1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
4.
Inner Western Carpathians
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Divisions of the Carpathians are categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is an overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a subsystem of a bigger Alps-Himalaya System that stretches from the western Europe all the way to southern Asia, the last level of the division, i. e. the actual mountain ranges and basins, is usually classified as units. The main divisions are shown in the map on the right, to generalize, there are three major provinces, Western Carpathians, Eastern Carpathians, and Southern Carpathians. The division is largely undisputed at the lowest level, but various divisions are given for the higher levels, a geomorphological division has been used as much as the data was available, other new physiogeographic divisions were used in other cases. Where the classification of a higher title is known/sure, it is added at the end of the name in brackets. Their geologic features are distinct, but multiple traditions, languages and nationalities have developed overlapping variants for the divisions. In Romania, it is usual to divide the Eastern Carpathians in Romanian territory into three groups, instead in Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. But it is not a region and its inclusion is disputed in some sources. The Serbian Carpathians are sometimes considered part of the Southern Carpathians, with the difficulty of finding their exact subdivisions, they are given only as a list of the final units from the west to the east and south, in a separate listing at the end. In Poland Central Beskidian Piedmont and Lower Beskids belongs to Western Carpathians province, note that there are many variants for the divisions and names of these ranges. Wooded Beskids, Bieszczady or Western Bieszczady + Bukovské vrchy Mts. e. e, the term Bihor Massif is sometimes used for the Apuseni Mountains and Poiana Ruscă. Trascău Mountains RO, Munții Poiana Ruscă Poiana Ruscă Lipova Plateau Bega-Timiș Groove Orăștie Groove, hațeg Depression RO, Munții Banatului Banat Mountains sensu stricto, i. e. Semenic Mountains, Locva Mountains, Anina Mountains and Dognecea Mountains Almăj Mountains Timiș-Cerna Gap, incl. Almăj Depression Caraș Hills RO, Depresiunea Transilvaniei, i. e. Transylvanian Depression, some authors do not consider it to be part of the Carpathians. Mureș-Turda Depression Sibiu Depression Făgăraș Depression Transylvanian Plateau, Târnava Plateau, hârtibaci Plateau and Secașe Plateau Transylvanian Plain, or Transylvanian Plateau sensu stricto Someș Plateau Serbian, Karpatske planine, i. e. Carpathian Mountains. Sometimes considered part of the Southern Carpathians, sometimes not considered part of the Carpathians at all, origin and growth of the Western Carpathian orogenetic wedge during the mesozoic. Geologica Carpathica Special Issues,53, Proceedings of XVII, congress of Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association Bratislava, September 1 -42002 Mazúr, E. Lukniš M. Geomorphological division of SSR and ČSSR. Moravo-Silesian Beskids, Collection of tourist maps 1,50000, geology of the Carpathian Region, pp.106,108,109,172,554, etc
5.
Western Carpathians
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The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. In the south the North Hungarian Mountains cover northern Hungary, the area of the Western Carpathians comprises about 70,000 km². The highest elevation is the Gerlachovský štít, most of the perimeter of the Western Carpathians is quite sharply defined by valleys. To the northwest and north they are separated from the Bohemian Massif by the Forecarpathian Lowland, to the south the mountain chain falls away towards the Pannonian Plain, a large plain situated between the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, and the main mass of the Eastern Carpathians. The boundary between the Western Carpathians and the Eastern Alps is formed by the Vienna Basin, the Hainburg Hills of the Little Carpathians at Devín Gate, and a gap carved by the Danube. To the east and northeast the mountains are bounded by the East Slovak and Sandomierz Basins, the Western Carpathians are part of the northern branch of alpine orogeny, which was formed by the closure of the Tethys Ocean millions of years ago. The Western Carpathians are part of the Alpide belt, to the west they longitudinally join the Alps, but the exact boundary is hidden under the Neogene sedimentary fill of the Vienna Basin. To the east, their boundary with the Eastern Carpathians is the valley of the Hornád or Uzh River, the northern boundary with the East European craton and Bohemian Massif is well marked by the thrust of nappes of the Carpathian flysch belt. The southern boundary is clear, because later postorogenetic evolution caused formation of basins. The Western Carpathians have a geological structure, that has been formed since the Paleozoic era. The oldest Paleozoic rocks experienced the first stage of deformation during the Hercynian orogeny, Alpine orogeny affected the area in several stages from Jurassic to Neogene. During this period, parts of Tethys Ocean were subducted under the African plate, tectonic units of the Western Carpathians are arranged in belt-like order, with the external units in the north and internal units in the south. After a subduction of the Meliata Ocean, the Internal Western Carpathians were formed
6.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
7.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
8.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
9.
High Tatras
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The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains, are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains chain, the mountain range borders Belianske Tatras to the east, Podtatranská kotlina to the south and Western Tatras to the west. The major part and all the highest peaks of the mountains are situated in Slovakia, the highest peak is Gerlachovský štít, at 2,655 metres. The first European cross-border national park was founded here—Tatra National Park—with Tatra National Park in Slovakia in 1948, the adjacent parks protect UNESCOs trans-border Tatra Biosphere Reserve. Fauna Many rare and endemic animals and plant species are native to the High Tatras and they include the Tatras endemic goat-antelope and critically endangered species, the Tatra chamois. Predators include Eurasian brown bear, Eurasian lynx, marten, wolf, the Alpine marmot is common in the range. Flora Flora of the High Tatras includes, the endemic Tatra scurvy-grass, yellow saxifrage, ground covering net-leaved willow, Norway spruce, Swiss pine. The 15 highest peaks of the High Tatras—all located in Slovakia—are, Kriváň,2494 meters, also called Slovakias most beautiful mountain Rysy, the popular Polish−Slovak summit border crossing. Rysy has three peaks, the middle at 2,503 meters, the north-western at 2,499 meters, the north-western peak is the highest point of Poland. Slavkovský štít,2452 meters tall, within the Tatra National Park, czarny Staw pod Rysami -1,583 m,76 m deep. Wielki Staw Polski -1,664 m,79 m deep, Štrbské pleso -1,347 m,20 m deep. Veľké Hincovo pleso -1,945 m,54 m deep, popradské pleso -1,494 m,17 m deep. Zmrzlé pleso Ťažké pleso Ľadové pleso Batizovské pleso Veľké Spišské pleso -2,019 m,10 m deep, Veľké Žabie pleso -1,921 m,7 m deep Vysne Bielovoeske Zabie pleso -1,699 m,25 m deep. Nizne Bielovodske Zabie pleso -1,675 m,21 m deep, czarny Staw Gąsienicowy -1,624 m,51 m deep. The area is known for winter sports. Ski resorts include Štrbské pleso, Starý Smokovec and Tatranská Lomnica in Slovakia, the town of Poprad is the gateway to the Slovak Tatra resorts. People The Górale people, a group of people with a distinctive traditional culture, are of the High Tatras and other mountain ranges. Ludwig Greiner identified Gerlachovský štít as the highest summit of the Tatra Mountains, and it is also the highest point of Slovakia
10.
