Local zonation of foraminifera in the North West Java Basin

Abstrac
Role of analysis foraminifera in North West Java Basin is importance because it can be determine age and depositional environment very well. This research observes foraminifers’ that emerging at the age Miocene in North West Java Basin. Research data is result of biostratigraphic analysis from 6 chosen well representing some fields oil and gas property of XXXXX which ahead done by group of Stratigraphy PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS" through service. The purpose is analyze and makes local of zonation foraminiferal that later earns as reference at the time of determination of zonation or age other well in North West Java Basin.

The age Miocene of planktonic foraminifers is enough abundance especially in the Upper Cibulakan and Parigi Formation, but unable to grow in the Talangakar and Baturaja Formation. The growth of bentonic foraminifers is good enough started from Talang Akar until Parigi Formation. Based on some literature and calibrated with nannoplankton and palinomorf, the benthonic foraminiferal earn also determine age. This thing based from first or last appearance of larger and smaller benthonic foraminiferal. The marker species of planktonic foraminifers are composed of Globorotalia tumida, Globorotalia merotumida, Globorotalia plesiotumida, Globorotalia acostansis, Globorotalia siakensis, Orbulina universa, Globigerinoides subquadratus, Globorotalia fohsi robusta, Globorotalia fohsi fohsi, Globigerinoides bisphaericus and Globigerinoides diminutus. The larger benthonic foraminiferal species is Lepidocyclina (T) orientalis, Borelis melo, Lepidocyclina (N) inflata, Lepidocyclina (N) tournoueri, Spiroclypeus sp. and Miogypsina sp. The age diagnostic species of the benthonic foraminifera of rotaliid group covers Pseudorotalia catiliformis, Pseudorotalia indopacifica, Pseudorotalia shcroeteriana angusta, Cavarotalia annecten, Asterorotalia yabei and Ammonia umbonata.

Result of this research is the form of 3 column of local zonation foraminiferal Miocene covering planktonic foraminiferal, larger benthonic foraminiferal and smaller benthonic foraminiferal (rotaliid group) zonation. Benthonic foraminiferal zonation only as complement when marker species of planktonic foraminifers unable to grow.

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Geochronology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the natural sciences under the umbrella of natural history, Geochronology is the science of determining the absolute age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent within the method used. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this.

Geochronology is different in application from biostratigraphy, which is the science of assigning sedimentary rocks to a known geological period via describing, cataloguing and comparing fossil floral and faunal assemblages. Biostratigraphy does not directly provide an absolute age determination of a rock, merely places it within an interval of time at which that fossil assemblage is known to have coexisted. Both disciplines work together hand in hand however, to the point they share the same system of naming rock layers and the time spans utilized to classify layers within a strata. (See table at right for terminology.)

For instance, with reference to the Geologic time scale, the Upper Permian (Lopingian) lasted from 270.6 +/- 0.7 Ma (Ma = millions of years ago) until somewhere between 250.1 +/- 0.4 Ma (oldest known Triassic) and 260.4 +/- 0.7 Ma (youngest known Lopingian) - a gap in known, dated fossil assemblages of nearly 10 Ma. While the biostratigraphic age of an Upper Permian bed may be shown to be Lopingian, the true date of the bed could be anywhere from 270 to 251 Ma.

On the other hand, a granite which is dated at 259.5 +/- 0.5 Ma can reasonably safely be called "Permian", or most properly, to have intruded in the Permian.
The science of geochronology is the prime tool used in the discipline of chronostratigraphy, which attempts to derive absolute age dates for all fossil assemblages and determine the geologic history of the Earth and extraterrestrial bodies.

Dating methods
• Radiometric techniques measure the decay of radioactive isotopes, and other radiogenic activity.
• Incremental techniques measure the regular addition of material to sediments or organisms.
• Correlation of marker horizons allow age-equivalence to be established between different sites.

