ScienceAugust 9, 2026

crustal

KRUS-tuhl

Definition

Relating to or forming the outer shell or surface layer of a planet.

Etymology

Derived from the Latin 'crusta', meaning 'rind' or 'shell', which entered English through Old French to describe hard outer coverings.

In the news

The article uses the word to describe the thin outer shell of Mercury, which cooled and buckled to form massive surface cliffs. It is essential here to explain the planet's unique structural composition.

Mercury is the Solar System’s smallest planet, but its metallic core fills about 85 per cent of its radius, leaving a rocky shell so thin that cooling has crumpled the surface into cliffs hundreds of kilometres long

Read the full article ↗

Space Daily

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