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
Silicate minerals Silicate minerals Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals with predominantly silicate anions. They are the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of the Earth's crust. In mineralogy, silica, or silicon dioxide SiO, which corresponds to "x"=2 in the general formula, is usually considered a silicate mineral—even though its silicate "anion" has no negative charge and it has no cations. Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its polymorphs. On Earth, a wide variety of silicate minerals occur in an even wider range of combinations as a result of the processes