Lithosphere Lithosphere A lithosphere ( ["lithos"] for "rocky", and ["sphaira"] for "sphere") is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet, or natural satellite, that is defined by its rigid mechanical properties. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater. The outermost shell of a rocky planet, the crust, is defined on the basis of its chemistry and mineralogy. The study of past and current formations of landscapes is called geomorphology. Earth's lithosphere includes the crust and the uppermost mantle, which constitute
Names for the human species "Gaian") is frequently used, as it were naming humanity by its planet of origin. Incidentally, this situation parallels the naming motive of ancient terms for humanity, including "human" ("homo", "humanus") itself, derived from a word for "earth" to contrast humans as earth-bound with celestial beings (i.e. deities) in mythology. Names for the human species The common name of the human species in English is historically "man" (from Germanic), often replaced by the Latinate "human" (since the 16th century). In addition to the generally accepted taxonomic name "Homo sapiens" (Latin: "sapient man", Linnaeus 1758), other Latin-based names for the human species