SURPRISING EARTH FACTS

SOME LUNAR SCIENTISTS BELIEVE EARTH HAD TWO

MOONS AT ONE POINT IN TIME. THE SMALLER ‘TWIN’

OF THE CURRENT MOON IS THOUGHT TO HAVE ONLY

SURVIVED A FEW MILLION YEARS BEFORE IT COLLIDED

WITH THE ONE WE SEE TODAY, LEAVING JUST ONE.

ALTHOUGH EARTH IS CURRENTLY HOME TO UP TO

14 MILLION DIFFERENT SPECIES OF LIFE, SCIENTISTS

ESTIMATE THAT OVER 99 PERCENT OF ALL SPECIES

THAT EVER LIVED ON OUR PLANET ARE NOW EXTINCT.

WHILE THE WORLD OCEAN COVERS ALMOST 70 PERCENT

OF THE PLANET SURFACE, WE HAVE ONLY EXPLORED

ABOUT 5 PERCENT OF IT SO FAR.

NUVVUAGITTUQ BELT, A ROCK FORMATION LOCATED

ON THE SHORE OF HUDSON BAY NEAR QUEBEC, IS

RUMOURED TO HAVE THE OLDEST ROCKS FOUND ON

EARTH. WITH AN ESTIMATED AGE OF ABOUT 4.3

BILLION YEARS, THESE ROCKS ARE SLIGHTLY YOUNGER

THAN EARTH ITSELF WHICH IS THOUGHT TO HAVE

BEEN CREATED 4.5 BILLION YEARS AGO.

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT MORE THAN 80% OF EARTH´S

SURFACE IS VOLCANIC IN ORIGIN.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORLD´S LOWEST

(CHALLENGER DEEP IN THE MARIANA TRENCH – 11,034 M

OR 36,201 FT BELOW SEA LEVEL) AND HIGHEST

(MOUNT EVEREST – 8,848 M OR 29,029 FT ABOVE SEA LEVEL)

POINT IS 19,882 M OR 65,230 FEET, WHICH IS LIKE 45 EMPIRE

STATE BUILDINGS STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER.

COVERING AN AREA OF APPROXIMATELY 344,400 SQUARE

KILOMETRES (133,000 SQ. MILES), THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

LOCATED IN THE CORAL SEA OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA

IS THE LARGEST LIVING STRUCTURE ON EARTH. COMPOSED

OF 2,900 INDIVIDUAL REEFS, THE STRUCTURE IS SO BIG

IT CAN BE SEEN FROM SPACE.

THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED ON EARTH

WAS 56.7 C (134 F), MEASURED AT FURNACE CREEK

RANCH, DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA IN 1913. THE

LOWEST WAS -89.2 C (-128.6 F), MEASURED AT

VOSTOK STATION, ANTARCTICA IN 1983.

DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE, YOU COULD BE

SPINNING AT OVER 1,000 MPH (1,609 KM/H) AS EARTH

ROTATES AROUND ITS AXIS. AT THE SAME TIME,

WE ARE ALL HURTLING AROUND THE SUN AT A

SPEED OF 67,000 MPH (108,000 KM/H).