Portal:Geology
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Geology (from Ancient Greek γῆ (gê) 'earth' and λoγία (-logía) 'study of, discourse') 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. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences, including hydrology. It is integrated with Earth system science and planetary science.
Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface and the processes that have shaped that structure. Geologists study the mineralogical composition of rocks in order to get insight into their history of formation. Geology determines the relative ages of rocks found at a given location; geochemistry (a branch of geology) determines their absolute ages. By combining various petrological, crystallographic, and paleontological tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole. One aspect is to demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates.
Geologists broadly study the properties and processes of Earth and other terrestrial planets. Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution, including fieldwork, 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 natural hazards, remediating environmental problems, and providing insights into past climate change. Geology is a major academic discipline, and it is central to geological engineering and plays an important role in geotechnical engineering. (Full article...)
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El Tatio is a geothermal field with many geysers located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at 4,320 metres (14,170 ft) above mean sea level. It is the third-largest geyser field in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Various meanings have been proposed for the name "El Tatio", including "oven" or "grandfather". The geothermal field has many geysers, hot springs, and associated sinter deposits. These hot springs eventually form the Rio Salado, a major tributary of the Rio Loa, and are a major source of arsenic pollution in the river. The vents are sites of populations of extremophile microorganisms such as hyperthermophiles, and El Tatio has been studied as an analogue for the early Earth and possible past life on Mars. (Full article...)
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Henno Martin (15 March 1910 – 7 January 1998) was a German professor of geology who, along with Hermann Korn, lived for two and a half years in the Namib Desert to avoid internment during the Second World War. (Full article...)
Did you know
- ... that Frederick Murray Trotter had a distinguished career as a field geologist despite losing a part of his skull and an eye to shrapnel during World War I?
- ... that the Danish geologist Tove Birkelund received a gold medal for her early work on fossils of Scaphites in Greenland?
- ... that the most significant rock from New Caledonia is peridotite, which comes from the Earth's mantle?
- ... that Karen Hanghøj, the 2023 winner of the William Smith Medal for applied geology, became the first female director of the British Geological Survey, 183 years after it was founded?
- ... that the Apollo 12 Solar Wind Spectrometer detected a gas-ion shockwave produced by the impact of the Apollo 13 S-IVB stage on the lunar surface?
- ... that the Central Asian Orogenic Belt is a leading laboratory of geologically recent crustal growth?
- ... that the geology of the Ellsworth Mountains was explored by geologists using motor toboggans in 1961?
- ... that from 1904 to 1911 Arthur Lewis Hall covered 17,479 miles (28,130 km), mostly on foot, to map the geology of the Transvaal?
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