Land and water on Earth

The Earth's surface has many shapes, called landforms. Mountains are very high land, hills are smaller, and valleys are low land between hills. Islands are land with water all round. Most of the Earth is covered by water: oceans, seas, rivers and lakes.

Oceans and seas are salty. Rivers and most lakes have fresh water, which we can make safe to drink. Water can be a liquid, but in very cold places it is solid ice, like glaciers and the ice at the North and South Poles. Maps show where land and water are: blue is usually water and other colours show land.