Alright there are countless releases and manipulations of earth. Lets start with releases.
There are many different ways to release earth. Here are the basic ones.
Projectile releases
Streaming releases
Elemental source release
Stationary release
Alternative release
I will try to explain each as basic as I can.
Projectile release
This is the art of releasing a technique in a separate manner, what I mean by this is simple, after you release it, it moves without you're control anymore. Think of it this way, when you throw a shuriken at an opponent, it will move at the pathway you aim and stay lock onto that trajectory. Same can be said with earth, an example could be by releasing a chunk of rocks at the opponent. After you send it to them, it becomes a projectile and out of you're control.
Streaming release
This is the exact opposite of projectiles. Here when you release a technique, you will remain focused on it and distrupt the chakra evenly into a stream-like manner. Consider it like this, I send out from my mouth a a stream of sticky mud substance, it will evenly continued to be released until it makes contact with the target. Concentration is key here.
Elemental source release
This is simple, you use a source from the element to create the technique. Such as the ground to have spikes erupt out. That is all there really is to it, basically when you use a source from earth and not from you're body, it becomes an elemental source release. Now here is the thing, elemental source is where it comes out from, however its usages can sometimes combine with streaming sources and projectiles. Hence why I like it so much. For example, I have spikes appear from the ground right behind the opponent, the spikes are released rather fast and in a projectile manner since all I have to do is set and aim and the rest will be done. However, for a streaming example, I can easily create a colossal being, but the being must be under my control, hence I have to stay focused on it the entire time for it to be used. This would count as a stream, since you have to contentiously stay focused on it.
Stationary release
The best way to explain this, is with armory. Techniques that come out from the body or even from the ground, but remain their dormant to be used when request. Armors are a great example, since they stay on you're body until you release them or until they are destroyed, you can use them any time and usually do not hinder you (unless stated in specific descriptions). There are some cases with that in earth. A lot of it can also be used with traps. They are stationary because they stay in the same place, however in some cases, especially with traps, after activate they can sometimes be controlled or released as projectiles. So there could be a mixture of the two.
Alternative releases
These are the kind of releases that are truly unique and can fall in either many releases as I mentioned above or are so unique they are in neither. Such things like, manipulating weight of objects through a touch. These can be explained in many ways but it depends on the specific jutsus.
Now as you should notice, projectiles and streaming, are the complete base of each technique. They can be combo with the other three releases, but getting to know the first two are most important. Any questions before we move on?