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Crust
The thin and solid outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle.
Divergent boundary
A tectonic plate boundary where two plates move away from each other.
Earthquake
Sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust.
Erosion
The process by which wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another.
Fault
A crack in the earth's crust where earthquakes occur.
Hot spots
Places in the middle of tectonic plates where molten material from the mantle reaches the surface.
Leaching
Process in which various chemicals in upper layers of soil are dissolved and carried to lower layers.
Lithosphere
The rigid outer layer of the earth that floats on the asthenosphere.
Loam
Soil with an equal mixture of sand, silt, and clay that is ideal for agriculture.
Mantle
The hot, mostly solid, layer of the Earth between the core and crust.
Parent material
The base geological material in a particular location from which the inorganic parts of soil are derived.
Permeability
The ability of a rock or sediment to let fluids flow through its open spaces.
pH
A scale from 0-14 that is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in a substance, with lower values being acidic and higher values being alkaline or basic.
Plate boundary
The region where two tectonic plates meet.
Plate tectonics
The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
Porosity
A measure of how much of a rock is open space, which allows it to hold water.
Sand
The coarsest size of soil particles.
Seafloor spreading
The formation of new ocean crust as a result of magma pushing upward and outward from Earth's mantle to the surface.
Silt
The intermediate size of soil particles.
Soil
A mixture of inorganic rock fragments, organic material, living organisms, water, and gases that can support the growth of plants.
Soil horizons
Horizontal layers of soil with differing characteristics such as color and texture.
Soil profile
A vertical section of soil that shows all of the horizons that make up the soil in a particular place.
Soil texture
Relative amounts of the different types and sizes of mineral particles in a sample of soil.
Stratification
The process in which sedimentary rocks are arranged in layers of deposited minerals.
Tectonic plates
Sections of the Earth's lithosphere that move due to convection currents in the asthenosphere below.
Transform boundary
A tectonic plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions.
Volcano
A fissure in the earth's crust that allows magma as well as gases to reach the surface.
Weathering
The breaking down by wind, water, or chemical means, of rocks on the Earth's surface.
Humus
Rich, dark organic material formed by decay of vegetable matter, essential to soil's fertility
convergent plate boundary
A tectonic plate boundary where two plates collide, come together, or crash into each other.
subduction zone
The region where oceanic plates sink down into the asthenosphere.
clay
the finest soil, made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.
ore
a rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral making it profitable to mine
Tsunami
A huge destructive wave (especially one caused by an earthquake)
Mountaintop removal
A mining technique in which the entire top of a mountain is removed with explosives
Subsurface mining
The extraction of mineral and energy resources from deep underground deposits.
Strip mining
involves the removal of the Earth's surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam.
Placer mining
the process of looking for minerals, metals, and precious stones in river sediments
Desertification
Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
Soil Salinization
in arid regions, irrigation water evaporates, leaving salts behind
Tailings
Rock and other waste materials removed as impurities when waste mineral material is separated from the metal in an ore.
Slag
stony waste matter separated from metals during the smelting or refining of ore.
Soil Compaction
When soil is pressed down tightly resulting in the removal of air pockets; therefore not allowing water to penetrate or plants to grow.
Soil nutrients
an inorganic ion that a plant requires for normal growth and reproduction and that it acquires from the soil
Overburden
Layer of soil and rock overlying a mineral deposit. Surface mining removes this layer.
Remediation
return a contaminated area to its original state
Mitigation
The policy of constructing or creating man-made habitats, such as wetlands, to replace those lost to development
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