Earth Earth is metamorphic rock, which is created from the transformation of pre-existing rock types through high pressures, high temperatures, or both. The most abundant silicate minerals on Earth's surface include quartz, feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene and olivine. Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone) and dolomite. The elevation of the land surface varies from the low point of at the Dead Sea, to a maximum altitude of at the top of Mount Everest. The mean height of land above sea level is about . The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's continental surface and is composed of soil
Alkaline earth metal magnesite, and dolomite. Common calcium-containing minerals are chalk, limestone, gypsum, and anhydrite. Strontium is the fifteenth-most-abundant element in the Earth's crust. The principal minerals are celestite and strontianite. Barium is slightly less common, much of it in the mineral barite. Radium, being a decay product of uranium, is found in all uranium-bearing ores. Due to its relatively short half-life, radium from the Earth's early history has decayed, and present-day samples have all come from the much slower decay of uranium. Most beryllium is extracted from beryllium hydroxide. One production method is sintering, done by mixing beryl, sodium fluorosilicate, and soda