DICTIONERY OF GEOLOGY

QASIM ZIA AND ATIF ALI

Abyssal Plain:

The deepest region of an ocean that contains large, flat or gentle slope area is called as abyssal
plain. These areas are very difficult to explore due to their presence in the extreme depth of
the ocean floor. These abyssal plains are usually found at a depth of 6,500 ft inside the
ocean.

Anthracite

Anthracite is coal with the highest carbon content, between 86 and 98 percent, and a
heat value of nearly 15,000 BTUs-per-pound. Most frequently associated with
home heating,

Arkose:

A sandstone that contains at least 25% feldspar. Easily recognized because the
feldspar grains are typically pink and angular in shape.

Artesian Wall

a .A well in which the water level rises above the top of the aquifer, whether or
not the water flows at the land surface.

b. Formerly, only applied to a well drilled to a depth where, owing to the structure
of the strata, the water pressure was high enough to raise the water to the
surface.
c. Often applied to any deep well, even where pumping is necessary, as in
an ordinary driven well.

Asthenosphere:

A portion of the upper mantle that is directly below the lithosphere. A zone of low
strength in the upper mantle defines the top of the asthenosphere. This weak
zone allows the plates of the lithosphere to slide across the top of the
asthenosphere.

Braided stream

Complex tangle of converging and diverging stream channels separated by sand

bars or islands. Characteristic of flood plains where amount of debris is large in
relation to discharge.
A stream that divides into an interlacing or tangled network of several small
branching and reuniting shallow channels separated from each other by branch
islands or channel bars, resembling in plan the strands of a complex braid. Such
an anastomosing stream is generally believed to indicate an inability to carry all
of its load, such as an overloaded and aggrading stream flowing in a wide
channel on a flood plain

Birefringence

a. The numerical difference between the refractive indices of a mineral. This

difference results in a display of interference colors when thin sections or small
fragments of anisotropic minerals are viewed between crossed polars. Isometric
minerals and amorphous materials are isotropic and have the same refractive
index in every direction; they have no birefringence and show no interference
colors. See also: colors
b. The property of anisotropic crystals to split a beam of light into two polarized
rays that traverse the crystal at different velocities as they pass through it and
produce characteristic optical effects that are recognizable with the proper
instruments or, in some cases (e.g., calcite), by the eye alone.

Continental slope

That part of the continental margin that lies between the continental shelf and the
continental rise. Slope relatively steep, 3o - 6o. The continental slope is underlain
by crustal rocks of the continent.

Chert:

A microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock material composed of

SiO2. Occurs as nodules and concretionary masses and less frequently as
a layered deposit.

Cross-bedding –

inclined sedimentary structures in a horizontal unit of rock; such tilted structures

indicate the type of depositional environment, not post-depositional deformation.

Crystal

The multi-sided form of a mineral, bounded by planar growth surfaces, that is the
outward expression of the ordered arrangement of atoms within it.

Delta:

A deposit of sediment that forms where a stream enters a standing body of water
such as a lake or ocean. The name is derived from the Greek letter "delta"
because these deposits typically have a triangular shape in map view.
Detachment fault –

major fault in a mountain belt above which rocks have been intensely folded or
faulted.

Diaper fold

Forceful, upward Movement of a rock mass into overlying rock.

Dolomitization

chemical alteration of limestone into dolomite. Fossils are typically absent as a

result of the dolomitization process.

Eclogite:

An extremely high-pressure metamorphic rock containing garnet and pyroxene.

Foraminifer:

A group of single-celled organisms, mostly marine, that produce a calcium carbonate shell. Their
shells can make up a significant portion of the carbonate sediment in some areas.

Graben:

An elongated, downthrown block bounded by two steeply dipping normal faults.

Produced in an area of crustal extension. Or A downthrown block between
two normal faults of parallel strike but converging dips; hence a tensional feature.

Index fossil

A fossil that identifies and dates the strata in which it is typically found. To be most
useful, an index fossil must have broad, even worldwide distribution and must be
restricted to a narrow stratigraphic range.

