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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]
Resource geology studies how energy resources can be obtained from minerals. Environmental geology studies how pollution and contaminants affect soil and rock. [ 2 ] Mineralogy is the study of minerals and includes the study of mineral formation, crystal structure , hazards associated with minerals, and the physical and chemical properties of ...
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation ( strain ) in the rocks, and ultimately, to understand the stress ...
Earth System science has articulated four overarching, definitive and critically important features of the Earth System, which include: Variability: Many of the Earth System's natural 'modes' and variabilities across space and time are beyond human experience, because of the stability of the recent Holocene.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geology: . 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.
Structural geology is an important complement to geodynamics because it provides the most direct source of data about the movements of the Earth. Different modes of deformation result in distinct geological structures, e.g. brittle fracture in rocks or ductile folding.
Historical geology or palaeogeology is a discipline that uses the principles and methods of geology to reconstruct the geological history of Earth. [1] Historical geology examines the vastness of geologic time, measured in billions of years, and investigates changes in the Earth , gradual and sudden, over this deep time .
In 1741 the best-known institution in the field of natural history, the National Museum of Natural History in France, created the first teaching position designated specifically for geology. [19] This was an important step in further promoting knowledge of geology as a science and in recognizing the value of widely disseminating such knowledge.