Pieniny Klippen Belt
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The Pieniny Klippen Belt is in geology a tectonically and orographically remarkable zone in the Western Carpathians, with a very complex geological structure. The Pieniny Klippen Belt is considered one of the main tectonic sutures of the Carpathians, the klippen belt then continues to Ukraine and ends in Romania. In some places it is covered with deposits, for example in the Podhale basin in Poland. Klippes, which are the most characteristic features of the belt, are Jurassic to lower Cretaceous lenses - rigid blocks of limestone and these blocks are also cropping out in tectonic windows in the overlying middle Cretaceous to Paleogene sediments. Strong tectonic deformation is a result of two phases during the Alpine orogeny. The oldest phase is called the Laramide phase or Jarmuta phase and occurred in the Cretaceous and it caused thrusting of the nappes. The second phase is called the Savian or Helvetian phase and it was induced by subduction of the Northern Penninic ocean and caused the formation of the Carpathian Flysch Belt. The Pieniny Klippen Belt is divided into numerous tectonic units, the oldest rocks of the Klippen belt are Middle Jurassic to upper Cretaceous. They are in normal positions, with only minor hiatus. Large scale crustal shortening caused rocks of different tectonic units and origin to be thrusted over each other and these tectonic units are, The Czorsztyn unit, named after Czorsztyn in Poland, is found in the most northern part of the Klippen Belt. It consists of marine sediments, usually Jurassic nodular limestones. The Jurassic sediments of this unit are mostly deep marine in origin, most of the other tectonic units were deposited between the shallow Czorsztyn and deep marine Kysuca unit. The Pruske unit has a transitional facies between shallow and deep marine environments, the Klape unit composed of cretaceous turbiditic sediments containing exotic conglomerates with pebbles from an unknown source area. It is probably an acretionary wedge or some unknown terrane carried by the Fatric, Orava unit with typical limestones with unique ammonite fauna, typical klippes occur only in Orava region. The Manín unit contains typical Urgonian limestone and it has only partially a tectonic style of klippes, It is usually assigned to the Fatricum as well as the Drietoma and Haligovce units. Its origin is disputed, because some geologists consider it a proximal part of the Tatric sedimentary cover. The Czorsztyn unit has the shallowest marine facies, reconstruction of the older phases of development is not possible because of absence of pre-triassic rocks. The development of Pieniny Klippen Belt started on passive margin of European platform in Lower Jurassic with rifting, rifting resulted in the opening of basinal area called the Kysuca basin or Vahic Ocean to the south of the Oravic area
11.
Little Carpathians
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The Little Carpathians are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The Little Carpathians are bordered by Záhorie Lowland in the west, in 1976, the Little Carpathians were declared a protected area under the name Little Carpathians Protected Landscape Area, covering 646.1 km2. The area is rich in flora and fauna diversity and contains numerous castles, most notably the Bratislava Castle and caves, the three highest mountains are Záruby at 768 m, Vysoká at 754 m and Vápenná at 752 m. Little Carpathians are further divided into four parts, Devín Carpathians, Pezinok Carpathians, Brezová Carpathians, the mountains are densely forested, the southeastern part contains extensive vineyards. Several castles or castle ruins are situated in the Little Carpathians, for example Devín Castle, Čachtice Castle, Červený Kameň Castle, geologically, the mountain range is part of the Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains. There are several faults which produced earthquakes in past. Of them most notable is Dobra Voda fault and this particular fault is also closely monitored because of its proximity to NPP Jaslovske Bohunice. The most important karst forms include caves Deravá, Tmavá skala, Driny, Čachtická cave, Driny, a limestone cave, is the only cave open to public. Major streams include Vydrica and Suchý jarok, the Little Carpathians are seismically one of the most active regions in Slovakia and epicentres of earthquakes with approximate magnitude of 2.5 on Richter magnitude scale scale are located here. While being a low range, the Little Carpathians were always considered a mountain barrier due to being surrounded by various lowlands. In the past, various types of ore were mined in the Little Carpathians used for the production of gold, silver, antimony, manganese, during Second World War, Little Carpathians were the birthplace of partisan group Janko Kráľ. Insurgency in the mountains lasted until the occupation by the Soviet Red Army in 1945, the mountain range contains a dense network of trails and the recreational infrastructure is relatively well developed, especially in the south. The Little Carpathians are popular as a place for the inhabitants of Bratislava. Since the Middle Ages, the area is known for its wines, well known centers of local wine-making include Svätý Jur, Modra and Pezinok. Main tourist centers include the Slovak capital Bratislava, Pezinská Baba, geomorphological division of Slovakia Tourism in Slovakia Little Carpathians at Spectacular Slovakia Little Carpathians Wine Route
12.
Tatra Mountains
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The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra, are a mountain range that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains, the Tatras should be distinguished from the Low Tatras which are located south of the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. The Tatra Mountains occupy an area of 785 square kilometres, of which about 610 square kilometres lie within Slovakia, the highest peak, called Gerlach, at 2,655 m is located north of Poprad. The highest point in Poland, Rysy, at 2,499 m is located south of Zakopane. The Tatras length, measured from the foothills of the Kobyli Wierch to the southwestern foot of Ostry Wierch Kwaczański, in a straight line is 57 km. The range is only 19 km wide, the Tatras main ridge leads from Huciańska Pass in the west to Zdziarska Pass to the east. In 1992 the Polish and Slovak parks were designated a transboundary biosphere reserve by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under its Man. It is the highest mountain range within Carpathians, by the end of the First Polish Republic and the Polish border between the Kingdom of Hungary in the Tatras was not strictly defined. The Tatras became an unoccupied borderland, two years later, the First Partition of Poland allocated the lands to Austria. In 1824, Zakopane good and Fish Creek Valley with Morskie Oko purchased from the authorities of the Austrian Hungarian Emanuel Homolacs. In 1867 formed the Austria-Hungary and the Tatra Mountains have become imaginary border between the two states of the monarchy, but the border still has not been exactly determined. In 1889, Count Władysław Zamoyski purchased at auction a good Zakopane, due to numerous disputes over lands belonging in the late nineteenth century, attempts were made to the delimitation of the border. They did not bring effect in 1897, and the case went to a court that on September 13,1902 determined the exact course of the Austria-Hungary border in the disputed area. The Tatras lie in the zone of Central Europe. They are an important barrier to the movements of air masses and their mountainous topography causes one of the most diverse climates in that region. Winds The average wind speed on the summits is 6 m/s. southerly winds on the northern side westerly winds at the base of Tatra foehn winds most often occur between October and May and they are warm and dry and can cause extensive damage. On 19 November 2004, large parts of the forests in the southern Slovak part of the High Tatras were damaged by a wind storm. Three million cubic metres of trees were uprooted, two died and several villages were totally cut off
13.
Western Tatras
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The Western Tatras are mountains in the Tatras, part of the Carpathian Mountains, located on the Polish-Slovak borders. The mountains border the High Tatras in the east, Podtatranská kotlina in the south, Choč Mountains in the west, the main ridge is 37 kilometers long and the mountain range contains 31 two-thousanders. Western Tatras are the second highest mountain range both in Poland and Slovakia, its highest peak is Bystrá at 2,248 meters, other notable mountains include Jakubiná, Baranec, Baníkov, Tri kopy, Plačlivé, Ostrý Roháč, Volovec, Kasprowy Wierch and Giewont. In Slovakia, they are located in the traditional regions of Liptov. The highest point in Poland is Starorobociański Wierch, all visitors to the Western Tatras area in Slovakia are obliged since July 1,2006 to cover all costs of their rescue by the Mountain Rescue Service. Visitors are prohibited from leaving the marked tourist routes, sleeping in the mountains or setting fire are strictly prohibited, the Western Tatras are subdivided into 6 regions on the Slovak side and 4 on the Polish side. The exact number is difficult to obtain because of lack of a definition and because it is sometimes hard to prove what is a tarn. All other tourist centers lie at the borders of the mountains, including, Oravice, Zuberec, Bobrovecká vápenica, Žiar, Konská, Jakubovany-Studená dolina, Pribylina. Eastern Tatras – mountain range bordering the Western Tatras in the east Mountain Rescue Service Tourism in Slovakia Touristic map 1,25000 Západné Tatry - Podbanské - Zverovka, VKÚ a. s
14.
