Geology

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For the scientific journal, see Geology (journal).

1875 geological map of Europe, compiled by Andr Dumont. Colors indicate the distribution of
different rock types across the continent, as they were known then.
Geology (from the Ancient Greek , g, i.e. "earth" and -o, -logia, i.e. "study of,
discourse"[1][2]) is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is
composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also refer to the
study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite, (such as Mars or the
Moon).
Geology describes the structure of the Earth beneath its surface, and the processes that have
shaped that structure. It also provides tools to determine the relative and absolute ages of rocks
found in a given location, and also to describe the histories of those rocks. By combining these
tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole, and also to
demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics,
the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates.
Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution,
including field work, rock description, geophysical techniques, chemical analysis, physical
experiments, and numerical modelling. In practical terms, geology is important
for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, evaluating water resources,
understanding of natural hazards, the remediation of environmental problems, and providing
insights into past climate change. Geology, a major academic discipline, also plays a role
in geotechnical engineering.

Contents
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1Geologic materials
o 1.1Rock
1.1.1Tests
o 1.2Unconsolidated material
2Whole-Earth structure
o 2.1Plate tectonics
o 2.2Earth structure
3Geologic time
o 3.1Brief time scale
 o 3.2Important milestones
4Dating methods
o 4.1Relative dating
o 4.2Absolute dating
5Geological development of an area
6Methods of geology
o 6.1Field methods
o 6.2Petrology
o 6.3Structural geology
o 6.4Stratigraphy
7Planetary geology
8Applied geology
o 8.1Economic geology
8.1.1Mining geology
8.1.2Petroleum geology
o 8.2Engineering geology
o 8.3Hydrology and environmental issues
o 8.4Natural hazards
9History of geology
10Fields or related disciplines
11Regional geology
12See also
13References
14External links

Geologic materials[edit]
The majority of geological data comes from research on solid Earth materials. These typically fall
into one of two categories: rock and unconsolidated material.

Rock[edit]

This schematic diagram of the rock cycle shows the relationship between magma and sedimentary,
metamorphic, and igneous rock
Main articles: Rock (geology) and Rock cycle
The majority of research in geology is associated with the study of rock, as rock provides the
primary record of the majority of the geologic history of the Earth. There are three major types of
rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The rock cycle illustrates the relationships among
them (see diagram).
When a rock crystallizes from melt (magma and/or lava), it is an igneous rock. This rock can
be weathered and eroded, then redeposited and lithified into a sedimentary rock. It can then be
turned into a metamorphic rock from the heat and pressure that change its mineral content,
resulting in a characteristic fabric. All three types may melt again, and when this happens, a new
magma is formed, from which an igneous rock may once more crystallize.

Minerals
Tests[edit]
To study all three types, geologists evaluate the minerals of which they are composed. Each
mineral has distinct physical properties, and there are many tests to determine each of them.
The specimens can be tested for:

Luster: Measurement of the amount of light reflected from the surface. Luster is broken into
metallic and nonmetallic.
Color: Minerals are grouped by their color. Mostly diagnostic but impurities can change a
minerals color.
Streak: Performed by scratching the sample on a porcelain plate. The color of the streak can
help name the mineral.
Hardness: The resistance of a mineral to scratch.
Breakage pattern: A mineral can either show fracture or cleavage, the former being
breakage of uneven surfaces and the latter a breakage along closely spaced parallel planes.
Specific gravity: the weight of a specific volume of a mineral.
Effervescence: Involves dripping hydrochloric acid on the mineral to test for fizzing.
Magnetism: Involves using a magnet to test for magnetism.
Taste: Minerals can have a distinctive taste, like halite (which tastes like table salt).
Smell: Minerals can have a distinctive odor. For example, sulfur smells like rotten eggs.[3]
Unconsolidated material[edit]
Geologists also study unlithified materials (referred to as drift), which typically come from more
recent deposits. These materials are superficial deposits which lie above the bedrock.[4] This
study is often known as Quaternary geology, after the Quaternary period of geologic history.

Whole-Earth structure[edit]
Plate tectonics[edit]
Main article: Plate tectonics
Oceanic-continental convergence resulting in subduction and volcanic arcs illustrates one effect of plate
tectonics.
In the 1960s, it was discovered that the Earth's lithosphere, which includes the crust and rigid
uppermost portion of the upper mantle, is separated into tectonic plates that move across
the plastically deforming, solid, upper mantle, which is called the asthenosphere. This theory is
supported by several types of observations, including seafloor spreading[5][6] and the global
distribution of mountain terrain and seismicity.
There is an intimate coupling between the movement of the plates on the surface and
the convection of the mantle (that is, the heat transfer caused by bulk movement of molecules
within fluids). Thus, oceanic plates and the adjoining mantle convection currents always move in
the same direction because the oceanic lithosphere is actually the rigid upper
thermal boundary layer of the convecting mantle. This coupling between rigid plates moving on
the surface of the Earth and the convecting mantle is called plate tectonics.

On this diagram, subducting slabs are in blue, and continental margins and a few plate boundaries are in
red. The blue blob in the cutaway section is the seismically imaged Farallon Plate, which is subducting
beneath North America. The remnants of this plate on the Surface of the Earth are the Juan de Fuca
Plate and Explorer Plate in the Northwestern USA / Southwestern Canada, and the Cocos Plate on the
west coast of Mexico.
The development of plate tectonics has provided a physical basis for many observations of the
solid Earth. Long linear regions of geologic features are explained as plate boundaries.[7] For
example:

Mid-ocean ridges, high regions on the seafloor where hydrothermal vents and volcanoes
exist, are seen as divergent boundaries, where two plates move apart.

Arcs of volcanoes and earthquakes are theorized as convergent boundaries, where one
plate subducts, or moves, under another.
Transform boundaries, such as the San Andreas Fault system, resulted in widespread powerful
earthquakes. Plate tectonics also has provided a mechanism for Alfred Wegener's theory
of continental drift,[8] in which the continents move across the surface of the Earth over geologic
time. They also provided a driving force for crustal deformation, and a new setting for the
observations of structural geology. The power of the theory of plate tectonics lies in its ability to
combine all of these observations into a single theory of how the lithosphere moves over the
convecting mantle.