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Granulite – Class of high-grade medium to coarse grained metamorphic rocks; Greenschist – Metamorphic rock – A mafic metamorphic rock dominated by green amphiboles; Hornfels – Group of metamorphic rocks Calcflinta – Calc-silicate hornfels; Jadeitite – Metamorphic rock found in blueschist-grade metamorphic terranes
Solidified lava flow in Hawaii Sedimentary layers in Badlands National Park, South Dakota Metamorphic rock, Nunavut, Canada. Geology (from Ancient Greek γῆ (gê) 'earth' and λoγία () 'study of, discourse') [1] [2] is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. [3]
Most rocks contain silicate minerals, compounds that include silica tetrahedra in their crystal lattice, and account for about one-third of all known mineral species and about 95% of the earth's crust. [6] The proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their names and properties. [7]
Customarily, only distinctive beds, i.e. key beds, marker beds, that are particularly useful for stratigraphic purposes are given proper names and considered formal lithostratigraphic units. [18] [19] In case of volcanic rocks, the lithostratigraphic unit equivalent to a bed is a flow. A flow is “...a discrete, extrusive, volcanic rock body ...
The principles of lithostratigraphy were first established by the Danish naturalist, Nicolas Steno, in his 1669 Dissertationis prodromus. [1] A lithostratigraphic unit conforms to the law of superposition, which in its modern form states that in any succession of strata, not disturbed or overturned since deposition, younger rocks lies above older rocks. [2]
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. [1] [2] Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock containing 25% to 75% ash is described as tuffaceous (for example, tuffaceous sandstone). [3]
Conglomerate (/ k ən ˈ ɡ l ɒ m ər ɪ t /) is a sedimentary rock made up of rounded gravel-sized pieces of rock surrounded by finer-grained sediments (such as sand, silt, or clay). The larger fragments within conglomerate are called clasts, while the finer sediment surrounding the clasts is called the matrix.
Chronostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that places an absolute age, rather than a relative age on rock strata. The branch is concerned with deriving geochronological data for rock units, both directly and inferentially, so that a sequence of time-relative events that created the rocks formation can be derived. The ultimate aim of ...