Low Tatras
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The Low Tatras or Low Tatra is a mountain range of the Inner Western Carpathians in central Slovakia. It is located south of the Tatras proper, from which it is separated by the valleys of the Váh, the valley formed by the Hron River is situated south of the Low Tatras range. The ridge runs west-eastwards and is about 80 km long, the Čertovica pass divides the range into two parts. The highest peaks of the Low Tatras are located in its western part, Ďumbier is the highest mountain at 2,042 m AMSL. Its neighbour Chopok is accessible by a chairlift, and it is the most visited place in the Low Tatras, other peaks in the western part include Dereše and Chabenec. The highest peak in the part is Kráľova hoľa. The best viewpoints in western part are Veľká Chochuľa, Salatín, Chabenec, Skalka, Chopok, Ďumbier, Siná, Poludnica and Baba. Several karst areas are situated in limestone and dolomite formations at the southern and northern edges of the main ridge, among many discovered caves, Bystrianska Cave, Cave of Dead Bats, Demänovská jaskyňa Slobody, Demänová Ice Cave, and Važecká Cave are open to the public. The biggest canyon is Hučiaky under Salatín in Ludrová valley near Ružomberok, the highest waterfall is under Brankov near Ružomberok - Podsuchá, reachable by green marked footpath from Podsuchá. The biggest tarn is Vrbické pleso in the Demänovská dolina Valley, the mountains are densely forested and their rich fauna includes bear, wolf, and lynx. The alpine meadows are the habitat of chamois, most of the Low Tatras is protected by the Low Tatras National Park, established in 1978. The area of the National Park is 728 km² and the buffer zone takes 1,102 km²,1,830 km² together, tourism is very popular in the Tatras. During the winter there are ski resorts in Low Tatras, for example Jasná, Mýto pod Ďumbierom. Not only are these hubs of hiking and cross-country skiing trails, Liptovsky Mikulas also offers a range of summer activities such as rafting, kayaking, boating on the lake, fishing, a hot springs aqua park and hiking. There are many places to stay, restaurants and bars in the town, the steep northern slopes of the range are popular with climbers. Other attractions include an 18-hole golf course near Tále, mountain Rescue Service Official website Basic information about the Low Tatras Low Tatras National Park at Slovakia. Travel Map of eastern part of the Low Tatras
15.
Basement (geology)
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In the same way, the sediments or sedimentary rocks on top of the basement can be called a cover or sedimentary cover. Basement rock is the foundation of ancient, and oldest metamorphic and igneous rock that forms the crust of continents. Basement rock is contrasted to overlying sedimentary rocks which are laid down on top of the basement rocks after the continent was formed, the sedimentary rocks which may be deposited on top of the basement usually form a relatively thin veneer, but can be more than 3 miles thick. The basement rock of the crust can be 20–30 miles thick, the basement rock can be located under layers of sedimentary rock, or be visible at the surface. Basement rock is visible at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, consisting of 1. 7-2 billion year old granite, an extensive cross section of sedimentary rocks laid down on top of it through the ages is visible as well. The basement rocks of the continental crust tend to be older than the oceanic crust. The oceanic crust can be from 0-250 million years in age, the basement rocks are often highly metamorphosed and complex. They may consist of different types of rock - volcanic, intrusive igneous. They may also contain fragments of oceanic crust that became wedged between plates when a terrane was accreted to the edge of the continent, any of this material may be folded, refolded and metamorphosed. New igneous rock may freshly intrude into the crust from underneath, or may form underplating, much of the basement rock may have originally been oceanic crust, but it was highly metamorphosed and converted into continental crust via a series of events. A typical pattern is as follows and this produces an oceanic chain of volcanoes, like Japan. This volcanism causes metamorphosis of rocks, intrusions of magma that produce such as granite. This tends to make the crust lighter and thicker, as a result making it immune to subduction, oceanic crust can be subducted, while continental crust cannot. Eventually, the subduction of the oceanic crust can bring the volcano chain close to a continent. When the overriding plate collides with the continent, instead of being subducted, it is accreted to the edge of the continent and becomes a part of that continent. In this manner, continents can grow over time as new terranes are accreted to their edges, as such, the basement rock can become younger going closer to the edge of the continent. There are exceptions of however, such as exotic terranes, exotic terranes are pieces or fragments of other continents that have broken off their original parent continent and have become accreted to a different continent. For instance, Pangea consisted of most of the Earths continents being accreted into one giant supercontinent, most continents indeed have several continental cratons, in other words they are made up of the accretion of many smaller continents, such as Asia, Africa, and Europe
16.
Horst (geology)
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In physical geography and geology, a horst is the raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben. A horst is a block of the Earths crust that has lifted, or has remained stationary. Horst is Dutch and German for heap, the Vosges Mountains in France and Black Forest in Germany are examples of horsts, as are the Table, Jura and the Dole mountains. In many rift basins around the world, the vast majority of discovered hydrocarbons are found in conventional traps associated with horsts. Basin and range topography Fault-block mountain Plateau This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
17.
Hercynian
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The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Hercynian, on the hand, derives from the Hercynian Forest. Both words were descriptive terms of strike directions observed by geologists in the field, variscan for southwest to northeast, the variscan direction reflected the direction of ancient fold belts cropping out throughout Germany and adjacent countries and the meaning shifted from direction to the fold belt proper. One of the pioneers in research on the Variscan fold belt was the German geologist Franz Kossmat, the other direction, Hercynian, for the direction of the Harz Mountains in Germany, saw a similar shift in meaning. Today Hercynian is often used as a synonym for Variscan, but is less used than the latter. In the USA it is used for European orogenies, the contemporaneous. The regional term Variscan underwent a further meaning shift since the 1960s, geologists generally began to use it to characterize late Paleozoic fold-belts and orogenic phases having an age of approximately 380 to 280 Ma. The North American and European Variscan Belt includes the mountains of Portugal and Spain, southwestern Ireland, Cornwall, Devon, Pembrokeshire, the Gower Peninsula and the Vale of Glamorgan. Its effects are present in France from Brittany, below the Paris Basin to the Ardennes, the Massif Central, the Variscan Belt reappears in Sardinia in Italy and in Germany where the Rhine Massif, the Black Forest and Harz Mountains remain as testimony. In the Czech Republic and Eastern Poland the Bohemian Massif is the end of the unmodified Variscan belt of crustal deformation in Europe. Further Variscan developments to the southeast are partly hidden and overprinted by the alpine orogeny, in the Alps a Variscan core is built by Mercantour, Pelvoux, Belledonne, Montblanc and Aar Massif. Dinaric, Greek and Turkish mountain chains are the termination of the Variscan proper. The Variscan was contemporaneous with the Acadian and Alleghenian orogeny in the United States and Canada, responsible for forming the Ouachita, North American areas with Variscan foldbelts include New England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Variscan mountains in a chronological sense include the Urals, the Pamir. The Variscan orogeny involved a complicated assembly of different microplates and heterochronous collisions. Plate convergence that caused the Caledonian orogeny in the Silurian continued to form the Variscan orogeny in the succeeding Devonian, both orogenies resulted in the assembly of a super-continent, Pangaea, which was essentially complete by the end of the Carboniferous. In the Ordovician Period, a mass, which has been named Gondwana. Off to the west were three other masses, Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica, located as if on the vertices of a triangle, to the south of them was a large archipelago, the terrane Avalonia, rifted off the north Gondwana margin in early Ordovician
18.
