What is geology and its importance

GEOLOGY 

Geology has been derived from the Greek words ‘Ge’ meaning ‘Earth’ and ‘Logia’ meaning ‘Study of’. Thus geology is the scientific study of the earth. Geology mainly concerns the study of the earth’s composition, structure, and development with history as well as the outer solid shell of the earth. Geology can also include the study of solid features of any terrestrial planet and natural satellite such as Mars, Venus, and moons. Modern geology also includes planetary science, remote sensing.

     Geology tells us about from top mountains to beneath the earth surface, from the recent to past history of the earth of 4.6 billion years. To study the earth as a whole in all aspects geologist has to take resource to many others of allied sciences.

Branches of geology

It is a very wide subject so to systematise this work, it has been found convenient to subdivide it into many branches. Some of the branches are 

1) Geomorphology

It deals with the study of geomorphic processes and agents and the development and evolution of landforms by them.

2) Geo-tectonics

It deals with the movements of the earth’s crust or tectonic plates and the deformation caused by them.

3) Mineralogy

It deals with the study of minerals, their composition, their physical and optical property, modes of occurrence and origin

4) Crystallography

It deals with the study of external forms and internal atomic structure of the crystals of the mineral

5) Structure geology

It deals with the study of the three-dimensional distribution of units with respect to their deformational histories, rock deformation on both a large and a small scale.

6) Petrology

It deals with the study of origin, structure, texture, mineralogical composition of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock.

7) Palaeontology

It is the study of fossils of plants and animals that are in past geological life.

8) Stratigraphy

It deals with the study of strata(layers) of rocks their thickness, are succession and correlation with geologic history.

9) Geochemistry

It deals with the study of the chemical composition of planets and their rocks and minerals.

10) Economic geology

It deals with the study of mineral deposits, their modes of formation, modes of occurrence, distribution and the uses of minerals.

11) Geophysics

It deals with the study of the application of physics which includes geodesy, seismology, metrology, and palaeomagnetism of earth.  

12) Mining geology

It deals with the study of the application of geology in the mining and extraction of minerals from open cast mining, underground mining.

13) Hydrology 

It deals with the study of the hydrological property of rocks and the occurrence of groundwater, its movement and action.

14) Remote sensing

It deals with the study of earth by satellite or high flying aircraft. Remote sensing, in the simplest words, means obtaining information about an object without touching the object itself.

15) Engineering geology

It deals with the study application of geology to study for the purpose of assuring that the geological factors regarding the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized.

16) Petroleum geology 

It deals with the study of occurrence, origin, accumulation, movement and exploration of hydrocarbon fuels. 

Importance of geology

Geology is all about knowing our earth it tells us about the origin of the earth, time of origin, how life comes to the earth, how much a species live on the earth so we need to study geology to know about all these things.

WE LEARN GEOLOGY THE MORNING AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

             The knowledge of this subject is of exceptionally great practical value. The mineral resources of the earth have been used to a certain extent since prehistoric times. Modern civilization is largely dependent on minerals and mineral products. Mining has already become one of the leading industries in the world. The ores are exhausted with continuous mining and in order to extract the ores, man is compelled to prospect new areas to find unexploited minerals. the modern world needs to run which we get with help of geology.

             Geological knowledge concerning soils, erosion, drainage and mineral fertilizers has a wide application in the field of agriculture. The location for a suitable site for dams and tunnels needs geological knowledge. For groundwater management, we can know about mineral and rock formation and their composition.

Lastly, I want to say geology is a very important science and will continue to be very important in life and to civilization.