More Geology Vocabulary
for your next poem/story (pt. 2)
Luster - The reflection of light from the surface of a mineral, described by its quality and intensity.
Microcrystalline - Describes a rock texture consisting of crystals visible only with a microscope.
Moonmilk - A soft, white, initially deformable deposit that occurs on the walls of caves.
Nuée ardente - A swiftly flowing, turbulent, sometimes incandescent gaseous cloud erupted from a volcano, containing ash and other pyroclastic materials in its lower part.
Orogeny - A mountain-building event.
Parabolic dune - Crescent-shaped dune with horns or arms that point upwind.
Perlitic - Describes the texture of glassy volcanic rocks characterized by numerous curving cracks roughly concentric around closely spaced centers.
Permafrost - Any soil, subsoil, or other surficial deposit, or even bedrock, occurring in arctic, subarctic, and alpine regions at a variable depth beneath Earth's surface in which a temperature below freezing has existed continuously for a long time (from two years to tens of thousands of years).
Phreatic - Of or relating to groundwater.
Phreatophyte - A deeply rooted plant that obtains water from the water table or through the overlying capillary fringe.
Pictograph - A picture painted on a rock by primitive peoples.
Pillow lava - A general term for lavas displaying pillow structures and considered to have formed in a subaqueous environment; such lava is usually basaltic or andesitic.
Pluvial - Describes a geologic process or feature resulting from rain.
Reservoir - An artificial or natural storage place for water, such as a lake, pond, or aquifer, from which the water may be withdrawn for such purposes as irrigation, municipal water supply, or flood control.
Roundstone - Any naturally rounded rock fragment larger than a sand grain.
Schistose - Describes a rock displaying schistosity, or foliation, which imparts a silky sheen.
Scour - The powerful and concentrated clearing and digging action of flowing water, air, or ice.
Strand plain - A shore built seaward by waves and currents, extending continuously for some distance along the coast.
Tree mold - A cylindrical hollow in a lava flow formed by the envelopment of a tree by the flow, solidification of the lava in contact with the tree, and disappearance of the tree by burning and subsequent removal of the charcoal and ash. The inside of the mold preserves the surficial features of the tree.
Vitreous - Having the luster and appearance of glass.
Source ⚜ Part 1 ⚜ More: Word Lists