Metamorphic rock
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Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means change in form. The original rock is subjected to heat and pressure, causing profound physical and/or chemical change, the protolith may be a sedimentary, an igneous, or even an existing type of metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks make up a part of the Earths crust. They are classified by texture and by chemical and mineral assemblage and they may be formed simply by being deep beneath the Earths surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it. They can form from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure and they are also formed when rock is heated up by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earths interior. The study of rocks provides information about the temperatures and pressures that occur at great depths within the Earths crust. Some examples of rocks are gneiss, slate, marble, schist. Metamorphic minerals are those that only at the high temperatures and pressures associated with the process of metamorphism. These minerals, known as index minerals, include sillimanite, kyanite, staurolite, andalusite, and some garnet. Other minerals, such as olivines, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, feldspars, and quartz, may be found in metamorphic rocks and these minerals formed during the crystallization of igneous rocks. They are stable at temperatures and pressures and may remain chemically unchanged during the metamorphic process. However, all minerals are only within certain limits. The change in the size of the rock during the process of metamorphism is called recrystallization. Both high temperatures and pressures contribute to recrystallization, high temperatures allow the atoms and ions in solid crystals to migrate, thus reorganizing the crystals, while high pressures cause solution of the crystals within the rock at their point of contact. The layering within metamorphic rocks is called foliation, and it occurs when a rock is being shortened along one axis during recrystallization. This causes the platy or elongated crystals of minerals, such as mica and chlorite and this results in a banded, or foliated rock, with the bands showing the colors of the minerals that formed them. Textures are separated into foliated and non-foliated categories, foliated rock is a product of differential stress that deforms the rock in one plane, sometimes creating a plane of cleavage. For example, slate is a metamorphic rock, originating from shale
19.
Igneous rock
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Igneous rock, or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava, the magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top 16 km of the Earths crust by volume. Igneous rocks form about 15% of the Earths current land surface, most of the Earths oceanic crust is made of igneous rock. In terms of modes of occurrence, igneous rocks can be either intrusive or extrusive, the mineral grains in such rocks can generally be identified with the naked eye. Intrusive rocks can also be classified according to the shape and size of the intrusive body, typical intrusive formations are batholiths, stocks, laccoliths, sills and dikes. When the magma solidifies within the earths crust, it cools slowly forming coarse textured rocks, such as granite, gabbro, the central cores of major mountain ranges consist of intrusive igneous rocks, usually granite. When exposed by erosion, these cores may occupy huge areas of the Earths surface, intrusive igneous rocks that form at depth within the crust are termed plutonic rocks and are usually coarse-grained. Intrusive igneous rocks that form near the surface are termed subvolcanic or hypabyssal rocks, hypabyssal rocks are less common than plutonic or volcanic rocks and often form dikes, sills, laccoliths, lopoliths, or phacoliths. Extrusive igneous rocks, also known as rocks, are formed at the crusts surface as a result of the partial melting of rocks within the mantle. Extrusive igneous rocks cool and solidify quicker than intrusive igneous rocks and they are formed by the cooling of molten magma on the earths surface. The magma, which is brought to the surface through fissures or volcanic eruptions, hence such rocks are smooth, crystalline and fine-grained. Basalt is an extrusive igneous rock and forms lava flows, lava sheets. Some kinds of basalt solidify to form long polygonal columns, the Giants Causeway in Antrim, Northern Ireland is an example. The molten rock, with or without suspended crystals and gas bubbles, is called magma and it rises because it is less dense than the rock from which it was created. When magma reaches the surface from beneath water or air, it is called lava, eruptions of volcanoes into air are termed subaerial, whereas those occurring underneath the ocean are termed submarine. Black smokers and mid-ocean ridge basalt are examples of volcanic activity
20.
Paleozoic
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The Paleozoic Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, from 541 to 252.17 million years ago. It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras, and is subdivided into six periods, the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous. The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic era of the Proterozoic and is followed by the Mesozoic, the Paleozoic was a time of dramatic geological, climatic, and evolutionary change. The Cambrian witnessed the most rapid and widespread diversification of life in Earths history, known as the Cambrian explosion, fish, arthropods, amphibians, anapsids, synapsids, euryapsids and diapsids all evolved during the Paleozoic. Life began in the ocean but eventually transitioned onto land, and by the late Paleozoic, Great forests of primitive plants covered the continents, many of which formed the coal beds of Europe and eastern North America. Towards the end of the era, large, sophisticated diapsids and synapsids were dominant, the Paleozoic Era ended with the largest extinction event in the history of Earth, the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The effects of this catastrophe were so devastating that it took life on land 30 million years into the Mesozoic Era to recover, recovery of life in the sea may have been much faster. The Paleozoic era began and ended with supercontinents and in between were the rise of mountains along the margins, and flooding and draining of shallow seas between. At its start, the supercontinent Pannotia broke up, paleoclimatic studies and evidence of glaciers indicate that central Africa was most likely in the polar regions during the early Paleozoic. During the early Paleozoic, the huge continent Gondwana formed or was forming, by mid-Paleozoic, the collision of North America and Europe produced the Acadian-Caledonian uplifts, and a subduction plate uplifted eastern Australia. There are six periods in the Paleozoic Era, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, the Cambrian spans from 541 million years to 485 million years and is the first period of the Paleozoic era of the Phanerozoic. The Cambrian marked a boom in evolution in an event known as the Cambrian explosion in which the largest number of creatures evolved in any period of the history of the Earth. Creatures like algae evolved, but the most ubiquitous of that period were the armored arthropods, almost all marine phyla evolved in this period. During this time, the supercontinent Pannotia begins to break up, the Ordovician spanned from 485 million years to 443 million years ago. The Ordovician is a time in Earths history in many of the biological classes still prevalent today evolved, such as primitive fish, cephalopods. The most common forms of life, however, were trilobites, snails, more importantly, the first arthropods went ashore to colonize the empty continent of Gondwana. By the end of the Ordovican, Gondwana was at the pole, early North America had collided with Europe. Glaciation of Africa resulted in a drop in sea level
21.
