Geology - Introductory

No one will fault you for wanting to dig into this geology word list. Learn about the structure of the earth, types of rock, earthquakes and volcanoes, and processes such as sedimentation and erosion. It won't take eons to master these essential terms.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. active
    (of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt
  2. aftershock
    a tremor following the main tremor of an earthquake
  3. bed
    (geology) a stratum of rock (especially sedimentary rock)
  4. boulder
    a large smooth mass of rock detached from a place of origin
  5. cinder
    a fragment of incombustible matter left after a fire
  6. cleavage
    the act of splitting
  7. composition
    the way in which someone or something is put together
  8. continent
    one of the large landmasses of the earth
  9. continental drift
    the gradual movement of very large land masses
  10. continental shelf
    the relatively shallow seabed surrounding a continent
  11. core
    the central part of the Earth
  12. crust
    the outer layer of the Earth
  13. crystal
    a solid having a highly regular atomic structure
  14. density
    the amount per unit size
  15. dormant
    not erupting but not extinct
  16. earthquake
    vibration from underground movement along a fault plane
  17. element
    a substance that cannot be separated into simpler substances
  18. eon
    the longest unit of geological time
  19. epicenter
    a point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake
  20. epoch
    a unit of geological time that is divided into ages
  21. era
    a major division of geological time
  22. erosion
    the process of wearing or grinding something down
  23. extinct
    (of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive
  24. extrusive
    forced while molten through cracks in the earth's surface
  25. fault
    a crack in the earth's crust resulting from displacement
  26. foliation
    (geology) the arrangement of leaflike layers in a rock
  27. formation
    (geology) a distinct unit of rocks or layers
  28. fossil
    the remains of a plant or animal from a past geological age
  29. geologist
    a specialist in the history of the Earth recorded in rocks
  30. geyser
    a spring that discharges hot water and steam
  31. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  32. gravel
    rock fragments and pebbles
  33. hardness
    the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure
  34. hot spot
    a point of relatively intense heat or radiation
  35. hot spring
    a natural spring of water at a temperature of 70 F or above
  36. igneous
    produced by the action of fire or intense heat
  37. intrusive
    forced while molten into cracks between layers of other rock
  38. lava
    rock that in its molten form issues from volcanos
  39. luster
    the property of something that shines with reflected light
  40. magma
    molten rock in the earth's crust
  41. magnetism
    attraction for iron
  42. magnitude
    the property of relative size or extent
  43. mantle
    the layer of the earth between the crust and the core
  44. metamorphic
    having undergone transformation by pressure, heat, etc.
  45. mineral
    a solid inorganic substance occurring in nature
  46. Mohs scale
    a scale of hardness of solids
  47. molten
    reduced to liquid form by heating
  48. mountain
    a land mass that projects well above its surroundings
  49. organic
    having properties characteristic of living beings
  50. Pangaea
    (plate tectonics) a hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland
  51. pebble
    a small smooth rounded rock
  52. period
    a unit of geological time when a system of rocks formed
  53. plate
    a rigid layer of the Earth's crust
  54. plate tectonics
    the movement or study of the movement of Earth's crust
  55. Richter scale
    a system once used to measure the strength of an earthquake
  56. rock
    material consisting of the aggregate of minerals
  57. sand
    a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral
  58. sediment
    matter that has been deposited by some natural process
  59. sedimentary
    formed by or containing the accumulation of deposited matter
  60. sedimentation
    the accumulation of matter deposited by some natural process
  61. seismograph
    an instrument for measuring movements of the ground
  62. stratum
    one of several parallel layers of material
  63. stress
    (physics) force that produces strain on a physical body
  64. temperature
    the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment
  65. tension
    a stress that produces an elongation of a physical body
  66. tsunami
    a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave
  67. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt
  68. weather
    change under the action or influence of the climate
Created on Thu Feb 16 19:19:52 EST 2017 (updated Tue Apr 18 15:42:06 EDT 2017)

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