2018 |title=The Interrelationships of Land Plants and the Nature of the Ancestral Embryophyte |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=733–745.e2 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.063 |pmid=29456145 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2018CBio...28E.733P |hdl=10400.1/11601 |hdl-access=free }} Through photosynthesis, most plants nourish themselves from sunlight and water, breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. Between 20 and 50% of oxygen is produced by land vegetation.{{Cite web |title=How much oxygen comes from the ocean? |url=https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html |access-date=August 21, 2022 |website=National Ocean Service |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |language=en }}

Unlike plants, terrestrial animals are not a monophyletic group—that is, a group including all terrestrial animals does not encompass all lineages from a common ancestor. This is because there are organisms, such as the whale, that evolved from terrestrial mammals back to an aquatic lifestyle.{{cite journal |last1=Garwood |first1=Russell J. |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory D. |date=September 2011 |title=Early Terrestrial Animals, Evolution, and Uncertainty |journal=Evolution: Education and Outreach |location=New York |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=489–501 |doi=10.1007/s12052-011-0357-y |doi-access=free}} Many megafauna of the past, such as non-avian dinosaurs, have become extinct due to extinction events, e.g. the Quaternary extinction event.{{Cite journal |last1=Malhi |first1=Yadvinder |last2=Doughty |first2=Christopher E. |last3=Galetti |first3=Mauro |last4=Terborgh |first4=John W. |date=January 2016 |title=Megafauna and ecosystem function from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene |journal=PNAS |volume=113 |issue=4 |pages=838–846 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1502540113 |pmid=26811442 |pmc=4743772 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113..838M |doi-access=free}}

Land is "deeply intertwined with human development."{{Rp|page=21}} It is a crucial resource for human survival,{{Cite journal |last1=Bekele |first1=Adugna Eneyew |last2=Drabik |first2=Dusan |last3=Dries |first3=Liesbeth |last4=Heijman |first4=Wim |date=2021-01-30 |title=Large-scale land investments, household displacement, and the effect on land degradation in semiarid agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia |journal=Land Degradation & Development |language=en |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=777–791 |doi=10.1002/ldr.3756 |issn=1085-3278|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021LDeDe..32..777B }} humans depend on land for subsistence, and can develop strong symbolic attachments to it. Access to land can determine "survival and wealth," particularly in developing countries, giving rise to complex power relationships in production and consumption. Most of the world's philosophies and religions recognize a human duty of stewardship towards land and nature.

{{Main|Earth in culture}}

File:Mt Fuji NASA ISS002-E-6971 large.jpg in early summer seen from the International Space Station. Mount Fuji is a geological feature of the land that is of great cultural and religious significance.{{Cite web |author=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |title=Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1418/ |access-date=February 11, 2022 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en |archive-date=October 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017180110/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1418/ |url-status=live}}|alt=Mount Fuji as seen from space, with surrounding forest]]

Many humans see land as a source of "spirituality, inspiration, and beauty." Many also derive a sense of belonging from land, especially if it also belonged to their ancestors. Various religions teach about a connection between humans and the land (such as veneration of Bhumi, a personification of the Earth in Hinduism,{{cite web |date=April 11, 2009 |title=Bhumi, Bhūmi, Bhūmī: 41 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhumi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010184441/https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhumi |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |website=Wisdom Library |quote=Earth ({{lang|sa|भूमि}}, {{lang|sa-latn|bhūmi}}) is one of the five primary elements (pañcabhūta)}} and the obligation to protect land as hima in Islam), and in almost every Indigenous group there are etiological stories about the land they live on. For Indigenous peoples, connection to the land is an important part of their identity and culture,{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/03/State-of-Worlds-Indigenous-Peoples-Vol-V-Final.pdf |title=State of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Volume V, Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources |author=United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs |access-date=October 20, 2022 }} and some religious groups consider a particular area of land to be sacred, such as the Holy Land in the Abrahamic religions.{{cite journal |last=Bar |first=Doron |date=March 9, 2022 |title=The changing identity of Muslim/Jewish holy places in the State of Israel, 1948–2018 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263206.2022.2047655 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=59 |pages=139–150 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2022.2047655 |s2cid=247371134 |access-date=October 20, 2022|url-access=subscription }}

Creation myths in many religions involve stories of the creation of the world by a supernatural deity or deities, including accounts wherein the land is separated from the oceans and the air. The Earth itself has often been personified as a deity, in particular a goddess. In many cultures, the mother goddess is also portrayed as a fertility deity. To the Aztecs, Earth was called Tonantzin—"our mother"; to the Incas, Earth was called Pachamama—"mother earth". In Norse mythology, the Earth giantess Jörð was the mother of Thor and the daughter of Annar.{{Cite book |last=Lindow |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC |title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-983969-8 |page=205 |language=en |author-link=John Lindow |access-date=October 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014075024/https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC |archive-date=October 14, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} Ancient Egyptian mythology is different from that of other cultures because Earth (Geb) is male and the sky (Nut) is female.{{cite book |last=Pinch |first=Geraldine |title=Handbook of Egyptian Mythology |date=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1-57607-763-2 |series=Handbooks of World Mythology |pages=135, 173}}

