Glossary

Welcome to the glossary at GeologyRocks. We've put together some of the common terms used in the Earth Sciences to help you if you come across a term you've never seen before. To navigate, click a letter or a category from the list on the left to see all the words starting with that letter or in that category. Alternatively, you can search for a word using the search box to the left. If you search for a word that isn't in our database, we will try and put in a definition as soon as we can.

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Here is an example word:

Columnar jointing

Vertical columnar jointing forms as a result of cooling, particularly of lava. The joint systems associated with cooling are typically polygonal in nature due to the cooling introducing stresses that are isotropic in the plane of the layer. A good example of columnar jointing can be see at Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

Giant's Causeway, Ireland.

Image from Wikipedia.