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.

If you come across a word we don't have in our glossary, please add it and gain yourself some points!

Here is an example word:

Stabilising selection

Individuals with intermediate trait values have greatest fitness. E.g. selection on body mass at birth in humans. Mortality rate is lowest at intermediate body mass and the optimum mass has the lowest mortality rate, which is close to the population average.