Sediment
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For sediment in beverages, see dregs. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension in water and on reaching the sea be deposited by sedimentation. Sediments are most often transported by water, but also wind, beach sands and river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition, though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of transport and deposition. Glacial moraine deposits and till are ice-transported sediments, sediment can be classified based on its grain size and/or its composition. Sediment size is measured on a log base 2 scale, called the Phi scale, composition of sediment can be measured in terms of, parent rock lithology mineral composition chemical make-up. This leads to an ambiguity in which clay can be used as both a size-range and a composition, sediment is transported based on the strength of the flow that carries it and its own size, volume, density, and shape. Stronger flows will increase the lift and drag on the particle, causing it to rise, rivers and streams carry sediment in their flows. This sediment can be in a variety of locations within the flow and these relationships are shown in the following table for the Rouse number, which is a ratio of sediment fall velocity to upwards velocity. If the upwards velocity is less than the settling velocity, but still high enough for the sediment to move, it will move along the bed as bed load by rolling, sliding. If the upwards velocity is higher than the velocity, the sediment will be transported high in the flow as wash load. As there are generally a range of different particle sizes in the flow, sediment motion can create self-organized structures such as ripples, dunes, antidunes on the river or stream bed. These bedforms are often preserved in rocks and can be used to estimate the direction. Overland flow can erode soil particles and transport them downslope, the erosion associated with overland flow may occur through different methods depending on meteorological and flow conditions. If the initial impact of rain droplets dislodges soil, the phenomenon is called rainsplash erosion, if overland flow is directly responsible for sediment entrainment but does not form gullies, it is called sheet erosion. If the flow and the substrate permit channelization, gullies may form, glaciers carry a wide range of sediment sizes, and deposit it in moraines. The overall balance between sediment in transport and sediment being deposited on the bed is given by the Exner equation and this expression states that the rate of increase in bed elevation due to deposition is proportional to the amount of sediment that falls out of the flow. This can be localized, and simply due to obstacles, examples are scour holes behind boulders, where flow accelerates
22.
Variscan orogeny
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The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Hercynian, on the hand, derives from the Hercynian Forest. Both words were descriptive terms of strike directions observed by geologists in the field, variscan for southwest to northeast, the variscan direction reflected the direction of ancient fold belts cropping out throughout Germany and adjacent countries and the meaning shifted from direction to the fold belt proper. One of the pioneers in research on the Variscan fold belt was the German geologist Franz Kossmat, the other direction, Hercynian, for the direction of the Harz Mountains in Germany, saw a similar shift in meaning. Today Hercynian is often used as a synonym for Variscan, but is less used than the latter. In the USA it is used for European orogenies, the contemporaneous. The regional term Variscan underwent a further meaning shift since the 1960s, geologists generally began to use it to characterize late Paleozoic fold-belts and orogenic phases having an age of approximately 380 to 280 Ma. The North American and European Variscan Belt includes the mountains of Portugal and Spain, southwestern Ireland, Cornwall, Devon, Pembrokeshire, the Gower Peninsula and the Vale of Glamorgan. Its effects are present in France from Brittany, below the Paris Basin to the Ardennes, the Massif Central, the Variscan Belt reappears in Sardinia in Italy and in Germany where the Rhine Massif, the Black Forest and Harz Mountains remain as testimony. In the Czech Republic and Eastern Poland the Bohemian Massif is the end of the unmodified Variscan belt of crustal deformation in Europe. Further Variscan developments to the southeast are partly hidden and overprinted by the alpine orogeny, in the Alps a Variscan core is built by Mercantour, Pelvoux, Belledonne, Montblanc and Aar Massif. Dinaric, Greek and Turkish mountain chains are the termination of the Variscan proper. The Variscan was contemporaneous with the Acadian and Alleghenian orogeny in the United States and Canada, responsible for forming the Ouachita, North American areas with Variscan foldbelts include New England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Variscan mountains in a chronological sense include the Urals, the Pamir. The Variscan orogeny involved a complicated assembly of different microplates and heterochronous collisions. Plate convergence that caused the Caledonian orogeny in the Silurian continued to form the Variscan orogeny in the succeeding Devonian, both orogenies resulted in the assembly of a super-continent, Pangaea, which was essentially complete by the end of the Carboniferous. In the Ordovician Period, a mass, which has been named Gondwana. Off to the west were three other masses, Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica, located as if on the vertices of a triangle, to the south of them was a large archipelago, the terrane Avalonia, rifted off the north Gondwana margin in early Ordovician
23.
Greenschist
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Greenschists are metamorphic rocks that formed under the lowest temperatures and pressures usually produced by regional metamorphism, typically 300–450 °C and 2–10 kilobars. The name comes from commonly having an abundance of minerals such as chlorite, serpentine, and epidote. The platiness causes the tendency to split, or have schistosity, other common minerals include quartz, orthoclase, talc, carbonate minerals and amphibole. It is a general field petrologic term applied to metamorphic or altered mafic volcanic rock, the term greenstone is sometimes used to refer to greenschist but can refer to other rock types without any schistosity too, especially metabasalt. The green is due to abundant green chlorite, actinolite and epidote minerals that dominate the rock, however, basalts may remain quite black if primary pyroxene does not revert to chlorite or actinolite. To qualify for the name a rock must also exhibit schistosity or some foliation or layering, the rock is derived from basalt, gabbro or similar rocks containing sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar, chlorite, epidote and quartz. Greenschist, as a type, is defined by the presence of the minerals chlorite and actinolite. Greenschist often has a lepidoblastic, nematoblastic or schistose texture defined primarily by chlorite and actinolite, greenschists often have some foliation resulting in mineral alignment, especially of chlorite and actinolite. Grain size is rarely coarse, due primarily to the mineral assemblage, chlorite and to a lesser extent actinolite typically exhibit small, flat or acicular crystal habits. Greenschist facies results from low temperature, moderate pressure metamorphism, Metamorphic conditions which create typical greenschist facies assemblages are called the Barrovian Facies Sequence, and the lower-pressure Abukuma Facies Series. Temperatures of approximately 400 to 500 °C and depths of about 8 to 50 kilometres are the typical envelope of greenschist facies rocks, the equilibrium mineral assemblage of rocks subjected to greenschist facies conditions depends on primary rock composition. In greater detail the greenschist facies is subdivided into subgreenschist, lower and upper greenschist, lower temperatures are transitional with and overlap the prehnite-pumpellyite facies and higher temperatures overlap with and include sub-amphibolite facies. If burial continues along Barrovian Sequence metamorphic trajectories, greenschist facies gives rise to amphibolite facies assemblages, dominated by amphibole, lower pressure, normally contact metamorphism produces albite-epidote hornfels while higher pressures at great depth produces eclogite. Oceanic basalts in the vicinity of mid-ocean ridges typically exhibit sub-greenschist alteration, the greenstone belts of the various archean cratons are commonly altered to the greenschist facies. These ancient rocks are noted as host rocks for a variety of ore deposits in Australia, Namibia, greenschist rocks have been used to make axes across Europe. Several sites including Langdale axe industry have been identified, a form of chlorite schist was popular in prehistoric Native American communities for the production of axes and celts, as well as ornamental items. In the Middle Woodland period, greenschist was one of the trade items that were part of the Hopewell culture exchange network. During the time of the Mississippian culture, the polity of Moundville apparently had some control over the production and distribution of greenschist, the Moundville source has been shown to be from two localities in the Hillabee Formation of central and eastern Alabama
24.
