Geology glossary

Calcite is a very common carbonate mineral and the most stable form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380–470 °C, and vaterite is even less stable.

Large crater, usually several kilometers across, formed by the collapse of the roof of a magma chamber emptied by large explosive eruptions.

A caldera is a large, usually circular depression at the summit of a volcano formed when magma is withdrawn or erupted from a shallow underground magma reservoir. The removal of large volumes of magma may result in loss of structural support for the overlying rock, thereby leading to collapse of the ground and formation of a large depression. Calderas are different from craters, which are smaller,...

A depression often on the top or the flanks of a volcano usually created by explosions of lava from the vent.

The outermost layer of the Earth, ranging from about 5 to 65 km in thickness worldwide, composed of plutonic, metamorphic, sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

There are two main types of crust: oceanic crust, which is thin (5-10 km) and consists primarily of basalt, diabase, and gabbros. It is formed continuously at oceanic spreading centers.
Continental crust is typically from 30-50 km thick and consists of intrusive rocks (e.g. granites) and metamorphic (e.g. shists, gneiss) rocks at depth and sedimentary and volcanic rocks often forming its surface....

The earth's crust is the outermost major layer of the earth, which forms its varied surface both above and under water that we live on. Its thickness ranges from about 10 to 65 km worldwide. The uppermost 15-35 km of crust is brittle enough to produce earthquakes.

The crust is composed by magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. There are two major types of crust: oceanic and continental crust.
Oceanic crust is usually less than 10 km thick and primarily composed of volcanic rocks rich in iron and magnesium (called: mafic rocks). Oceanic crust is much thinner and heavier than continental crust, having a mean density of approx. 3.0 grams per cub...

In chemistry, mineralogy, and materials science, a crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions.

In chemistry, mineralogy, and materials science, a crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions.
The word crystal originates from the Greek word κρύσταλλος (krystallos) meaning clear ice, as it was thought to be an especially sol...