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Earth materials include minerals, rocks, soil and water. These are the naturally occurring materials found on Earth that constitute the raw materials upon which our global society exists. Earth materials are vital resources that provide the basic components for life, agriculture and industry .
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. [1] This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres: the biosphere , hydrosphere / cryosphere , atmosphere , and geosphere (or lithosphere ).
Agricultural interest in 18th-century soil chemistry led to better understanding of nutrients and their connection to biochemical processes. This relationship between the cycles of organic life and their chemical products was further expanded upon by Dumas and Boussingault in a 1844 paper that is considered an important milestone in the development of biogeochemistry.
Geology – The study of the composition, structure, physical properties, and history of Earth's components, and the processes by which they are shaped. Economic geology – Science concerned with earth materials of economic value; Engineering geology – The application of the geology to engineering practice.
Geologic processes, such as weathering, erosion, water drainage, and the subduction of the continental plates, all play a role in this recycling of materials. Because geology and chemistry have major roles in the study of this process, the recycling of inorganic matter between living organisms and their environment is called a biogeochemical cycle.
Geology – one of the Earth sciences – is the study of the Earth, with the general exclusion of present-day life, flow within the ocean, and the atmosphere. The field of geology encompasses the composition, structure, physical properties, and history of Earth's components, and the processes by which it is shaped.
The chemical composition of the Earth and other bodies is determined by two opposing processes: differentiation and mixing. In the Earth's mantle, differentiation occurs at mid-ocean ridges through partial melting, with more refractory materials remaining at the base of the lithosphere while the remainder rises to form basalt.
Geologic processes, such as weathering, erosion, water drainage, and the subduction of the continental plates, all play a role in this recycling of materials. Because geology and chemistry have major roles in the study of this process, the recycling of inorganic matter between living organisms and their environment is called a biogeochemical cycle.