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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GAG-GEO |
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GEOLOGY (from Gr. yp7, the earth, and Abyor, science) , the science which investigates the physical history of the earth. Its object is to trace the structural progress of .our planet from the earliest beginnings of its separate existence, through its various stages of growth, down to the present condition of things. It seeks to determine the manner in which the evolution of the earth's great
scope , and to seek aid from almost every other leading branch of science. Thus, in dealing with the earliest conditions of the planet, the geologist must fully avail himself of the labours of the astronomer. Whatever is ascertainable by telescope, spectroscope or chemical analysis, regarding the constitution of other heavenly bodies, has a geological bearing. The experiments of the physicist, undertaken to determine conditions of matter and of energy, may sometimes be taken as the starting-points of geological investigation. The work
But while thus culling freely from the dominions of other sciences, geology claims as its peculiar territory the rocky framework of the globe. In the materials composing that framework, their composition and arrangement, the processes of their formation, the changes which they have undergone, and the terrestrial revolutions to which they bear witness, lie the main data of geological history. It is the task of the geologist to group these elements in such a way that they may be made to yield up their evidence as to the march of events in the evolution of the planet. He finds that they have in large measure arranged themselves in chronological sequence,theoldest lying at the bottom and the newest at the top. Relics of an ancient sea-floor are overlain by traces of a vanished land-surface; these are in turn covered by the deposits ., of a former lake, above which once more appear proofs of the return of the sea. Among these rocky records lie the lavas and ashes of long-extinct volcanoes. The ripple left upon the shore, the cracks formed by the sun's heat upon the muddy bottom of a dried-up pool, the very imprint of the drops of a passing rain-shower, have all been accurately preserved, and yield their evidence as to geographical conditions often widely different from those which exist where such markings are now found.But it is mainly by the remains of plants and animals imbedded in the rocks that the geologist is guided in unravelling; the chronological succession of geological changes. He has found that a certain order of appearance characterizes these organic remains, that each great
special
gravel
It is evident that to deal successfully with these varied materials, a considerable acquaintance with different branches of science is needful. Especially necessary is a tolerably wide knowledge of the processes now at work
economy
While, however, the present condition of things is thus employed, we must obviously be on our guard against the danger of unconsciously assuming that the phase of nature's operations which we now witness has been the same in all past time, that geological changes have always or generally taken place in former ages in the manner and on the scale which we behold to-day, and that at the present time all the great geological processes, which have produced changes in the past eras of the earth's history, are still existent and active. As a working hypothesis we may suppose that the nature of geological processes has remained constant from the beginning; but we cannot postulate that the action of these processes has never varied in energy. The few centuries wherein man has been observing nature obviously form much too brief an interval by which to measure the intensity of geological action in all past time.', ' For 'aught we can tell the present is an era of quietude and slow change , compared with some of the eras which have preceded it. Nor perhaps can we be quite sure that, when we have explored every geological process now in progress, we have exhausted all the causes of change which, even in comparatively recent
In dealing with the geological record, as the accessible solid part of the globe is called, we cannot-too vividly realize that at End of Article: GEOLOGY (from Gr. yp7, the earth, and Abyor, science) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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