Island Arcs –
When either oceanic crust subducts under oceanic crust (oceanic arc) or continental crust
subducts under continental crust (continental arc). (Q.Janmohamed)
Or
A curved chain of islands that rise from the sea floor, usually near a continent. The
convex side usually faces the open ocean, while the concave side usually faces the
continent,

Isostasy:
 Isostasy is the state of balance of gravitational forces (floating of tectonic plates ) that
depress and elevate the Earth's crust. It can be defined as the equilibrium between the
forces that tend to depress and buoyancy that raises the lithosphere segment to float on
asthenosphere.

limonite
A mineral composed of iron oxides and water. Rust. Very common in many rocks
after weathering at the Earth’s surface. Imparts brown or yellow colors to many
rocks.

liquefaction

The transformation of a soil from a solid to a liquid state as the result of increased pore pressure.

lithification
The process by which an unconsolidated deposit of sediments is converted in to solid
rock. Compaction, cementation and recrystallization are involved.

Magma:
Magma is nothing but a rock in its molten form and is present below the Earth's crust. It contains
crystals, solid suspended particles and dissolved gases from which igneous rocks are formed.

Manganese nodule:

A small, rounded concretion found on the deep ocean floor that may contain as much as
20 percent manganese and smaller amounts of iron, copper, and nickel oxides and
hydroxides.

mass wasting
Movement of rock and soil downslope under the influence of gravity.
Or A general term used for any downslope movement of rock, soil,
snow or ice under the influence of gravity. Includes: landslides, creep, rock falls
and avalanches.

P- wave
(primary wave, compressional wave) A seismic body wave that involves particle motion,
alternating compression and expansion, in the direction of wave propagation. It is the
fastest seismic wave.

Resistivity logs

Resistivity logging is important in the evaluation of sediment and rock

materials, as well as fluids contained in the pore spaces of these materials.
Resistivity is the measurement of the degree to which materials and their
contained fluids impede the flow of electric current and is the inverse of
conductivity, which is the property that is actually measured. Materials
containing clay minerals or water with dissolved salts (commonly sodium
chloride) conduct electricity readily and will have lower resistivity than porous
 nonclay-bearing clean materials or nonporous materials. Resistivity logging is
most commonly used for evaluating formations to detect the presence of
hydrocarbons in petroleum wells, but is sometimes also used in mineral
exploration. Hydrocarbons and fresh water are poor conductors of electricity in
contrast with salty formation water, which is a good conductor. Therefore, a
resistivity log will show a difference between the resistivity of rocks filled with
hydrocarbons and those filled with salty formation water.

Ripple marks
Small waves produced by wind or water moving across deposits of sand or silt.

S wave
(secondary wave , shear wave) A seismic body wave that involves particle motion from
side to side, perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower
than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.

Sea-floor spreading:

The mechanism by which new sea floor crust is created at ridges in divergence zones and
adjacent plates are moved apart to make room. This process may continue at 0.5 to 10
centimeters/year through many geologic periods.

Seismograph:
Seismograph is an instrument that helps to detect and record the magnitude of an
earthquake. It records the amplitude of the seismic waves generated during an
earthquake.

submarine fan
Fan or cone-shaped accumulation of sedimentary debris--sand, gravel, mud--
under the ocean along the edge of the land, either a continent or a volcanic arc.
Fans may be a few miles to a hundred or so miles across.

Tar sand:

A sandstone containing the densest asphaltic components of petroleum - the

end-product of evaporation of volatile components or of some thickening
process. Or

A sand containing tar or asphalt, from which the hydrocarbons may potentially be
extracted by distillation.

Transform fault:

A strike-slip fault connecting the ends of an offset in a mid-ocean ridge. Some pairs of
plates slide past each other along transform faults.
Travertine (tufa)

Variety of limestone which forms stalactites and stalagmites and other deposits in
limestone caves (dripstone) and the mouths of hot and cold calcareous springs.

Trench

Along, narrow, steep-walled, often arcuate depression in the ocean floor, much deeper than the
adjacent ocean and associated with a subduction zone . Or A long and narrow deep
trough in the sea floor; interpreted as marking the line along which a plate bends
down into a subduction zone.

Turbidite:

A vertical sequence of sediments deposited by a turbidity current. Because the

largest particles of the current settle first a turbidite will be graded deposits with
coarsest grain sizes at the bottom and finer grain sizes going upwards.

Uniformitarianism
The principle that applies to geology our assumption that the laws of nature are constant
As originally
used it meant that the processes operating to change the Earth in the present also
operated in the past and at the same rate and intensity and produced changes similar to
those we see today. The meaning has evolved and today the principle of
uniformitarianism acknowledges that past processes, even if the same as today, may
have operated at different rates and with different intensities than those of the present.
The term "actualism" is sometimes used to designate this later meaning.