Ancient Near Eastern cultures conceived of the world as a flat disk of land surrounded by ocean. The Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts reveal that the ancient Egyptians believed Nun (the ocean) was a circular body surrounding nbwt (a term meaning "dry lands" or "islands").{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEWWCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA374 |title=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400882762 |editor-last=Pritchard |editor-first=James B. |editor-link=James B. Pritchard |page=374 |access-date=November 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022133/https://books.google.com/books?id=UEWWCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA374 |archive-date=September 23, 2021 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} The Hebrew Bible, drawing on other Near Eastern ideas, depicts the Earth as a flat disc floating on water, with another expanse of water above it.{{Cite book |last=Berlin |first=Adele |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-973004-9 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Adele |chapter=Cosmology and creation |author-link=Adele Berlin |editor2-last=Grossman |editor2-first=Maxine |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&q=Bible+Cosmology&pg=PA189 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611032518/https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA189&dq=Bible+Cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jvHuTu_wDcStiQeFz62dBw&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCTgo#v=onepage&q=Bible%20Cosmology&f=false |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |url-status=live |via=Google Books |pages=188–189}} A similar model is found in the Homeric account of the 8th century BC in which "Okeanos, the personified body of water surrounding the circular surface of the Earth, is the begetter of all life and possibly of all gods."{{Cite book |last=Gottlieb |first=Anthony |url=https://archive.org/details/dreamofreasonhis00anth/page/6 |title=The Dream of Reason |publisher=Penguin |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-393-04951-0 |page=6 |author-link=Anthony Gottlieb |url-access=registration}}

The spherical form of the Earth was suggested by early Greek philosophers, a belief espoused by Pythagoras. Contrary to popular belief, most educated people in the Middle Ages did not believe the Earth was flat: this misconception is often called the "Myth of the Flat Earth". As evidenced by thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, the European belief in a spherical Earth was widespread by this point in time.{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Jeffrey B. |author-link=Jeffrey Burton Russell |title=The Myth of the Flat Earth |url=http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/history/1997Russell.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903182955/http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/history/1997Russell.html |archive-date=September 3, 2011 |access-date=March 14, 2007 |publisher=American Scientific Affiliation|postscript=;}} but see also Cosmas Indicopleustes. Prior to circumnavigation of the planet and the introduction of space flight, belief in a spherical Earth was based on observations of the secondary effects of the Earth's shape and parallels drawn with the shape of other planets.{{Cite web |last=Jacobs |first=James Q. |date=February 1, 1998 |title=Archaeogeodesy, a Key to Prehistory |url=http://www.jqjacobs.net/astro/aegeo.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423055810/http://www.jqjacobs.net/astro/aegeo.html |archive-date=April 23, 2007 |access-date=April 21, 2007}}

{{Main|Travel}}

File:A8-A26 Besnate.jpg ("Lakes Motorway"; part of the A8 and A9), Italy, the first motorway built in the world.{{Cite news |last=Lenarduzzi |first=Thea |date=30 January 2016 |title=The motorway that built Italy: Piero Puricelli's masterpiece |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-worlds-first-motorway-piero-puricellis-masterpiece-is-the-focus-of-an-unlikely-pilgrimage-a6840816.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-worlds-first-motorway-piero-puricellis-masterpiece-is-the-focus-of-an-unlikely-pilgrimage-a6840816.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |access-date=12 May 2022 |work=The Independent}}{{cite web|url=https://www.motorwebmuseum.it/en/places/varese/the-milano-laghi-by-piero-puricelli-the-first-motorway-in-the-world/|title=The "Milano-Laghi" by Piero Puricelli, the first motorway in the world|access-date=10 May 2022}}]]

Humans have commonly traveled for business, pleasure, discovery, and adventure, all made easier in recent human history as a result of technologies like cars, trains, planes, and ships. Land navigation is an aspect of travel and refers to progressing through unfamiliar terrain using navigational tools like maps with references to terrain, a compass, or satellite navigation.{{cite book |last1=Hofmann-Wellenhof |first1=Bernhard |first2=K. |last2=Legat |first3=M. |last3=Wieser |first4=H. |last4=Lichtenegger |title=Navigation: Principles of Positioning and Guidances |year=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-211-00828-7 |pages=5–6}} Navigation on land is often facilitated by reference to landmarks – enduring and recognizable natural or artificial features that stand out from their nearby environment and are often visible from long distances.{{Cite web |title=LANDMARK {{!}} meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/landmark |access-date=August 2, 2020 |website=dictionary.cambridge.org |language=en |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813232254/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/landmark |url-status=live}} Natural landmarks can be characteristic features, such as mountains or plateaus, with examples including Table Mountain in South Africa, Mount Ararat in Turkey, the Grand Canyon in the United States, Uluru in Australia, and Mount Fuji in Japan.{{cite web|date=June 2012 |title=2012 Tourism Highlights |url=http://mkt.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/unwtohighlights12enlr_1.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709215809/http://mkt.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/unwtohighlights12enlr_1.pdf |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |access-date=June 17, 2012 |publisher=World Tourism Organization}}

Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of divergence, and one of convergence. The former saw humans moving out of Africa, settling in new lands, and developing distinct cultures in relative isolation.{{Cite book |last=Fernández-Armesto |first=Felipe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bYQAAAAQBAJ |title=Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration |date=2007 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-24247-8 |language=en |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144552/https://books.google.com/books?id=6bYQAAAAQBAJ |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} Early explorers settled in Europe and Asia; 14,000 years ago, some crossed the Ice Age land bridge from Siberia to Alaska and moved southbound to settle in the Americas.{{Cite book |author=Royal Geographical Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uo8SAQAAIAAJ |title=Atlas of Exploration |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-534318-2 |language=en |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144552/https://books.google.com/books?id=uo8SAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} For the most part, these cultures were ignorant of each other's existence. The second period, occurring over roughly the last 10,000 years, saw increased cross-cultural exchange through trade and exploration, marking a new era of cultural intermingling.

{{Main|Trade|Timeline of international trade}}

Human trade has occurred since the prehistoric era. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from c. 150,000 years ago.{{cite book |last=Watson |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Watson (intellectual historian) |year=2005 |title=Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention from Fire to Freud |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-06-621064-3 |at=Introduction}} Major trade routes throughout history have existed on land, such as the Silk Road which linked East Asia with Europe{{Cite web |author=National Geographic Society |date=July 26, 2019 |title=The Silk Road |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/silk-road/ |access-date=September 25, 2022 |website=National Geographic Society |language=en |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323201006/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/silk-road/ |url-status=live}} and the Amber Road which was used to transfer amber from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea.{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/241848 |title=Graciela Gestoso Singer, "Amber in the Ancient Near East", i-Medjat No. 2 (December 2008). Papyrus Electronique des Ankou. |last1=Singer |first1=Graciela Gestoso |access-date=September 25, 2022 |archive-date=September 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925203419/https://www.academia.edu/241848 |url-status=live}} The Dark Ages led trade to collapse in the West, but it continued to flourish among the kingdoms of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and Southeast Asia. During the Middle Ages, Central Asia was the economic centre of the world, and luxury goods were commonly traded in Europe. Physical money (either barter or precious metals) was dangerous to carry over a long distance. To address this, a burgeoning banking industry enabled the shift to movable wealth or capital, making it far easier and safer to trade across long distances. After the Age of Sail, international trade mostly occurred along sea routes, notably to prevent intermediary countries from being able to control trade routes and the flow of goods.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In economics, land refers to a factor of production. It can be leased in exchange for rent, and use of its various raw material resources (trees, oil, metals).{{Cite web |title=Understanding Land in Business and Economics |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/land.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926020450/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/land.asp |archive-date=September 26, 2022 |access-date=September 18, 2022 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}

{{Main|Land use|Land consumption}}

File:Anthromes map and timeline (10,000 BCE to 2017 CE).png

For more than 10,000 years, humans have engaged in activities on land such as hunting, foraging, controlled burning, land clearing, and agriculture. Beginning with the Neolithic Revolution and the spread of agriculture around the world, human land use has significantly altered terrestrial ecosystems, with an essentially global transformation of Earth's landscape by 3000 years ago.{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=November 3, 2022 |chapter-url=https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch2.pdf |chapter=Chapter 2 – Brief History of Land Use}}{{rp|page=30}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Erle |author1-link=Erle Ellis |last2=Goldewijk |first2=Kees Klein |last3=Gaillard |first3=Marie-José |last4=Kaplan |first4=Jed O. |last5=Thornton |first5=Alexa |last6=Powell |first6=Jeremy |last7=Garcia |first7=Santiago Munevar |last8=Beaudoin |first8=Ella |last9=Zerboni |first9=Andrea |date=August 30, 2019 |title=Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use |journal=Science |language=en |volume=365 |issue=6456 |pages=897–902 |doi=10.1126/science.aax1192 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=31467217 |bibcode=2019Sci...365..897S |hdl=10150/634688 |s2cid=201674203 |hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Erle C. |author1-link=Erle Ellis |last2=Gauthier |first2=Nicolas |last3=Goldewijk |first3=Kees Klein |last4=Bird |first4=Rebecca Bliege |last5=Boivin |first5=Nicole |author5-link=Nicole Boivin |last6=Díaz |first6=Sandra |author6-link=Sandra Díaz (ecologist) |last7=Fuller |first7=Dorian Q. |author7-link=Dorian Fuller |last8=Gill |first8=Jacquelyn L. |author8-link=Jacquelyn Gill |last9=Kaplan |first9=Jed O. |last10=Kingston |first10=Naomi |last11=Locke |first11=Harvey |author11-link=Harvey Locke |date=April 27, 2021 |title=People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=118 |issue=17 |pages=e2023483118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2023483118 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=8092386 |pmid=33875599 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11823483E |doi-access=free}} From around 1750, human land use has increased at an accelerating rate due to the Industrial Revolution, which created a greater demand for natural resources and caused rapid population growth.{{rp|page=34}}