Amphibolite
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Amphibolite is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially the species hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase. A holocrystalline plutonic igneous rock composed primarily of hornblende amphibole is called a hornblendite, rocks with >90% amphiboles which have a feldspar groundmass may be a lamprophyre. Amphibolite is a grouping of rocks composed mainly of amphibole and plagioclase feldspars and it is typically dark-colored and heavy, with a weakly foliated or schistose structure. The small flakes of black and white in the rock often give it a salt-and-pepper appearance, amphibolites need not be derived from metamorphosed mafic rocks. Because metamorphism creates minerals based entirely upon the chemistry of the protolith, certain dirty marls, deposits containing dolomite and siderite also readily yield amphibolites especially where there has been a certain amount of contact metamorphism by adjacent granitic masses. Metamorphosed basalts create ortho-amphibolites and other chemically appropriate lithologies create para-amphibolites, tremolite, while it is a metamorphic amphibole, is derived most usually from highly metamorphosed ultramafic rocks, and thus tremolite-talc schists are not generally considered as amphibolites. If the amphibolite appears to transgress apparent protolith bedding surfaces it is an ortho-amphibolite, picking a sill and thin metamorphosed lava flows may be more troublesome. Thereafter, whole rock geochemistry will suitably identify ortho- from para-amphibolites, the word metabasalt was thus coined, largely to avoid the confusion between ortho-amphibolites and para-amphibolites. While not a metamorphic rock name, as it infers an origin. Amphibolites define a set of temperature and pressure conditions known as the amphibolite facies. However, caution must be applied here before embarking on metamorphic mapping based on amphibolites alone. Firstly, for an amphibolite to be classed as a metamorphic amphibolite, it must be certain that the amphibole in the rock is a prograde metamorphic product, for instance, actinolite amphibole is a common product of retrograde metamorphism of basalts at greenschist facies conditions. Actinolite schists are often the result of alteration or metasomatism. Secondly, the microstructure and crystal size of the rock must be appropriate, amphibolite facies conditions are experienced at temperatures in excess of 500 °C and pressures less than 1.2 GPa, well within the ductile deformation field. Gneissic texture may occur nearby, if not then mylonite zones, foliations and ductile behaviour, while it is not impossible to have remnant protolith mineralogy, this is rare. More common is to find phenocrysts of pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase and even magmatic amphibole such as pargasite rhombohedra, original magmatic textures, especially crude magmatic layering in layered intrusions, is often preserved. Amphibolite facies is a result of continuing burial and thermal heating after greenschist facies is exceeded, in dry rocks, however, additional heat may result in granulite facies conditions. The texture is distinctive, the pyroxene altered to fuzzy, radially arranged actinolite pseudomorphically after pyroxene, the archaic term epidiorite is sometimes used to refer to a metamorphosed ortho-amphibolite with a protolith of diorite, gabbro or other mafic intrusive rock
25.
Gneiss
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Gneiss is a common distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands, the word gneiss comes from the Middle High German verb gneist. It has occurred in English since at least 1757, gneissic rocks are usually medium- to coarse-foliated, they are largely recrystallized but do not carry large quantities of micas, chlorite or other platy minerals. Gneisses that are metamorphosed igneous rocks or their equivalent are termed granite gneisses, diorite gneisses, gneiss rocks may also be named after a characteristic component such as garnet gneiss, biotite gneiss, albite gneiss, etc. Orthogneiss designates a gneiss derived from a rock, and paragneiss is one from a sedimentary rock. Gneissose rocks have properties similar to gneiss, gneiss appears to be striped in bands, called gneissic banding. The banding is developed under high temperature and pressure conditions, the minerals are arranged into layers that appear as bands in cross section. The appearance of layers, called compositional banding, occurs because the layers, the darker bands have relatively more mafic minerals. The lighter bands contain relatively more felsic and these forces stretch out the rock like a plastic, and the original material is spread out into sheets. Another cause of banding is metamorphic differentiation, which separates different materials into different layers through chemical reactions, not all gneiss rocks have detectable banding. In kyanite gneiss, crystals of kyanite appear as random clumps in what is mainly a plagioclase matrix, henderson gneiss is found in North Carolina and South Carolina, US, east of the Brevard Shear Zone. It has deformed into two sequential forms, the second, more warped, form is associated with the Brevard Fault, and the first deformation results from displacement to the southwest. Most of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland have a formed from Lewisian gneiss. In addition to the Outer Hebrides, they form basement deposits on the Scottish mainland west of the Moine Thrust and on the islands of Coll and Tiree. These rocks are igneous in origin, mixed with metamorphosed marble, quartzite and mica schist with later intrusions of basaltic dikes. Gneisses of Archean and Proterozoic age occur in the Baltic Shield, in antiquity, gneisses were also utilized in architectural construction. They were used to erect the Sphinx of Taharqo in the Nile Valley, list of rock types Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy. Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, 2nd ed. Freeman, mcKirdy, Alan, Roger Crofts and John Gordon
26.
Phyllite
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Phyllite is a type of foliated metamorphic rock created from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation. It is primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and chlorite, among foliated metamorphic rocks, it represents a gradation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and schist. The minute crystals of graphite, sericite, or chlorite, or the translucent fine-grained white mica, impart a silky, sometimes golden sheen to the surfaces of cleavage, the word comes from the Greek phyllon, meaning leaf. The protolith for phyllite is shale or pelite, or slate and its constituent platy minerals are larger than those in slate but are not visible with the naked eye. Phyllites are said to have a texture called phyllitic sheen, and are classified as having formed through low-grade metamorphic conditions through regional metamorphism metamorphic facies. Phyllites are usually black to gray or light gray in color. The foliation is commonly crinkled or wavy in appearance, phyllite is commonly found in the Dalradian metasediments of northwest Arran. In north Cornwall, there are Tredorn phyllites and Woolgarden phyllites
27.
Schist
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Schist is a medium-grade metamorphic rock with medium to large, flat, sheet-like grains in a preferred orientation. It is defined by having more than 50% platy and elongated minerals, often finely interleaved with quartz and these lamellar minerals include micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a form called quartz schist is produced. Schist forms at a temperature and has larger grains than phyllite. Geological foliation with medium to large grained flakes in a preferred orientation is called schistosity. The names of various schists are derived from their mineral constituents, for example, schists rich in mica are called mica schists and include biotite or muscovite. Most schists are mica schists, but graphite and chlorite schists are also common, Schists are also named for their prominent or perhaps unusual mineral constituents, as in the case of garnet schist, tourmaline schist, and glaucophane schist. The individual mineral grains in schist, drawn out into flaky scales by heat and pressure, Schist is characteristically foliated, meaning that the individual mineral grains split off easily into flakes or slabs. Most schists are derived from clays and muds that have passed through a series of processes involving the production of shales, slates and phyllites as intermediate steps. Certain schists are derived from fine-grained igneous rocks such as basalts, before the mid-18th century, the terms slate, shale and schist were not sharply differentiated by those involved with mining. In the context of underground mining, shale was frequently referred to as slate well into the 20th century. During metamorphism, rocks which were originally sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic are converted into schists, if the composition of the rocks was originally similar, they may be very difficult to distinguish from one another if the metamorphism has been great. A quartz-porphyry, for example, and a fine grained feldspathic sandstone, usually, however, it is possible to distinguish between sedimentary and igneous schists and gneisses. If, for example, the district occupied by these rocks has traces of bedding, clastic structure, or unconformability. In other cases intrusive junctions, chilled edges, contact alteration or porphyritic structure may prove that in its original condition a metamorphic gneiss was an igneous rock. Such rocks as limestones, dolomites, quartzites and aluminous shales have very definite chemical characteristics which distinguish them even when completely recrystallized, the schists are classified principally according to the minerals they consist of and on their chemical composition. For example, many metamorphic limestones, marbles, and calc-schists, with crystalline dolomites, contain silicate minerals such as mica, tremolite, diopside, scapolite, quartz and they are derived from calcareous sediments of different degrees of purity. Another group is rich in quartz, with amounts of white and black mica, garnet, feldspar, zoisite
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Intrusive rock
