Geology is the study and science of Earth’s landforms. This includes how they were created, have changed over time, and how they will evolve. There are several branches of geology that have more focus. We divide geology into the following sub-fields: GEOLOGY ...Read more
Geology is the study and science of Earth’s landforms. This includes how they were created, have changed over time, and how they will evolve.
There are several branches of geology that have more focus. We divide geology into the following sub-fields:
GEOLOGY – The study of physical features and the processes that act on their development.
CHRONOLOGY: Studying layers of rock as it relates to geologic time
TECTONICS: Applying the principles of plate tectonics to geology
NATURAL RESOURCES: Examining rocks, terrain and material as natural resources
SEDIMENTOLOGY: Understanding erosion, movement and deposition of sediments
TOPOGRAPHY: Mapping terrain and processes that act on it
ASTROGEOLOGY: Classifying rocks and land forms outside Earth
Even though you can categorize geology in different ways…. here’s how we’ve divided the branches of geology.
These branches of geology focus on time
These branches of geology specifically deal with time. Whether it’s fossils, magnetic fields, or types of landforms, they are often concerned with reconstructing the past.
This is why “paleo” is common in these fields of study. Paleo is short for ”paleolithic” which often refers to the geologic past.
Stratigraphy is concerned with the layering of archaeological remains and their position on layers of rock. For example, magnetostratigraphy studies magnetic fields in rocks and past pole reversals.
STRATIGRAPHY – How layering of rocks and strata are analyzed to measure geologic time.
PALEONTOLOGY – How organisms evolve and their interactions in their environment by studying fossil records often found in rocks.
MICROPALEONTOLOGY – How microfossils are characterized.
PALEOMAGNETISM – How to reconstruct previous magnetic fields in rocks including the direction and intensity to explore pole reversals in different time periods (past and future).
GEOMORPHOLOGY – How landforms, physical features and geological structures on Earth were created and evolved.
PALEOSEISMOLOGY – How geologic sediments and rocks are used to infer past earthquakes.
MAGNETOSTRATIGRAPHY – How sedimentary and volcanic sequences are dated by geophysically correlating samples of strata deposited with the Earth’s magnetic field polarity.
GEOCHRONOLOGY – How old rocks and geological events are dated using signatures inherent in rocks.
Tectonics understands moving plates
Seismology, volcanoes, earthquakes… these branches of geology all have one common theme. The underlying process that impacts them are plate tectonics.
Fields like seismology measure how waves travel through and around Earth from earthquakes. Meanwhile, tectonophysics targets the physical process that acts on the behavior of waves.
As tectonics plays a key role in volcanoes, volcanology explains how and where volcanoes and related phenomena (lava and magma) erupt and form (past and present).
TECTONICS – How Earth’s crust evolves through time contributing to mountain building, old core continents (cratons) and earthquakes/volcanoes.
VOLCANOLOGY – How volcanoes erupt, the anatomy of a volcano and related phenomena (lava, magma) erupt and form (past and present).
SEISMOLOGY – How seismic waves travel through and around the Earth from earthquakes.
NEOTECTONICS – How Earth’s crust deforms and has moved in recent and current time.
TECTONOPHYSICS – How Earth’s crust and mantle deforms specific to its physical processes.
SEISMOTECTONICS – How earthquakes, active tectonics and individual faults are related to seismic activity.
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