Agriculture includes both crop farming and animal husbandry.{{cite book |title=Safety and health in agriculture |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=GtBa6XIW_aQC|page=77}} |year=1999 |publisher=International Labour Organization |isbn=978-92-2-111517-5 |page=77 |access-date=September 13, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722061757/http://books.google.com/books?id=GtBa6XIW_aQC |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |quote=defined agriculture as 'all forms of activities connected with growing, harvesting and primary processing of all types of crops, with the breeding, raising and caring for animals, and with tending gardens and nurseries'. |via=Google Books}} A third of Earth's land surface is used for agriculture,{{Cite web |title=Agricultural land (% of land area) {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530044611/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ag.lnd.agri.zs |archive-date=May 30, 2019 |access-date=September 25, 2022 |website=data.worldbank.org}}{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |chapter-url=https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch7.pdf |chapter=Chapter 7 – Food Security and Agriculture}}{{rp|page=126}} with estimated {{convert|16.7|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} of cropland and {{convert|33.5|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} of pastureland. This has had significant impacts on Earth's ecosystems. When land is cleared to make way for agriculture, native flora and fauna are replaced with newly introduced crops and livestock.{{rp|page=31}} Excessively high agricultural land use is driven by poor management practices (which lead to lower food yields, necessitating more land use), food demand, food waste, and diets high in meat.{{rp|page=126}}

Urbanization has led to greater population growth in urban areas in the last century. Although urban areas make up less than 3 percent of Earth's land area, the global population shifted from a majority living in rural areas to a majority living in urban areas in 2007.{{rp|page=35}} People living in urban areas depend on food produced in rural areas outside of their cities, which creates greater demand for agriculture and drives land use change well beyond city boundaries.{{rp|page=35}} Urbanization also displaces agricultural land because it mainly takes place on the most fertile land. Urban expansion in peri-urban areas fragments agricultural and natural lands, forcing agriculture to move to less fertile land elsewhere. Because this land is less fertile, more land is needed for the same output, which increases the total agricultural land use.{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |chapter-url=https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch6.pdf |chapter=Chapter 6 – Scenarios of Change}}{{rp|page=119}}

Another form of land use is mining, whereby minerals are extracted from the ground using a variety of methods. Evidence of mining activity dates back to around 3000 BCE in Ancient Egypt.{{rp|page=34}} Important minerals include iron ore, mined for use as a raw material; coal, mined for energy production; and gemstones, mined for use in jewellery and currency.{{rp|page=34}}

{{Main|Land law}}

The phrase "the law of the land" first appeared in 1215 in Magna Carta, inspiring its later usage in the United States Constitution.{{cite web |title=Law of the land |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/law_of_the_land |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215152017/https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/law_of_the_land |archive-date=February 15, 2022 |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=Cornell Law School |publisher=Cornell University}} The idea of common land also originated with medieval English law, and refers collective ownership of land, treating it as a common good. In environmental science, economics, and game theory, the tragedy of the commons refers to individuals' use of common spaces for their own gain, deteriorating the land overall by taking more than their fair share and not cooperating with others.{{Cite journal |last=Purvis |first=V. |date=March 14, 1970 |title=Self-interest and the Common Good |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.1.5697.692-c |url-status=live |journal=BMJ |volume=1 |issue=5697 |pages=692 |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5697.692-c |pmc=1700606 |issn=0959-8138 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144555/https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5697/692.4 |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |access-date=October 15, 2022 |s2cid=71492205}} The idea of common land suggests public ownership; but there is still some land that can be privatized as property for an individual, such as a landlord or king. In the developed world, land is expected to be privately owned by an individual with legal title, but in the developing world the right to use land is often divided, with the rights to land resources being given to different people at different times for the same area of land. Beginning in the late 20th century, the international community has begun to recognise Indigenous land rights in law, for example, the Treaty of Waitangi for Māori people, the Act on Greenland Self-Government for Inuit people, and the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in the Philippines.

