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petrology |
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petrology, branch of geology specifically concerned with the origin, composition, structure, and properties of rocks rock, aggregation of solid matter composed of one or more of the minerals forming the earth's crust. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology. Rocks are commonly divided, according to their origin, into three major classes—igneous, sedimentary, and ..... Click the link for more information. , primarily igneous and metamorphic, and secondarily sedimentary. It includes petrography, the systematic description and classification of rocks using microscopic examination of rock in thin sections; and petrogenesis, which deals with the origin and formation of the various kinds of rock. Petrology is also concerned with the laboratory simulation of rock-forming processes and the application of principles of physical chemistry to natural environments. Petrologic analyses of oceanic rocks have given insights into plate tectonic plate tectonics, theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of continental drift and seafloor spreading into a coherent model and has revolutionized geologists' understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and earth history. ..... Click the link for more information. processes, especially rock from mid-oceanic ridges, which may be formed from magma derived from deep in the mantle mantle, portion of the earth 's interior lying beneath the crust and above the core. No direct observation of the mantle, or its upper boundary, has been made; its boundaries have been determined solely by abrupt changes in the velocities and character of seismic ..... Click the link for more information. . Lunar rocks returned by Apollo astronauts were studied with petrographic techniques providing a wealth of information on the makeup and origin of the moon. petrologyScientific study of rocks, including their composition, texture, and structure; occurrence and distribution; and conditions of origin. Petrology is concerned with all three major types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. The subdiscipline of experimental petrology involves synthesizing rocks in the laboratory to ascertain the physical and chemical conditions under which they form. The subdiscipline of petrography is concerned primarily with the systematic study and description of rocks using a petrographic microscope. |
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| Advances in petrology will be crucial for understanding the formation of mantle-derived nickel, copper, chromium and PGE deposits (Naldrett 2004). Obsidian includes advances in analytical chemistry and field petrology, presenting the most recent data on (and interpretations of) archaeological obsidian sources in the Southwest, while also exploring the ethnohistorical and contemporary background for obsidian use in Native American indigenous societies. Edmond Mathez is curator of petrology at the American Museum of Natural History and James Webster is curator of mineral deposits at the Museum, so both disciplines blend well in the unusually accessible The Earth Machine, deserving of ongoing recommendation. |
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petrology
