Geology One

Find the words in the word search puzzle below, that run diagonally and horizontally throughout the grid. Each search word is used in concepts studied in the science of geology. To read simple definitions of twenty-five of the words used in the puzzle, scroll below the grid.

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See also: Geology Word Search Puzzle Two

Below are simple definitions to twenty-five of the words pertaining to geology, used in the puzzle above:

• achondrite: A stony meteor lacking chondrules, the composition of which resembles basalt on Earth.
• andesite: A dark gray igneous rock. In terms of silicon content, it is intermediate between a rhyolite and a basalt.
• apatite: A green or brownish phosphate mineral consisting of calcium fluoride phosphate or calcium chloride phosphate; a source of phosphorus.
• aragonite: A mineral form of crystalline calcium carbonate; dimorphic with calcite, distinguished by its needlelike crystals.
• archeocyath: (Also archaeocyathid) Any member of a group of spongelike creatures from the Cambrian Period (570 million to about 500 million years ago), characterized by a porous calcareous skeleton.
• biotite: Dark brown to black mica found in igneous and metamorphic rock. (Dark brown biotite is the most common dark mineral found in rhyolite.)
• bolide: An especially luminous meteor that sometimes explodes just before contacting Earth. When bolides do contact Earth, they leave an impact crater; also called a fireball.
• breccia: A sedimentary rock formed of coarse-grained material and consisting of sharp fragments embedded in clay or sand.
• caliche: 1. A hardened crust of calcium carbonate that often forms over soil in arid or semiarid regions. Also called hardpan. 2. Nitrate-bearing rock or gravel of the sodium nitrate deposits of Chile and Peru. (Saltpeter is extracted from caliche beds.)
• chert: A chemical sedimentary rock of cryptocrystalline quartz composed of such fine crystals that it appears glassy. Similar to flint, but more brittle, chert was once fashioned into tools and weapons by the Clovis, Aztecs, and Mayans peoples, among others.
• cycads: A group of seed-forming plants having unbranched stems with a crown of fern-like leaves. During the Jurassic Period, (approximately 200 million years ago) cycads were the dominant plant life on Earth.
• dolomite: 1. A light colored carbonate mineral; a source of magnesium. 2. A kind of carbonate sedimentary rock resembling limestone but consisting almost entirely of the mineral dolomite.
• gabbro: General name for a large group of granular igneous rocks consisting of amphiboles and calcic plagioclase.
• Gondwana: Also called Gondwanaland; an ancient supercontinent that, according to plate tectonic theory, is believed to have contained most of the landmasses that are now located in the Southern Hemisphere, i.e. Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India, and South America.
• graben: A low block of rock formed by parallel normal faults dipping toward each other.
• graywacke: A dark colored fine-grained sandstone composed of quartz, feldspar, and other rock fragments.
• hematite: The most adundant iron oxide mineral on Earth. It makes up approximately 50 percent of all the iron ore mined in the US.
• horst: A raised portion of the Earth's crust that has been forced upward between two faults and so is higher than the surrounding land.
• karst: Karst topography is characterized by sinkholes, underground caverns and streams in a predominantly limestone terrain.
• lahar: An quickly moving avalanche of water-saturated volcanic mud down the slopes of a volcano.
• lamina: A thin plate or layer (especially of bone or mineral). Specifically, in geology, lamina is a layer of sediment less than one centimeter thick.
• loess: A fine-grained unstratified accumulation of silt deposited by the wind.
• mafic: A type of igneous rock that has a high concentration of the elements magnesium and iron, and are rich in amphibole, olivine, and pyroxene, as opposed to felsic rocks which are rich in feldspar and quartz.
• magnetite: An iron oxide mineral that is strongly attracted by magnets. Also called magnetic iron-ore, it occurs as the strong natural magnet known as lodestone.
• moraine: Accumulated sediment and stones that is stripped from a mountain, transported and eventually deposited elsewhere by a slowly creeping glacier.
• Scablands or Channeled Scablands: In Washington State, a barren lava plateau that was carved, or channeled into deep canyons by the melting of ice dams in large glacial lakes at the end of the last Ice Age, (about 10,000 years ago).