Radiometric dating
By measuring the amount of radiocative decay of a radioactive isotope with a known half-life, geologists can establish the absolute age of the parent material. A number of radioactive isotopes are used for this purpose, and depending on the rate of decay, are used for dating different geological periods.
• Radiocarbon dating. This technique measures the decay of Carbon-14 in organic material (e.g. plant macrofossils), and can be applied to samples younger than about 50,000 years.
• Uranium-lead dating. This technique measures the ratio of two lead isotopes (Pb-206 and Pb-207) to the amount of uranium in a mineral or rock. Often applied to the trace mineral zircon in igneous rocks, this method is one of the two most commonly used (along with argon-argon dating) for geologic dating. Uranium-lead dating is applied to samples older than about 1 million years.
• Uranium-thorium dating. This technique is used to date speleothems, corals, carbonates, and fossil bones. Its range is from a few years to about 700,000 years.
• Potassium-argon dating and argon-argon dating. These techniques date metamorphic, igneous and volcanic rocks. They are also used to date volcanic ash layers within or overlying paleoanthropologic sites. The younger limit of the argon-argon method is a few thousand years.

Other radiogenic dating techniques include:
• Fission track dating
• Cosmogenic isotope dating
• Rubidium-strontium dating
• Samarium-neodymium dating
• Rhenium-osmium dating
• Lutetium-hafnium dating
• Paleomagnetic dating
• Thermo-luminescence dating (quartz exposure to heat)

Luminescence dating
Luminescence dating techniques observe 'light' emitted from materials such as quartz, diamond, feldspar, and calcite. Many types of luminescence techniques are utilized in geology, including optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), cathodoluminescence (CL), and thermoluminescence (TL). Thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence are used in archaeology to date 'fired' objects such as pottery or cooking stones, and can be used to observe sand migration.

Incremental dating
Incremental dating techniques allow the construction of year-by-year annual chronologies, which can be fixed (i.e. linked to the present day and thus calendar or sidereal time) or floating.
• Dendrochronology
• Ice cores
• Lichenometry
• Varves

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Environmental Geology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Environmental geology, like hydrogeology, is a multidisciplinary field of applied science and is closely related to engineering geology and somewhat related to environmental geography. They all involve the study of the interaction of humans with the geologic environment including the biosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and to some extent the atmosphere,. It includes:
• managing geological and hydrogeological resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, water (surface and ground water), and land use.
• defining and mitigating exposure of natural hazards on humans
• managing industrial and domestic waste disposal and minimizing or eliminating effects of pollution, and
• performing associated activities, often involving litigation

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Enginering Geology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Engineering Geology is the application of the geologic sciences to engineering practice for the purpose of assuring that the geologic factors affecting the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized and adequately provided for. Engineering geologists investigate and provide geologic and geotechnical recommendations, analysis, and design. Engineering geologic studies may be performed during the planning, environmental impact analysis, civil engineering design, value engineering and construction phases of public and private works projects, and during post-construction and forensic phases of projects. Works completed by engineering geologists include; geologic hazards, geotechnical, material properties, landslide and slope stability, erosion, flooding, dewatering, and seismic investigations, etc. Engineering geologic studies are performed by a geologist or engineering geologist educated, professionally trained and skilled at the recognition and analysis of geologic hazards and adverse geologic conditions. Their overall objective is the protection of life and property against damage and the solution of geologic problems.