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Intrusive rock is formed when magma crystallizes and solidifies underground to form intrusions, for example plutons, batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks. Intrusive rock forms within Earths crust from the crystallization of magma, magma slowly pushes up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the magma slowly cools into a solid, the different parts of the magma crystallize into rocks, many mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada in California, are formed mostly from large granite intrusions, see Sierra Nevada Batholith. Intrusions are one of the two ways igneous rock can form, the other is extrusive rock, that is, an eruption or similar event. Technically speaking, an intrusion is any formation of igneous rock, rock formed from magma that cools. In contrast, an extrusion consists of rock, rock formed above the surface of the crust. Large bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the crust are called plutons, plutonic rocks form 7% of the Earths current land surface. Coarse-grained intrusive igneous rocks form at depth within the earth are called abyssal while those that form near the surface are called subvolcanic or hypabyssal. The term intrusive suite seems near synonymous, there is, however, a modest difference, An intrusive suite is a group of plutons related in time and space. Intrusions vary widely, from mountain-range-sized batholiths to thin veinlike fracture fillings of aplite or pegmatite, when exposed by erosion, such batholiths may occupy large areas. A well-known example of an intrusion is Devils Tower, another is Shiprock, New Mexico, USA. Be the pluton is large, it may be called a batholith or a stock, Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, and as the individual crystals are visible, the rock is called phaneritic. This is as the magma cools underground, and while cooling may be fast or slow, cooling is slower than on the surface, if it runs parallel to rock layers, it is called a sill. If an intrusion makes rocks above rise to form a dome, as heat dissipation is slow, and as the rock is under pressure, crystals form, and no vitreous rapidly chilled matter is present. The intrusions did not flow while solidifying, hence do not show lines, contained gases could not escape through the thick strata, thus form cavities, which can often be observed. Because their crystals are of the rough equal size, these rocks are said to be equigranular, there is typically no distinction between a first generation of large well-shaped crystals and a fine-grained ground-mass. Earlier crystals originated at a time when most of the rock was still liquid and are more or less perfect, later crystals are less regular in shape because they were compelled to occupy the spaces left between the already-formed crystals. The former case is said to be idiomorphic, the latter is xenomorphic, there are also many other characteristics that serve to distinguish the members of these two groups
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Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
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Carboniferous
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The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period 358.9 million years ago, to the beginning of the Permian Period,298.9 Mya. The name Carboniferous means coal-bearing and derives from the Latin words carbō and ferō, and was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822. Based on a study of the British rock succession, it was the first of the system names to be employed. The Carboniferous is often treated in North America as two periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian. Terrestrial life was established by the Carboniferous period. Amphibians were the dominant land vertebrates, of one branch would eventually evolve into amniotes. Arthropods were also common, and many were much larger than those of today. Vast swaths of forest covered the land, which would eventually be laid down, the atmospheric content of oxygen also reached their highest levels in geological history during the period, 35% compared with 21% today, allowing terrestrial invertebrates to evolve to great size. A major marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous rainforest collapse, occurred in the middle of the period, the later half of the period experienced glaciations, low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea. In the United States the Carboniferous is usually broken into Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subperiods, the Silesian is roughly contemporaneous with the late Mississippian Serpukhovian plus the Pennsylvanian. In Britain the Dinantian is traditionally known as the Carboniferous Limestone, the Namurian as the Millstone Grit, and the Westphalian as the Coal Measures and Pennant Sandstone. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures, southern Gondwanaland was glaciated throughout the period and these conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major extinction, one that hit crinoids. This sea level drop and the unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian subperiod from the Pennsylvanian subperiod. This happened about 323 million years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation, the Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building, as the supercontinent Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with North America–Europe along the present line of eastern North America, in the same time frame, much of present eastern Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line of the Ural mountains. Most of the Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea was now assembled, although North China, the Late Carboniferous Pangaea was shaped like an O. There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous—Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the O in the Carboniferous Pangaea, other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed - Rheic Ocean, the small, shallow Ural Ocean and Proto-Tethys Ocean
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Erosion
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In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earths crust, then transport it away to another location. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, the rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is carried by, for example. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, while erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the rate of erosion in the region. Excessive erosion causes both on-site and off-site problems, on-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads. Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion, however, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils. Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four types of soil erosion, splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the erosion process. In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a crater in the soil. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m vertically and 1.5 m horizontally on level ground. If the soil is saturated, or if the rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles down the slope, sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes, generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres or less and this means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers. Gully erosion occurs when water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow
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Marine transgression
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A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding. Transgressions can be caused either by the sinking or the ocean basins filling with water. Transgressions and regressions may be caused by events such as orogenies. During the Cretaceous, seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin and this reduced the worlds ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide. As a result of sea level rise, the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America. The opposite of transgression is regression, in which the sea level relative to the land. Sedimentary facies changes may indicate transgressions and regressions and are easily identified. Thus, a transgression reveals itself in the column when there is a change from nearshore facies to offshore ones. A regression will feature the opposite pattern, with offshore facies changing to nearshore ones, the strata represent regressions less clearly, as their upper layers are often marked by an erosional unconformity. These are both idealized scenarios, in practice identifying transgression or regressions can be more complicated, for instance, a regression may be indicated by a change from carbonates to shale only, or a transgression from sandstone to shale, and so on. Lateral changes in facies are also important, a well-marked transgression sequence in an area where a sea was deep may be only partial farther away. One should consider such factors when interpreting a specific sedimentary column, current sea level rise Dunkirk transgression Ingression coast Marine terrace Sequence stratigraphy Submerged forest
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Mesozoic
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The Mesozoic Era is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago. This Era is also called from a paleobotanist view the Age of Conifers, Mesozoic means middle life, deriving from the Greek prefix meso-/μεσο- for between and zōon/ζῷον meaning animal or living being. It is one of three eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, preceded by the Paleozoic and succeeded by the Cenozoic. The era is subdivided into three periods, the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous, which are further subdivided into a number of epochs. The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic, climate and evolutionary activity, the era witnessed the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea into separate landmasses that would eventually move into their current positions. The climate of the Mesozoic was varied, alternating between warming and cooling periods, overall, however, the Earth was hotter than it is today. Birds first appeared in the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, the first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic, but would remain small—less than 15 kg —until the Cenozoic. Following the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic extended roughly 186 million years and this time frame is separated into three geologic periods. It is also known as the Great Dying because it is considered the largest mass extinction in the Earths history, the upper boundary of the Mesozoic is set at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which may have been caused by the impactor that created Chicxulub Crater on the Yucatán Peninsula. Towards the Late Cretaceous large volcanic eruptions are believed to have contributed to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Approximately 50% of all genera became extinct, including all of the non-avian dinosaurs, the Triassic ranges roughly from 252 million to 201 million years ago. The Triassic is a time in Earths history bracketed between the Permian Extinction and the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, two of the big five, and precedes the Jurassic Period and it has three major epochs, the Early Triassic, the Middle Triassic and the Late Triassic. The Early Triassic was between about 252 million to 247 million years ago and was dominated by deserts as Pangaea had not yet broken up, thus the interior was nothing, the Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off in which 95% of all life became extinct. The most common life on earth were Lystrosaurus, labyrinthodonts. Temnospondyls evolved during this time and would be the dominant predator for much of the Triassic, the Middle Triassic spans roughly from 247 million to 237 million years ago. The Middle Triassic featured the beginnings of the breakup of Pangaea, the ecosystem had recovered from the devastation that was the Great Dying. Algae, sponge, corals, and crustaceans all had recovered, new aquatic reptiles evolved, such as ichthyosaurs and nothosaurs. Meanwhile, on land, pine forests flourished, as did groups of insects like mosquitoes, the first ancient crocodilians evolved, which sparked competition with the large amphibians that had since ruled the freshwater world
