Earth Earth is metamorphic rock, which is created from the transformation of pre-existing rock types through high pressures, high temperatures, or both. The most abundant silicate minerals on Earth's surface include quartz, feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene and olivine. Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone) and dolomite. The elevation of the land surface varies from the low point of at the Dead Sea, to a maximum altitude of at the top of Mount Everest. The mean height of land above sea level is about . The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's continental surface and is composed of soil
Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style on Quintillian's rhetorical guide, "Institutio Oratoria". The first chapter of book 10 in Quintillian's "Oratoria" is titled ""De copia verborum"". This is quite possibly where Erasmus received his most direct inspiration for the book. In that 10th chapter, Quintillian declined to give examples for employing the abundant style, on the grounds that each individual case requires a unique solution. This left the door open for Erasmus to detail the abundant style in "Copia". Erasmus acknowledges Quintillian in the preface, and borrows from him (and other classical authors) throughout "Copia", sometimes citing, sometimes not. As further revisions of "Copia" are printed,