Earth Sciences

The name earth sciences refers in general to all scientific fields that study the earth and its atmosphere. They include geography, geology, geophysics, as well as scientific branches of mineralogy, oceanography, and meteorology. All of them are closely linked not only to each other but also to related sciences. The most important related sciences are chemistry, physics, biology, and history.

Within the framework of various segments, geology deals mainly with the rocks of our Earth (petrography), both on the surface as well as in the interior of the earth. It involves the study not only of the present state but also of how it was in the past and how it has changed during the course of Earth’s history – how it happened, etc. It includes the impact of exogenous forces such as the sun, wind, water, and ice; and endogenous forces such as convective flows in the interior of the earth, volcanic activity, earthquakes, plate tectonics, etc. Paleontology studies plant and animal fossils and thus acquires knowledge of the past. This knowledge provides valuable help for geological dating (historical geology).

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