{{Main|Geopolitics}}

{{See also|Territorial dispute|Border}}

File:Kashmir region. LOC 2003626427 - showing Kashmir division administered by India in neon blue.jpg, showing border disputes between China, India, and Pakistan. Undisputed borders between the three countries are also visible.]]

Borders are geographical boundaries imposed either by geographic features (oceans, mountain ranges, rivers) or by political entities (governments, states, or subnational entities). Political borders can be established through warfare, colonization, or mutual agreements between the political entities that reside in those areas;{{cite book |last=Slater |first=Terry |title=An Introduction To Human Geography |date=2016 |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Daniels |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Bradshaw |editor2-link=Michael J. Bradshaw |editor3-first=Denis |editor3-last=Shaw |editor4-first=James |editor4-last=Sidaway |editor5-first=Tim |editor5-last=Hall |publisher=Pearson |edition=5th |isbn=978-1-292-12939-6 |page=47 |chapter=The Rise and Spread of Capitalism |author-link=Terry Slater (geographer)}} the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.{{cite book |last1=Sidaway |first1=James |title=An Introduction To Human Geography |last2=Grundy-Warr |first2=Carl |date=2016 |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Daniels |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Bradshaw |editor2-link=Michael J. Bradshaw |editor3-first=Denis |editor3-last=Shaw |editor4-first=James |editor4-last=Sidaway |editor5-first=Tim |editor5-last=Hall |publisher=Pearson |edition=5th |isbn=978-1-292-12939-6 |page=449 |chapter=The Place of the Nation-State}}

Many wars and other conflicts have occurred in efforts by participants to expand the land under their control, or to assert control of a specific area of considered to hold strategic, historical, or cultural significance. The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries became the largest contiguous land empire in history through war and conquest.{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12806959 |title=The Mongols |date=1986 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=0-631-13556-1 |location=Oxford |page=5 |oclc=12806959 }}

In the 19th-century United States, a concept of manifest destiny was developed by various groups, asserting that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. This concept was used to justify military action against the indigenous peoples of North America and of Mexico.{{cite book |last1=Merk |first1=Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GhYJTaZiuxwC&pg=PA215 |title=Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History |last2=Merck |first2=Lois Bannister |year=1963 |isbn=978-0674548053 |pages=215–216 |publisher=Harvard University Press |via=Google Books }}{{cite book |last=Howe |first=D.W. |title=What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=Oxford History of the United States |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-972657-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTzRCwAAQBAJ |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TTzRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA706 706] |via=Google Books }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu3kDwAAQBAJ |title=LexisNexis Practice Guide: Massachusetts Administrative Law and Practice |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu3kDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR29 29] |first1=Michele E. |last1=Randazzo |first2=John R. |last2=Hitt |edition=6 |publisher=LexisNexis |year=2019 |isbn=978-1522182887 |via=Google Books }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8ufqRJuwy8C |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=C8ufqRJuwy8C&dq=%22manifest+destiny%22+%22widely+held%22&pg=PA128 128] |title=James K. Polk: A Biographical Companion |first=Mark Eaton |last=Byrnes |edition=illustrated |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2001 |isbn=978-1576070567 |via=Google Books }}

The aggression of Nazi Germany in World War II was motivated in part by the concept of Lebensraum ("living space"), which had first became a geopolitical goal of Imperial Germany in World War I (1914–1918) originally, as the core element of the {{lang|de|Septemberprogramm}} of territorial expansion.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000evan |title=Penguin Dictionary of International relations |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-0140513974 |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Graham |page=[https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000evan/page/301 301] |id=[http://www.yourvietbooks.com/2015/04/ir-one-definition-day-geopolitics.html Geopolitics (excerpt).] |editor2-last=Newnham |editor2-first=Jeffrey |url-access=registration}} The most extreme form of this ideology was supported by the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Lebensraum was one of the leading motivations Nazi Germany had in initiating World War II, and it would continue this policy until the end of World War II.{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Woodruff D. |title=The Ideological Origins of Nazi Imperialism |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=84}}