Engineering geologic studies may be performed:
• for residential, commercial and industrial developments;
• for governmental and military installations;
• for public works such as a power plant, wind turbine, transmission line, sewage treatment plant, water treatment plant, pipeline (aqueduct, sewer, outfall), tunnel, trenchless construction, canal, dam, reservoir, building, railroad, transit, highway, bridge, seismic retrofit, airport and park;
• for mine and quarry excavations, mine tailing dam, mine reclamation and mine tunneling;
• for wetland and habitat restoration programs;
• for coastal engineering, sand replenishment, bluff or sea cliff stability, harbor, pier and waterfront development;
• for offshore outfall, drilling platform and sub-sea pipeline, sub-sea cable; and
• for other types of facilities.
Geohazards and adverse geo-conditions
Typical geohazards or other adverse conditions evaluated by an engineering geologist include:
• fault rupture on seismically active faults ;
• seismic and earthquake hazards (ground shaking, liquefaction, lurching,lateral spreading, tsunami and seiche events);
• landslide, mudflow, rock fall and avalanche hazards ;
• unstable slopes and slope stability;
• erosion;
• slaking and heave of geologic formations;
• ground subsidence (such as due to ground water withdrawal, sinkhole collapse, cave collapse, decomposition of organic soils, and tectonic movement);
• volcanic hazards (volcanic eruptions, hot springs, pyroclastic flows, debris flows, debris avalanche, gas emissions, volcanic earthquakes);
• non-rippable or marginally rippable rock requiring heavy ripping or blasting;
• weak and collapsible soils;
• shallow ground water/seepage; and
• other types of geologic constraints.
An engineering geologist or geophysicist may be called upon to evaluate the excavatability (i.e. rippability) of earth (rock) materials to assess the need for pre-blasting during earthwork construction, as well as associated impacts due to vibration during blasting on projects.

Methods and reporting
The methods used by engineering geologists in their studies include
• geologic field mapping of geologic structures, geologic formations, soil units and hazards;
• the review of geologic literature, geologic maps, geotechnical reports, engineering plans, environmental reports, stereoscopic aerial photographs, remote sensing data, Global Positioning System (GPS) data, topographic maps and satellite imagery;
• the excavation, sampling and logging of earth/rock materials in drilled borings, backhoe test pits and trenches, fault trenching, and bulldozer pits;
• geophysical surveys (such as seismic refraction traverses, resistivity surveys, ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, magnetometer surveys, electromagnetic surveys, high-resolution sub-bottom profiling, and other geophysical methods);
• deformation monitoring as the systematic measurement and tracking of the alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it manually or with an automatic deformation monitoring system; and
• other methods.

The field work is typically culminated in analysis of the data and the preparation of an engineering geologic report, geotechnical report, fault hazard or seismic hazard report, geophysical report, ground water resource report or hydrogeologic report. The engineering geologic report is often prepared in conjunction with a geotechnical report, but commonly provide geotechnical analysis and design recommendations independent of a geotechnical report. An engineering geologic report describes the objectives, methodology, references cited, tests performed, findings and recommendations for development. Engineering geologists also provide geologic data on topograpic maps, aerial photographs, geologic maps, Geographic Information System (GIS) maps, or other map bases.

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Major subdisciplines in petroleum geology

Several major subdisciplines exist in petroleum geology specifically to study the seven key elements discussed above.

Analysis of source rocks
In terms of source rock analysis, several facts need to be established. Firstly, the question of whether there actually is any source rock in the area must be answered. Delineation and identification of potential source rocks depends on studies of the local stratigraphy, palaeogeography and sedimentology to determine the likelihood of organic-rich sediments having been deposited in the past.
If the likelihood of there being a source rock is thought to be high, the next matter to address is the state of thermal maturity of the source, and the timing of maturation. Maturation of source rocks (see diagenesis and fossil fuels) depends strongly on temperature, such that the majority of oil generation occurs in the 60° to 120°C range. Gas generation starts at similar temperatures, but may continue up beyond this range, perhaps as high as 200°C. In order to determine the likelihood of oil/gas generation, therefore, the thermal history of the source rock must be calculated. This is performed with a combination of geochemical analysis of the source rock (to determine the type of kerogens present and their maturation characteristics) and basin modelling methods, such as back-stripping, to model the thermal gradient in the sedimentary column.

Analysis of reservoir
The existence of a reservoir rock (typically, sandstones and fractured limestones) is determined through a combination of regional studies (i.e. analysis of other wells in the area), stratigraphy and sedimentology (to quantify the pattern and extent of sedimentation) and seismic interpretation. Once a possible hydrocarbon reservoir is identified, the key physical characteristics of a reservoir that are of interest to a hydrocarbon explorationist are its porosity and permeability. Traditionally, these were determined through the study of hand specimens, contiguous parts of the reservoir that outcrop at the surface and by the technique of formation evaluation using wireline tools passed down the well itself. Modern advances in seismic data acquisition and processing have meant that seismic attributes of subsurface rocks are readily available and can be used to infer physical/sedimentary properties of the rocks themselves.

