Geology Glossary

20 terms

The field of study of geology can be very big. All the information about the resources of our planet connected with geology. For example, how to find a deposit of a substance, how to extract this ore of the earth or how separate the ore of the rock because in one rock there are lots of minerals. This glossary is gonna be helpful because someone could do a little research of mine next to his house and understand some worlds.

Alkaline

A highly basic substance that dissolves in water.

Biotite

A from of black mica widely distributed in igneous rocks (particularly in granites) as lustrous black crystals, with a singularly perfect cleavage. In composition it is a complex silicate, chiefly of iron and magnesium, together with potassium and hydroxyl.

Dike

A type of sheet intrusion referring to any geologic body that cuts discordantly across. A form of minor intrusion injected into the crust during its subjection to tension, the dyke being thin with parallel sides, and maintaining a constant direction in some cases for long distances. Some are more resistant to weathering than the surrounding rock and stand up like walls, while others weather faster and form long narrow depressions.

Erosion

The displacement of solids (sediment, soil, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).

Esker

A long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North America. Eskers are frequently several miles in length and, because of their peculiar uniform shape, somewhat resemble railroad embankments.

Exploration

The activity of travelling to and around a place, especially one where you have nerver benne or few people have been before, in order to find out more about it.

Fracture

Any crack or discontinuity. In its geological definition, it is only used when no displacement can be distinguished.

Hydrothermal

Pertaining to the actions or products of heated water.

Magma

Molten rock that sometimes forms beneath the surface of the Earth (or other terrestrial planets) and often collects in a magma chamber.

Metamorphism

The solid-state recrystallisation of pre-existing rocks due to changes in heat, pressure, or water-rock interactions, i.e. without melting.

Mica

Any of a set of minerals which crystallise in the monoclinic system. They have similar chemical compositions and highly perfect basal cleavage.

Mine

A hole or système of holes in the ground where substances are removed.

Minelarization

The hydrothermal disposition of economically important metals in the formation of ore bodies or lodes.

Mineral

A solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form

Planet

A celestia body moving in an elliptical orbit round a star.

Quartzite

A compact, hard, very fine-grained white to creamy white rock which breaks into sharp angular fragments. Quartzite is always associated with other metamorphic rocks, while cemented sandstone is always associated with other sedimentary rocks.

Rock

Any naturally occuring slid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter.

Topography

The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area.

Vein

A mineral filling of a fracture or other crack within a rock in a sheet-like or tabular shape.

Volcanic

Rocks that have crystallised from magma poured out at the surface or introduced at shallow depth. They have cooled relatively rapidly, the grain size of the crystals is small, some part of the melt may solidify as glass, volatiles are lost and anhydrous minerals with high temperatures of crystallisation are present.