Introduction to Geology

The materials found throughout this section of the website are meant to be good starting places for begin exploring the broad field of geology. Several of these pages provide new learners to geology a broad introduction to some of the field’s most important concepts, which will be important later for better understanding the Evolution and Climate Change pages!

Geology, or Earth Science or the Geosciences, is the study of the Earth, which includes its interior and exterior processes, rocks, minerals, fossils, and all the surface processes that have shaped the landscape around us and continue to shape our lives today. These processes take place over different time scales, from hundreds of millions of years to hundreds of thousands of years, a difficult concept to grasp as humans have only been present for a short amount of time in the wide breadth of Earth’s history.

Geology is a multidisciplinary field that integrates a variety of other sciences including but not limited to: physics, chemistry, biology, math, astronomy, statistics, and more! Geologists use evidence from Earth and other planetary bodies to explore the natural world and use the information they gain to better understand the past, present, and future.

In this section of Time Scavengers, we provide our readers with an overview of the main principles of Geology. Our General Science page discusses the scientific method, hypothesis testing, and a discussion about data. We break down the concepts of telling time on our Geologic Time page, discuss common rocks and minerals important to the topics of paleontology and paleoclimatology, dive into the formation and layering of rocks on our Principles of Geology page, and discuss how the landmasses on Earth have changed over time on our Plate Tectonics page.

On our What is Paleontology page, we provide background to better understand the field of paleontology and our Evolution pages. Likewise, on our What is Paleoclimatology page, we provide information and background to best understand the principles on our Climate Change pages.

General Science
Geologic Time
Common Rocks & Minerals
Plate Tectonics
What is Paleontology?
What is Paleoclimatology?

 

 

 

Once you understand the basics of the introduction material, please continue to explore the Climate Change and Evolution series of pages. The pages contained under these topics will continually link back to the introductory material on topics or terms in case you need a refresher!

Climate Change
Evolution

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