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Petroleum Geology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Petroleum geology is principally concerned with the evaluation of seven key elements in sedimentary basins:

A structural trap, where a fault has juxtaposed a porous and permeable reservoir against an impermeable seal. Oil (shown in red) accumulates against the seal, to the depth of the base of the seal. Any further oil migrating in from the source will escape to the surface and seep.
• Source
• Reservoir
• Seal
• Trap
• Timing
• Maturation
• Migration

In general, all these elements must be assessed via a limited 'window' into the subsurface world, provided by one (or possibly more) exploration wells. These wells present only a 1-dimensional segment through the Earth and the skill of inferring 3-dimensional characteristics from them is one of the most fundamental in petroleum geology. Recently, the availability of cheap and high quality 3D seismic data (from reflection seismology) has greatly aided the accuracy of such interpretation. The following section discusses these elements in brief. For a more in-depth treatise, see the second half of this article below.

Evaluation of the source uses the methods of geochemistry to quantify the nature of organic-rich rocks which contain the precursors to hydrocarbons, such that the type and quality of expelled hydrocarbon can be assessed.

The reservoir is a porous and permeable lithological unit or set of units that holds the hydrocarbon reserves. Analysis of reservoirs at the simplest level requires an assessment of their porosity (to calculate the volume of in situ hydrocarbons) and their permeability (to calculate how easily hydrocarbons will flow out of them). Some of the key disciplines used in reservoir analysis are the fields of stratigraphy, sedimentology, and reservoir engineering.

The seal, or cap rock, is a unit with low permeability that impedes the escape of hydrocarbons from the reservoir rock. Common seals include evaporites, chalks and shales. Analysis of seals involves assessment of their thickness and extent, such that their effectiveness can be quantified.

The trap is the stratigraphic or structural feature that ensures the juxtaposition of reservoir and seal such that hydrocarbons remain trapped in the subsurface, rather than escaping (due to their natural buoyancy) and being lost.
Analysis of maturation involves assessing the thermal history of the source rock in order to make predictions of the amount and timing of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion.
Finally, careful studies of migration reveal information on how hydrocarbons move from source to reservoir and help quantify the source (or kitchen) of hydrocarbons in a particular area.

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Introduction Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein or (coal) seam. Materials recovered by mining include bauxite, coal, copper, gold, silver, diamonds, iron, precious metals, lead, limestone, magnesite, nickel, phosphate, oil shale, rock salt, tin, uranium and molybdenum. Any material that cannot be grown from agricultural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or factory, is usually mined. Mining in a wider sense comprises extraction of any non-renewable resource (e.g., petroleum, natural gas, or even water).

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Economic Geology

From Wikipedia

Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be utilized for economic and/or industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals, construction-grade stone, petroleum minerals, coal, and water. The term commonly refers to metallic mineral deposits and mineral resources. The techniques employed by other earth science disciplines (such as geochemistry, mineralogy, geophysics, and structural geology) might all be used to understand, describe, and exploit an ore deposit.
Economic geology is studied and practiced by geologists; however it is of prime interest to investment bankers, stock analysts and other professions such as engineers, environmental scientists and conservationists because of the far-reaching impact which extractive industries have upon society, the economy and the environment.

Mineral resources
Mineral resources are concentrations of minerals which are of note for current and future societal needs. Ore is classified as mineralization economically and technically feasible for extraction. Not all mineralization meets these criteria for various reasons. The specific categories of mineralization in an economic sense are:
• mineral occurrences or prospects which are of geological interest but may not be economic interest
• mineral resources, include those which are potentially economically and technically feasible, and those which are not
• ore reserves, must be economically and technically feasible to extract

Ore geology
Geologists are involved in the study of ore deposits, which includes the study of ore genesis and the processes within the Earth's crust which form and concentrate ore minerals into economically viable quantities.
Study of metallic ore deposits involves the use of structural geology, geochemistry, the study of metamorphism and its processes, as well as understanding metasomatism and other processes related to ore genesis.
Ore deposits are delineated by mineral exploration, which utilizes geochemical prospecting, drilling and resource estimation via geostatistics to quantify economic ore bodies. The ultimate aim of this process is mining.

