While oceans are salty, most inland waters are not. Such fresh waters generally support different life forms than saltwater. Vast regions of both land and oceans are also covered by snow and ice water in its frozen form. The region surrounding the North Pole is an ocean covered with floating ice. The South Pole lies deep inside a continent covered by vast glaciers.
Glaciers are also abundant on certain islands in polar regions and in some high mountains.
Vast blankets of snow extend farther away from the poles in winter, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Eleven elements combine to form the rocks which make up about 99.5 percent of the lithosphere s mass. These elements, in order of abundance, are carbon, manganese, sulfur, barium, chlorine, chromium, fluorine, zirconium, nickel, strontium, and vanadium. These elements are seldom found in pure deposits. Rather, they are usually mixed with other elements to form compounds.