{{Main|Land degradation}}

File:Temperature Change Measured Over Land By Region.svg

Land degradation is "the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity" of land as a result of human activity.{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=November 4, 2022 |chapter-url=https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch3_0.pdf |chapter=Chapter 3 – Drivers of Change}}{{rp|page=42}} Land degradation is driven by many different activities, including agriculture, urbanization, energy production, and mining.{{rp|page=43}} Humans have altered more than three-quarters of ice-free land through habitation and other use, fundamentally changing ecosystems.{{Cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Erle C. |author1-link=Erle Ellis |last2=Ramankutty |first2=Navin |author2-link=Navin Ramankutty |date=October 1, 2008 |title=Putting people in the map: anthropogenic biomes of the world |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |language=en |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=439–447 |doi=10.1890/070062 |issn=1540-9295 |s2cid=3598526 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2008FrEE....6..439E }} Human activity is a major factor in the Holocene extinction,{{Cite book |last=Turvey |first=Samuel T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbU-F42JU1AC |title=Holocene Extinctions |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-157998-1 |language=en |via=Google Books }} and human-caused climate change is causing rising sea levels and ecosystem loss. Environmental scientists study land's ecosystems, natural resources, biosphere (fauna and flora), troposphere, and the impact of human activity on these. Their recommendations have led to international action to prevent biodiversity loss and desertification, and encourage sustainable forest and waste management. The conservation movement lobbies for the protection of endangered species and the protection of natural areas, such as parks.{{cite book |last=Evans |first=James |chapter=Social Constructions of Nature |title=An Introduction To Human Geography |date=2016 |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Daniels |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Bradshaw |editor2-link=Michael J. Bradshaw |editor3-first=Denis |editor3-last=Shaw |editor4-first=James |editor4-last=Sidaway |editor5-first=Tim |editor5-last=Hall |publisher=Pearson |edition=5th |isbn=978-1-292-12939-6}}{{rp|page=253}} International frameworks have focused on analyzing how humans can meet their needs while using land more efficiently and preserving its natural resources, notably under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals framework.{{Cite web |title=Goal 15 {{!}} Department of Economic and Social Affairs |url=https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926130028/https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15 |archive-date=September 26, 2022 |access-date=September 26, 2022 |website=United Nations}}

{{Main|Soil retrogression and degradation}}

Image:World soil degradation.jpg

Human land use can cause soil to degrade, both in quality and in quantity.{{rp|page=44}} Soil degradation can be caused by agrochemicals (such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides), infrastructure development, and mining among other activities.{{rp|pages=43–47}} There are several different processes that lead to soil degradation. Physical processes, such as erosion, sealing, and crusting, lead to the structural breakdown of the soil. This means water cannot penetrate the soil surface, causing surface runoff.{{rp|page=44}} Chemical processes, such as salinization, acidification, and toxication, lead to chemical imbalances in the soil.{{rp|page=44}} Salinization in particular is detrimental, as it makes land less productive for agriculture and affects at least 20% of all irrigated lands.{{rp|page=137}} Deliberate disruption of soil in the form of tillage can also alter biological processes in the soil, which leads to excessive mineralization and the loss of nutrients.{{rp|page=44}}

Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which fertile areas become increasingly arid as a result of natural processes or human activities, resulting in loss of biological productivity.{{cite book |last=Geist |first=Helmut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acbWdynlU3cC |title=The causes and progression of desertification |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7546-4323-4 |author-link=:de:Helmut Geist (Geograph) |access-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016144553/https://books.google.com/books?id=acbWdynlU3cC |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} This spread of arid areas can be influenced by a variety of human factors, such as deforestation, improper land management, overgrazing, anthropogenic climate change,{{Cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=Ning |last2=Yoon |first2=Jinho |date=September 1, 2009 |title=Expansion of the world's deserts due to vegetation-albedo feedback under global warming |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=36 |issue=17 |page=L17401 |bibcode=2009GeoRL..3617401Z |doi=10.1029/2009GL039699 |issn=1944-8007 |s2cid=1708267|doi-access=free }} and overexploitation of soil.{{cite web |title=Sustainable development of drylands and combating desertification |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/v0265e/v0265e01.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804222104/http://www.fao.org/docrep/v0265e/v0265e01.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2017 |access-date=June 21, 2016 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization}} Throughout geological history, desertification has occurred naturally, though in recent times it is greatly accelerated by human activity.{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Ye |last2=Xue |first2=Yongkang |date=March 5, 2020 |title=Expansion of the Sahara Desert and shrinking of frozen land of the Arctic |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=4109 |bibcode=2020NatSR..10.4109L |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-61085-0 |pmc=7057959 |pmid=32139761}}{{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Hui |last2=Tang |first2=Zhuangsheng |last3=Keesstra |first3=Saskia |last4=Shangguan |first4=Zhouping |date=July 1, 2019 |title=Impact of desertification on soil and plant nutrient stoichiometry in a desert grassland |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=9422 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.9422A |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-45927-0 |pmc=6603008 |pmid=31263198}}{{cite journal |last1=Han |first1=Xueying |last2=Jia |first2=Guangpu |last3=Yang |first3=Guang |last4=Wang |first4=Ning |last5=Liu |first5=Feng |last6=Chen |first6=Haoyu |last7=Guo |first7=Xinyu |last8=Yang |first8=Wenbin |last9=Liu |first9=Jing |date=December 10, 2020 |title=Spatiotemporal dynamic evolution and driving factors of desertification in the Mu Us Sandy Land in 30 years |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=21734 |bibcode=2020NatSR..1021734H |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-78665-9 |pmc=7729393 |pmid=33303886}}