Coal and petroleum geology
The study of sedimentology is of prime importance to the delineation of economic reserves of petroleum and coal energy resources

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Introduction Tectonic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tectonics, (from the Greek for "builder", tekton), is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the crust of the Earth (or other planets) and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.

Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of cratons and tectonic terranes as well as the earthquake and volcanic belts which directly affect much of the global population. Tectonic studies are also important for understanding erosion patterns in geomorphology and as guides for the economic geologist searching for petroleum and metallic ores.

A subfield of tectonics that deals with tectonic phenomena in the geologically recent period is called neotectonics.

Tectonic studies have application to lunar and planetary studies, whether or not those bodies have active tectonic plate systems.

Since the 1960s, plate tectonics has become by far the dominant theory to explain the origin and forces responsible for the tectonic features of the continents and ocean basins.
There are three main types of tectonic regime
• Extensional tectonics
• Thrust (Contractional) tectonics
• Strike-slip tectonics
Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed, and the tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of the crust or lithosphere.
Areas of extensional tectonics are typically associated with:
• The development of continental rifts, with or without the effects of mantle upwelling
• The gravitational spreading of zones of thickened crust formed during continent-continent collision
• Tensional flexures along strike-slip faults
• On passive margins where an effective basal detachment layer is present at the upper end of a linked system

Extensional structures
The main structures formed in areas of extensional tectonics are normal faults and graben structures.
Prominent examples include:
• The East African Rift, a major continental rift system
• The Basin and Range province of western North America
• The global mid-ocean ridge system
• The Dead Sea basin formed at a releasing bend along a continental transform boundary

Thrust tectonics is concerned with the structures formed, and the tectonic processes associated with, the shortening of the crust or lithosphere.
Areas of thrust tectonics are typically associated with:
• The collision of two continents or a continent and an island arc at a destructive plate boundary
• Restraining bends on strike-slip faults
• On passive margins, balancing up-dip extension, where an effective detachment layer is present

Strike-slip tectonics is concerned with the structures formed by, and the tectonic processes associated with, zones of lateral displacement within the crust or lithosphere.
Areas of strike-slip tectonics are associated with
• Continental transform (conservative) plate boundaries
• Lateral ramps in areas of extensional or contractional tectonics accommodating lateral offsets between major extensional or thrust faults
• Zones of oblique continent-continent collision
• The deforming foreland of a zone of continent-continent collision, a process sometimes known as escape tectonics

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Important Principles of Geology

There are a number of important principles in geology. Many of these involve the ability to provide the relative ages of strata or the manner in which they were formed.
The principle of intrusive relationships concerns crosscutting intrusions. In geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts across a formation of sedimentary rock, it can be determined that the igneous intrusion is younger than the sedimentary rock. There are a number of different types of intrusions, including stocks, laccoliths, batholiths, sills and dikes.

The principle of cross-cutting relationships pertains to the formation of faults and the age of the sequences through which they cut. Faults are younger than the rocks they cut; accordingly, if a fault is found that penetrates some formations but not those on top of it, then the formations that were cut are older than the fault, and the ones that are not cut must be younger than the fault. Finding the key bed in these situations may help determine whether the fault is a normal fault or a thrust fault.

The principle of inclusions and components states that, with sedimentary rocks, if inclusions (or clasts) are found in a formation, then the inclusions must be older than the formation that contains them. For example, in sedimentary rocks, it is common for gravel from an older formation to be ripped up and included in a newer layer. A similar situation with igneous rocks occurs when xenoliths are found. These foreign bodies are picked up as magma or lava flows, and are incorporated, later to cool in the matrix. As a result, xenoliths are older than the rock which contains them.

