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Browse Qlopedia topics grouped under Earth Science.
121 topics, showing 25-48 on page 2 of 6.
Subduction is the plate-tectonic process in which one tectonic plate sinks beneath another and descends into the mantle. It recycles oceanic crust, builds volcanic arcs, forms deep-sea trenches, and creates some of the largest earthquakes and tsunamis on Earth.
Seafloor spreading is the process that creates new oceanic crust at ocean ridges and moves older crust away from the ridge axis. It links volcanism, earthquakes, magnetic stripes, ocean-floor age patterns, and plate tectonics into one moving system.
Paleomagnetism is the study of Earth's ancient magnetic field as recorded by rocks, sediments, and minerals. It helps scientists reconstruct magnetic reversals, date rock sequences, trace volcanic histories, and test how tectonic plates moved through geologic time.
Taphonomy is the study of what happens to organisms, traces, and remains after death or activity and before they are interpreted as fossils. It connects decay, burial, transport, mineral change, erosion, discovery, and sampling bias into one record-forming story.
Fossilization is the set of physical, chemical, and biological processes that turn remains, impressions, or traces of organisms into fossils. It usually depends on rapid burial, mineral-rich water, low disturbance, and enough geologic time for preservation to outlast decay.
Trace fossils are preserved evidence of what organisms did, rather than the preserved bodies of the organisms themselves. Footprints, burrows, trails, nests, bite marks, root traces, and coprolites can reveal movement, feeding, hiding, nesting, and interactions in ancient environments.
Index fossils, also called guide fossils, are fossils used to help identify and correlate rock layers of similar age. The best index fossils were widespread, abundant, easy to recognize, and lived for a relatively short interval of geologic time.
The fossil record is the evidence of past life preserved in rocks, sediments, amber, tar, ice, and other natural archives. It documents evolution, extinction, ancient environments, and the changing diversity of life, while also carrying gaps and biases shaped by preservation and discovery.
Mass extinctions are geologically rapid losses of a large share of Earth's biodiversity. They are recognized from the fossil record and usually reflect severe environmental disruption, such as climate shifts, ocean chemistry change, volcanism, asteroid impact, or combinations of stresses.
The geologic time scale is the framework scientists use to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year history. It links rock layers, fossils, radiometric ages, climate events, mass extinctions, and tectonic changes into named intervals such as eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages.
Stratigraphy is the study of rock layers and layered deposits. It helps geologists arrange events in relative order, correlate rocks from place to place, interpret ancient environments, and connect field evidence with geologic time.
Luminescence dating estimates when mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight or heat. It is widely used on sediments, fired materials, and some rock surfaces where quartz or feldspar crystals stored energy from natural radiation after burial.
Uranium-thorium dating is a radiometric method used to date calcium carbonate materials such as speleothems and corals. By measuring uranium and thorium isotopes, scientists can build chronologies for cave deposits, reefs, sea-level change, and late Quaternary climate records.
Speleothems are mineral deposits that form inside caves, including stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, columns, and cave popcorn. Beyond their striking shapes, some speleothems preserve layered records of groundwater chemistry, rainfall, vegetation, and past climate.
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets. Their layers, trapped air bubbles, dust, ash, chemistry, and isotopes preserve information about past atmosphere, snowfall, temperature, volcanic eruptions, pollution, and climate change.
Dendrochronology is the science of dating and interpreting annual growth rings in trees. By matching ring patterns across many samples, researchers can assign calendar years to wood and reconstruct past climate, fires, floods, insect outbreaks, earthquakes, building dates, and environmental change.
Seismology is the study of earthquakes and seismic waves. It helps scientists locate earthquakes, understand faults, map Earthโ€s interior, and estimate hazards before future shaking occurs.
Tidal energy uses the regular rise, fall, and flow of ocean tides to generate useful power. It is predictable, renewable, and site-specific, with engineering and environmental tradeoffs that shape where it can work.
Permaculture is a design approach for creating sustainable human habitats that combines perennial systems, soil renewal, water stewardship, and regenerative food production.
Agroforestry combines trees with crops and/or livestock on the same land to improve soil health, diversify income, and build climate resilience.
Agriculture is the cultivation of plants, animals, fungi, and other living systems to produce food, fiber, fuel, materials, livelihoods, and managed landscapes.
Geography studies places, environments, people, landscapes, regions, and spatial patterns, linking physical Earth systems with human activity and mapped evidence.
Lightning is a giant electrical discharge in the atmosphere, usually produced by thunderstorms when separated charges build until air breaks down.
Thunderstorms are convective storms with lightning and thunder, powered by rising moist unstable air and capable of heavy rain, hail, damaging wind, and tornadoes.