Geology

Geology

The science that comprises the study of the solid Earth and the processes by which it is shaped and changed.

Contributors in Geology

Geology

The height above the surface of the base of the lowest layer of clouds that obscures more than half the sky; reported for only broken and overcast sky cover. The ceiling may be estimated by visual ...

Basal outwash

Earth science; Geology

Sand and gravel that were deposited as outwash in front of an advancing glacier and subsequently overridden by the ice and buried by other kinds of deposits. Basal outwash commonly forms the base of ...

Barrier beach

Earth science; Geology

This is a beach which has sea on one side (as normal), but is not directly joined to the land on the other, but is separated by lagoons or marshy areas. The beach may well become joined as the wind ...

Capillary fringe

Earth science; Geology

The lowest part of the zone of aeration, marked by the rising of water from the water table due to the attraction of the water molecules to mineral surfaces and other molecules, and to pressure from ...

Blocking anticyclone

Earth science; Geology

A high pressure weather system does not allow a low pressure system to follow its normal course, or 'push' the anticyclone on. The low pressure system is then forced to go round the high pressure ...

Box gauge

Earth science; Geology

A tide gauge that is operated by a float in a long vertical box to which the tide is admitted through an opening in the bottom. In the original type of box gauge the float supported a graduated rod ...

Autochthonous clay

Earth science; Geology

Clay originating in the soft sediment or sedimentary rock where it is identified and where it formed either by neoformation (i.e., from dissolved elements) or by transformation (i.e., from mineral ...