The principle of uniformitarianism states that the geologic processes observed in operation that modify the Earth's crust at present have worked in much the same way over geologic time. A fundamental principle of geology advanced by the 18th century Scottish physician and geologist James Hutton, is that "the present is the key to the past." In Hutton's words: "the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now."

The principle of original horizontality states that the deposition of sediments occurs as essentially horizontal beds. Observation of modern marine and non-marine sediments in a wide variety of environments supports this generalization (although cross-bedding is inclined, the overall orientation of cross-bedded units is horizontal).

The principle of superposition states that a sedimentary rock layer in a tectonically undisturbed sequence is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it. Logically a younger layer cannot slip beneath a layer previously deposited. This principle allows sedimentary layers to be viewed as a form of vertical time line, a partial or complete record of the time elapsed from deposition of the lowest layer to deposition of the highest bed.

The principle of faunal succession is based on the appearance of fossils in sedimentary rocks. As organisms exist at the same time period throughout the world, their presence or (sometimes) absence may be used to provide a relative age of the formations in which they are found. Based on principles laid out by William Smith almost a hundred years before the publication of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the principles of succession were developed independently of evolutionary thought. The principle becomes quite complex, however, given the uncertainties of fossilization, the localization of fossil types due to lateral changes in habitat (facies change in sedimentary strata), and that not all fossils may be found globally at the same time.

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History of Geology

A mosquito and a fly in this Baltic amber necklace are between 40 and 60 million years old
The work Peri Lithon (On Stones) by Theophrastus (372-287 BC), a student of Aristotle, remained authoritative for millennia. Peri Lithon was translated into Latin and some other foreign languages. Its interpretation of fossils was the most dominant theory in classical Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, until it was replaced by Avicenna's theory of petrifying fluids (succus lapidificatus) in the late Middle Ages.[2][3] In the Roman period, Pliny the Elder produced a very extensive discussion of many more minerals and metals then widely used for practical ends. He is among the first to correctly identify the origin of amber as a fossilized resin from pine trees by the observation of insects trapped within some pieces. He also laid the basis of crystallography by recognising the octahedral habit of diamond.

Some modern scholars, such as Fielding H. Garrison, are of the opinion that modern geology began in the medieval Islamic world.[4] Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048 AD) was one of the earliest Muslim geologists, whose works included the earliest writings on the geology of India, hypothesizing that the Indian subcontinent was once a sea.[5] Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 981-1037), in particular, made significant contributions to geology and the natural sciences (which he called Attabieyat) along with other natural philosophers such as Ikhwan AI-Safa and many others. He wrote an encyclopaedic work entitled “Kitab al-Shifa” (the Book of Cure, Healing or Remedy from ignorance), in which Part 2, Section 5, contains his essay on Mineralogy and Meteorology, in six chapters: Formation of mountains, The advantages of mountains in the formation of clouds; Sources of water; Origin of earthquakes; Formation of minerals; The diversity of earth’s terrain. These principles were later known in the Renaissance of Europe as the law of superposition of strata, the concept of catastrophism, and the doctrine of uniformitarianism. These concepts were also embodied in the Theory of the Earth by James Hutton in the Eighteenth century C.E. Academics such as Toulmin and Goodfield (1965), commented on Avicenna's contribution: "Around A.D. 1000, Avicenna was already suggesting a hypothesis about the origin of mountain ranges, which in the Christian world, would still have been considered quite radical eight hundred years later".[6] Avicenna's scientific methodology of field observation was also original in the Earth sciences, and remains an essential part of modern geological investigations.[3]

In China, the polymath Shen Kua (1031-1095) formulated a hypothesis for the process of land formation: based on his observation of fossil animal shells in a geological stratum in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean, he inferred that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and by deposition of silt.

Georg Agricola (1494-1555), a physician, wrote the first systematic treatise about mining and smelting works, De re metallica libri XII, with an appendix Buch von den Lebewesen unter Tage (Book of the Creatures Beneath the Earth). He covered subjects like wind energy, hydrodynamic power, melting cookers, transport of ores, extraction of soda, sulfur and alum, and administrative issues. The book was published in 1556. Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) is credited with the law of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral continuity: three defining principles of stratigraphy. Previous attempts at such statements met accusations of heresy from the Church.[citation needed]

By the 1700s Jean-Étienne Guettard and Nicolas Desmarest hiked central France and recorded their observations on geological maps; Guettard recorded the first observation of the volcanic origins of this part of France.

