Earth consist of seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.On an average, the continents lie 840 meter above sea level.Earth’s continental elevation varies between the extremes of its highest point, Mt. Everest (8848m,or 29,028ft, above sea level), and its lowest point, on the shores of the Dead Sea (400 m, or 1,312ft,below sea level).The three major oceans on Earth are the Pacific Ocean (Earth’s largest, deepest, and oldest), the Atlantic Ocean (Earth’s coldest and saltiest) and the Indian Ocean (the Smallest).However, these oceans are connected with each other.The topography of the Earth is defined by its landforms or surface features. There is a great diversity of landforms in addition to the plains, plateaus, trenches, and mountains. Some of these faults and folds were created largely through tectonic processes.

 The rock of the lithosphere is broken up and the movement of the tectonic plates produces great stresses- forces acting on rock masses.There are three types of stress:

• Compressional stress is the pushing together of masses of rock. Converging plates     experience compressive stress.
• Tensional stress is the pulling apart of rock. Diverging plates undergo tensional     stress.
• Shear stress is produced when plates slide past one another.

 A rock can respond in one of three ways to these applied stresses. It can fracture or break. It can deform elastically, in which case it returns to its initial size and shape when the applied stress is removed. Or, if the stress exceeds the elastic limit of the rock, the rock deforms plastically-it permanently loses its original form. The three responses occur depending on the nature of the rock, its temperature, the rate at which the stress is applied, and the confining pressure on the rock.

 Folds are bends in layered rock. They vary in size from tight, microscopic folds in metamorphic rock to broad undulations, such as those in folded sedimentary rock. Folds in rock result from compressive forces. Folds typically form series of arches and troughs. Arch-shaped folds, are called anticlines. Synclines are trough-shaped folds.

 A fracture is a crack in a rock, a fault is a fracture where the rocks on either side have moved relative to each other. Movement along faults can occur rapidly in the form of earthquake, but such movement usually happens more smoothly and slowly.Faults mostly exist at plate boundaries where extreme tectonic stresses crack the crust, but faults can occur in the middle of a plate. Faults vary in length from a few centimeters to hundreds of kilometers. Faults are classified on the basis of the direction of displacement. There are three basic kinds:

• Dip-Slip faults
• Strike-Slip faults
• Oblique faults

 In Dip-slip fault, the hanging-wall and footwall move vertically along the fault plane.
Strike-Slip faults are characterized by horizontal motion.
In an oblique-slip fault, the blocks of rock have a combined motion. They have horizontally, as in a strike-slip fault, and vertically, as in a dip-slip fault.