The ancients traditionally interpreted the nature of the world as consisting of four or five basic substances, called "elements" in Greek thought and "states of change" in the more dynamic Chinese system.  Although the elements of pre-scientific intuitive metaphysics are not the same as the elements of modern chemistry, they do convey the basic dynamic states of familiar matter.

Using the metaphor of the Greek elements (the Indian and Chinese are a  little different) the Elemental Earth could be considered as consisting of

• fire - the inner molten core and mantle of the Earth
• earth - the solid outer crust or lithosphere - consisting of continents, mountains, plains etc.
• water - lakes, rivers and oceans - the hydrosphere (as well as water disolved as vapour in the air)
• air - the atmosphere - originally carbon dioxide, methane etc but for the past secveral billions of years consisting mainly of nitrogen and oxygen
• "ether" as the halo of charged particles and magnetic fields that make up the ionosphere and the Van Allen Belts.

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