William Smith (1769-1839) drew some of the first geological maps and began the process of ordering rock strata (layers) by examining the fossils contained in them.

James Hutton is often viewed as the first modern geologist. In 1785 he presented a paper entitled Theory of the Earth to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his paper, he explained his theory that the Earth must be much older than had previously been supposed in order to allow enough time for mountains to be eroded and for sediments to form new rocks at the bottom of the sea, which in turn were raised up to become dry land. Hutton published a two-volume version of his ideas in 1795 (Vol. 1, Vol. 2).

Followers of Hutton were known as Plutonists because they believed that some rocks were formed by vulcanism which is the deposition of lava from volcanoes, as opposed to the Neptunists, who believed that all rocks had settled out of a large ocean whose level gradually dropped over time.

In 1811 Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart published their explanation of the antiquity of the Earth, inspired by Cuvier's discovery of fossil elephant bones in Paris. To prove this, they formulated the principle of stratigraphic succession of the layers of the earth. They were independently anticipated by William Smith's stratigraphic studies on England and Scotland.

Sir Charles Lyell first published his famous book, Principles of Geology, in 1830. Lyell continued to publish new revisions until he died in 1875. The book, which influenced the thought of Charles Darwin, successfully promoted the doctrine of uniformitarianism. This theory states that slow geological processes have occurred throughout the Earth's history and are still occurring today. In contrast, catastrophism is the theory that Earth's features formed in single, catastrophic events and remained unchanged thereafter. Though Hutton believed in uniformitarianism, the idea was not widely accepted at the time.

Plate tectonics - seafloor spreading and continental drift illustrated on relief globe of the Field Museum

19th century geology revolved around the question of the Earth's exact age. Estimates varied from a few 100,000 to billions of years. The most significant advance in 20th century geology has been the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s. Plate tectonic theory arose out of two separate geological observations: seafloor spreading and continental drift. The theory revolutionized the Earth sciences.
The theory of continental drift was proposed by Frank Bursley Taylor in 1908, expanded by Alfred Wegener in 1912 and by Arthur Holmes, but wasn't broadly accepted until the late 1960s when the theory of plate tectonics was developed.

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Geology Definition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geology (from Greek: γη, gê, "earth"; and λόγος, logos, "speech" lit. to talk about the earth) is the science and study of the solid matter that constitutes the Earth. Encompassing such things as rocks, soil, and gemstones, geology studies the composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape Earth's components. It is one of the Earth sciences. Geologists have established the age of the Earth at about 4.6 billion (4.6x109) years, and have determined that the Earth's lithosphere, which includes the crust, is fragmented into tectonic plates that move over a rheic upper mantle (asthenosphere) via processes that are collectively referred to as plate tectonics. Geologists help locate and manage the Earth's natural resources, such as petroleum and coal, as well as metals such as iron, copper, and uranium. Additional economic interests include gemstones and many minerals such as asbestos, perlite, mica, phosphates, zeolites, clay, pumice, quartz, and silica, as well as elements such as sulfur, chlorine, and helium. Geology is also of great importance in the applied fields of civil engineering, soil mechanics, hydrology, environmental engineering and geohazards.
Planetary geology (sometimes known as Astrogeology) refers to the application of geologic principles to other bodies of the solar system. Specialised terms such as selenology (studies of the moon), areology (of Mars), etc., are also in use. Colloquially, geology is most often used with another noun when indicating extra-Earth bodies (e.g. "the geology of Mars").
The word "geology" was first used by Jean-André Deluc in the year 1778 and introduced as a fixed term by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in the year 1779. The science was not included in Encyclopædia Britannica's third edition completed in 1797, but had a lengthy entry in the fourth edition completed by 1809.[1] An older meaning of the word was first used by Richard de Bury to distinguish between earthly and theological jurisprudence.

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