{{Main|Pollution}}

Ground pollution is soil contamination via pollutants, such as hazardous waste or litter. Ground pollution can be prevented by properly monitoring and disposing of waste, along with reducing unnecessary chemical and plastic use. Unfortunately, proper disposal of waste often is not economically beneficial or technologically viable, leading to short-term solutions of waste disposal that pollute the earth. Examples include dumping harmful industrial byproducts, overusing agricultural fertilizers and other chemicals, and poorly maintaining landfills. Some landfills can be thousands of acres in size, such as the Apex Regional landfill in Las Vegas.{{cite news |first=Joe |last=Schoenmann |author-link=Joe Schoenmann |title=Official calls for sort reform |url=http://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/17/official-calls-sort-reform/ |work=Las Vegas Sun |date=December 17, 2008 |access-date=December 20, 2008 |archive-date=January 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108081527/http://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/17/official-calls-sort-reform/ |url-status=live}}

Water pollution on land is the contamination of non-oceanic hydrological surface and underground water features such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands, aquifers, reservoirs, and groundwater as a result of human activities.{{Cite journal |last=Von Sperling |first=Marcos |date=2015 |title=Wastewater Characteristics, Treatment and Disposal |url=https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/72/ |journal=IWA Publishing |volume=6 |doi=10.2166/9781780402086 |isbn=978-1780402086 |doi-access=free |access-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621151651/https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/72/ |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}{{rp|6}} It may be caused by toxic substances (e.g., oil, metals, plastics, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, industrial waste products),{{cite book |url=http://unix.eng.ua.edu/~rpitt/Publications/BooksandReports/Stormwater%20Effects%20Handbook%20by%20%20Burton%20and%20Pitt%20book/MainEDFS_Book.html |title=Stormwater Effects Handbook: A Toolbox for Watershed Managers, Scientists, and Engineers |chapter=2 |publisher=CRC/Lewis Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=0-87371-924-7 |location=New York |vauthors=Burton Jr GA, Pitt R |access-date=January 26, 2009 |archive-date=May 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519035716/http://unix.eng.ua.edu/~rpitt/Publications/BooksandReports/Stormwater%20Effects%20Handbook%20by%20%20Burton%20and%20Pitt%20book/MainEDFS_Book.html |url-status=dead}} stressful conditions (e.g., changes of pH, hypoxia or anoxia, increased temperatures, excessive turbidity, unpleasant taste or odor, and changes of salinity),{{cite web |publisher=US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |location=Washington, DC |title=Reactive Nitrogen in the United States: An Analysis of Inputs, Flows, Consequences, and Management Options, A Report of the Science Advisory Board |id=EPA-SAB-11-013 |url=http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/67057225CC780623852578F10059533D/$File/EPA-SAB-11-013-unsigned.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219045824/http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/67057225cc780623852578f10059533d/%24file/epa-sab-11-013-unsigned.pdf |archive-date=February 19, 2013}} or pathogenic organisms.{{Cite journal |last=Von Sperling |first=Marcos |date=2015 |title=Wastewater Characteristics, Treatment and Disposal |page=47 |url=https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/72/ |journal=IWA Publishing |volume=6 |isbn=978-1780402086 |doi=10.2166/9781780402086 |doi-access=free |access-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621151651/https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/72/ |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}

{{Main|Biodiversity loss|Habitat destruction}}

File:Operação Hymenaea, Julho-2016 (29399454651).jpg. Human activity can destroy previously diverse ecosystems.]]

The biodiversity of Earth{{Emdash}}the variety and variability of life{{Emdash}}is threatened by climate change, human activities, and invasive species. Due to an increase in the rate of extinction, biodiversity loss is increasing.{{Cite web |date=2020-01-16 |title=Biodiversity loss: what is causing it and why is it a concern? |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20200109STO69929/biodiversity-loss-what-is-causing-it-and-why-is-it-a-concern |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=Topics {{!}} European Parliament |language=en}} Agriculture can cause biodiversity loss as land is converted for agricultural use at a very high rate, particularly in the tropics, which directly causes habitat loss. The use of pesticides and herbicides can also negatively impact the health of local species.{{rp|page=43}} Ecosystems can also be divided and degraded by infrastructure development outside of urban areas.{{rp|page=46}}

