Stickmen's Guide to Mountains and Valleys in Layers
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Contents Mountains and Valleys Snowy Peaks Highest and coldest 10 Tough Apine Life At the tree line 12 Forested Slopes Trees plants and animals 14 On the Plains Rich grasslands 16 The Valley Floor River life 18 Deep in the Canyon Rock art and hot springs 20 Down the Mine Gold diamonds and oil 22 Volcano Power Natural explosions 24 Smashing Plates A quaking world 26 The Center of Earth Down through the layers 28 Fantastic Mountain and Valley Facts 30 The Future 31 32 Glossary and Index
Mountains and Valleys Earth the Sun and other planets in our solar system formed nearly 4 6 billion years ago Gases and dust in space coided forming clumps that enlarged as their gravity attracted more material On the ciump that became Earth a cooling crust cracked into huge pieces clied tectonic plates which cover hotter iayers and a hardened core Mountaintops Where winters are very cold snow and ice reach far down the mountains In warm parts of the world snow and ice give way to alpine trees and plants Plains Down on the plains vast grasslands stretch out in both cool and hot climates Here wild animals roam and farmers herd cattle and grow grains 9 am S LT Under the Crust Below the plains rivers cut deep down into the rock Even deeper Earth shakes and hot volcanic magma pushes up through the crust Earth's Core At the center of Earth a soft searing hot outer core wraps around the hard inner core Both parts of the core are made mostly of metal
