geology summary

Learn about geology and its subdisciplines

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see geology.

thermal conductivity measurement
Professor Anne Hofmeister loading a rock sample into a laser-flash apparatus to measure the sample's thermal conductivity.

geology, Scientific study of the Earth, including its composition, structure, physical properties, and history. Geology is commonly divided into subdisciplines concerned with the chemical makeup of the Earth, including the study of minerals (mineralogy) and rocks (petrology); the structure of the Earth (structural geology) and volcanic phenomena (volcanology); landforms and the processes that produce them (geomorphology and glaciology); geologic history, including the study of fossils (paleontology), the development of sedimentary strata (stratigraphy), and the evolution of planetary bodies and their satellites (astrogeology); and economic geology and its various branches, such as mining geology and petroleum geology. Some major fields closely allied to geology are geodesy, geophysics, and geochemistry. See also environmental geology.

Anderson-Wood torsion pendulum seismograph

Richter scale Summary

Richter scale (ML), quantitative measure of an earthquake’s magnitude (size), devised in 1935 by American seismologists Charles F. Richter and Beno Gutenberg. The earthquake’s magnitude is determined using the logarithm of the amplitude (height) of the largest seismic wave calibrated to a scale by

seafloor spreading and magnetic striping

seafloor spreading Summary

Seafloor spreading, theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones, known collectively as the mid-ocean ridge system, and spreads out laterally away from them. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which revolutionized geologic thought

Scottish Enlightenment Summary

Scottish Enlightenment, the conjunction of minds, ideas, and publications in Scotland during the whole of the second half of the 18th century and extending over several decades on either side of that period. Contemporaries referred to Edinburgh as a “hotbed of genius.” Voltaire in 1762 wrote in

earthquake Summary

Earthquake, any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks. Seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.”