Biodiversity loss can sometimes be reversed through ecological restoration or ecological resilience, such as through the restoration of abandoned agricultural areas;{{rp|page=45}} however, it may also be permanent (e.g. through land loss). The planet's ecosystem is quite sensitive: occasionally, minor changes from a healthy equilibrium can have dramatic influence on a food web or food chain, up to and including the coextinction of that entire food chain. Biodiversity loss leads to reduced ecosystem services, and can eventually threaten food security.{{cite journal |display-authors=3 |vauthors=Cardinale BJ, Duffy JE, Gonzalez A, Hooper DU, Perrings C, Venail P, Narwani A, Mace GM, Tilman D, Wardle DA, Kinzig AP, Daily GC, Loreau M, Grace JB, Larigauderie A, Srivastava DS, Naeem S |date=June 2012 |title=Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity |url=https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/10240/7/wardle_d_etal_130415.pdf |journal=Nature |volume=486 |issue=7401 |pages=59–67 |bibcode=2012Natur.486...59C |doi=10.1038/nature11148 |pmid=22678280 |quote=...at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world's nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth's ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate. This observation led to the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper. |s2cid=4333166 |access-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921233215/http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/10240/7/wardle_d_etal_130415.pdf |url-status=live}} Earth is currently undergoing its sixth mass extinction (the Holocene extinction) as a result of human activities which push beyond the planetary boundaries. So far, this extinction has proven irreversible.{{cite journal |display-authors=3 |vauthors=Bradshaw CJ, Ehrlich PR, Beattie A, Ceballos G, Crist E, Diamond J, Dirzo R, Ehrlich AH, Harte J, Harte ME, Pyke G, Raven PH, Ripple WJ, Saltré F, Turnbull C, Wackernagel M, Blumstein DT |date=2021 |title=Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future |journal=Frontiers in Conservation Science |volume=1 |doi=10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |author1-link=William J. Ripple |vauthors=Ripple WJ, Wolf C, Newsome TM, Galetti M, Alamgir M, Crist E, Mahmoud MI, Laurance WF |date=November 13, 2017 |title=World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice |journal=BioScience |volume=67 |issue=12 |pages=1026–1028 |doi=10.1093/biosci/bix125 |quote=Moreover, we have unleashed a mass extinction event, the sixth in roughly 540 million years, wherein many current life forms could be annihilated or at least committed to extinction by the end of this century. |doi-access=free|hdl=11336/71342 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Cowie RH, Bouchet P, Fontaine B |date=April 2022 |title=The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation? |journal=Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=640–663 |doi=10.1111/brv.12816 |pmid=35014169 |pmc=9786292 |s2cid=245889833}}

{{Main|Overexploitation|Conflict resource}}

Although humans have used land for its natural resources since ancient times, demand for resources such as timber, minerals, and energy has grown exponentially since the Industrial Revolution due to population growth.{{rp|page=34}} When a natural resource is depleted to the point of diminishing returns, it is considered the overexploitation of that resource.{{cite book |first1=Paul R. |last1=Ehrlich |first2=Anne H. |last2=Ehrlich |title=Population, Resources, Environment: Issues in Human Ecology |publisher=W. H. Freeman and Company |date=1972 |edition=2nd |page=127 |isbn=0-7167-0695-4}} Some natural resources, such as timber, are considered renewable, because with sustainable practices they replenish to their previous levels.{{cite report |title=Global Land Outlook |date=2017 |publisher=United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |isbn=978-92-95110-48-9 |access-date=November 3, 2022 |chapter-url=https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2018-06/GLO%20English_Ch5.pdf |chapter=Chapter 5 – Land Resources and Human Security}}{{rp|page=90}} Fossil fuels such as coal are not considered renewable, as they take millions of years to form, with the current supply of coal expected to peak in the middle of the 21st century.{{rp|page=90}} Economic materialism, or consumerism, has influenced destructive patterns of modern resource usage, in contrast with pre-industrial usage.{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Luxiao |last2=Gu |first2=Dian |last3=Jiang |first3=Jiang |last4=Sun |first4=Ying |date=April 5, 2019 |title=The Not-So-Dark Side of Materialism: Can Public Versus Private Contexts Make Materialists Less Eco-Unfriendly? |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=10 |pages=790 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00790 |issn=1664-1078 |pmc=6460118 |pmid=31024411|doi-access=free}}

Different varieties of landscapes:

File:2010 New York City Central Park aerial.jpg|Central Park, New York City|alt=parkland in the middle of a big city

File:Libya 4985 Tadrart Acacus Luca Galuzzi 2007.jpg|Sahara Desert, Libya|alt=sand hills in a desert

File:7 - Itahuania - Août 2008.JPG|Amazon rainforest, Peru|alt=a large forest

File:Mount Vinson from NW at Vinson Plateau by Christian Stangl (flickr).jpg|Permafrost, Antarctica|alt=Ice and snow on the ground

File:Spiaggia rosa, isola di budelli, sardegna.jpg|Seaside in Budelli, Italy

File:Foopass.jpg|Meadow in the Swiss Alps|alt=a meadow between mountains

File:Farming near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania.jpg|Farmland in Pennsylvania|alt=Hilly farmland

• Public land
• Solid earth

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{{Natural resources}}

{{Subject bar|wikt=land|q=Land|portal1=Geography|portal2=Earth sciences}}

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Category:Physical geography

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Category:Geomorphology