geology

Science of the Earth, its origin, composition, structure, and history. It is divided into several branches, inlcuding mineralogy (the minerals of Earth), petrology (rocks), stratigraphy (the deposition of successive beds of sedimentary rocks), palaeontology (fossils) and tectonics (the deformation and movement of the Earth's crust), geophysics (using physics to study the Earth's surface, interior, and atmosphere), and geochemistry (the science of chemistry as it applies to biology).