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Sedimentary rock
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Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earths surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle in place. The particles that form a rock by accumulating are called sediment. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension. The sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earths crust is extensive, sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust consisting mainly of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata, forming a structure called bedding, sedimentary rocks are also important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores. The study of the sequence of rock strata is the main source for an understanding of the Earths history, including palaeogeography, paleoclimatology. The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such as pedology, geomorphology, geochemistry, sedimentary rocks have also been found on Mars. Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of rock fragments that were cemented by silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, clay minerals, and mica, any type of mineral may be present, clastic sedimentary rocks, are subdivided according to the dominant particle size. Most geologists use the Udden-Wentworth grain size scale and divide unconsolidated sediment into three fractions, gravel, sand, and mud and this tripartite subdivision is mirrored by the broad categories of rudites, arenites, and lutites, respectively, in older literature. The subdivision of these three categories is based on differences in clast shape, conglomerates and breccias), composition. Conglomerates are dominantly composed of rounded gravel, while breccias are composed of dominantly angular gravel, composition of framework grains The relative abundance of sand-sized framework grains determines the first word in a sandstone name. Naming depends on the dominance of the three most abundant components quartz, feldspar, or the lithic fragments that originated from other rocks, all other minerals are considered accessories and not used in the naming of the rock, regardless of abundance. Clean sandstones with open space are called arenites. Muddy sandstones with abundant muddy matrix are called wackes, six sandstone names are possible using the descriptors for grain composition and the amount of matrix. Mudrocks are sedimentary rocks composed of at least 50% silt- and clay-sized particles and these relatively fine-grained particles are commonly transported by turbulent flow in water or air, and deposited as the flow calms and the particles settle out of suspension
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Clastic rock
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Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus, chunks and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by physical weathering. Geologists use the term clastic with reference to sedimentary rocks as well as to particles in sediment transport whether in suspension or as bed load, clastic sedimentary rocks are rocks composed predominantly of broken pieces or clasts of older weathered and eroded rocks. Clastic sediments or sedimentary rocks are classified based on size, clast and cementing material composition. The classification factors are often useful in determining a samples environment of deposition, an example clastic environment would be a river system in which the full range of grains being transported by the moving water consist of pieces eroded from solid rock upstream. Grain size varies from clay in shales and claystones, through silt in siltstones, sand in sandstones, the Krumbein phi scale numerically orders these terms in a logarithmic size scale. Siliciclastic rocks are clastic rocks that are composed almost exclusively of silicon. The composition of sedimentary rocks includes the chemical and mineralogical components of the framework as well as the cementing material that make up these rocks. Boggs divides them into four categories, major minerals, accessory minerals, rock fragments, major minerals can be categorized into subdivisions based on their resistance to chemical decomposition. Those that possess a great resistance to decomposition are categorized as stable, while those that do not are considered less stable, the most common stable mineral in siliciclastic sedimentary rocks is quartz. Quartz makes up approximately 65 percent of framework grains present in sandstones, less stable minerals present in this type of rocks are feldspars, including both potassium and plagioclase feldspars. Feldspars comprise a considerably lesser portion of framework grains and minerals and they only make up about 15 percent of framework grains in sandstones and 5% of minerals in shales. Clay mineral groups are present in mudrocks but can be found in other siliciclastic sedimentary rocks at considerably lower levels. Accessory minerals are associated with those whose presence in the rock are not directly important to the classification of the specimen and these generally occur in smaller amounts in comparison to the quartz, and feldspars. Furthermore, those that do occur are generally heavy minerals or coarse grained micas, rock fragments also occur in the composition of siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and are responsible for about 10 -15 percent of the composition of sandstone. They generally make up most of the gravel size particles in conglomerates, though they sometimes are, rock fragments are not always sedimentary in origin. They can also be metamorphic or igneous, chemical cements vary in abundance but are predominantly found in sandstones. The two major types, are based and carbonate based
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Carbonate rock
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Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite and dolostone, which is composed of the mineral dolomite. Calcite can be dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors including the water temperature, pH. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together or it can fill fractures, karst topography and caves develop in carbonate rocks because of their solubility in dilute acidic groundwater. Cooling groundwater or mixing of different groundwaters will also create conditions suitable for cave formation, marble is the metamorphic carbonate rock. Rare igneous carbonate rocks exist as intrusive carbonatites and even rarer volcanic carbonate lava
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Nappe
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In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than 2 km or 5 km above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the plate in active subduction zones. Nappes form when a mass of rock is forced over another rock mass, the resulting structure may include large-scale recumbent folds, shearing along the fault plane, imbricate thrust stacks, fensters and klippe. The term stems from the French word for tablecloth in allusion to a rumpled tablecloth being pushed across a table, nappes or nappe belts are a major feature of the European Alps, Carpathians and Balkans. Since the 19th century many geologists have uncovered areas with large-scale overthrusts, some of these were substantiated with paleontological evidence. The concept was developed by Marcel Alexandre Bertrand, who unraveled the complex history of the Alps. He reinterpreted earlier studies by Arnold Escher von der Linth and Albert Heim in the Glarus Alps and his work in Switzerland influenced Escher and Maurice Lugeon. Several years later, nappe structure was investigated in northwestern Scotland by Charles Lapworth, Lugeon later transferred the ideas of nappes to the Carpathians. Nappe can be qualified in a number of ways to various features of a formation. The frontal part in the direction of movement, is called the edge of a nappe, numerous folds and secondary thrusts. The surface of a thrust fault which caused movement of a nappe is called a decollement, detachment plane or sole of thrust, the root area is an area where the nappe is completely separated from its substratum. It is often compressed and reduced, even underthrust below the surrounding tectonic units, a nappe whose root area is unknown, is called a rootless nappe. According to petrographical composition, two types of nappes are known, Basement nappes are composed generally of crystalline basement rocks. Nappes of this type usually reach a thickness and form independent superunits such as Penninic nappes. Cover nappes or so called superficial nappes are composed generally of sedimentary rocks form the upper part of crust. Therefore, nappes of this type form smaller units, such as the Hallstatt nappe in the Austroalpine nappes of the Alps, nappes are generally considered as compressional structures, however some exceptions could be found especially among the gravitational slides along low angle faults. Gravitational forces could be important in certain cases during emplacement of compressional thrusts. The movement of masses of rock may be influenced by several forces, forces that may act together or sequentially
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Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
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Marl
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Marl or marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt. The dominant carbonate mineral in most marls is calcite, but other carbonate minerals such as aragonite, dolomite and it also describes a habit of coralline red alga. The term is often used to describe indurated marine deposits. Marlstone is a rock of about the same composition as marl. It has a blocky subconchoidal fracture, and is less fissile than shale, the term marl is widely used in English-language geology, while the terms Mergel and Seekreide are used in European references. The lower stratigraphic units of the cliffs of Dover consist of a sequence of glauconitic marls followed by rhythmically banded limestone. Upper Cretaceous cyclic sequences in Germany and marl–opal-rich Tortonian-Messinian strata in the Sorbas basin related to multiple sea drawdown have been correlated with Milankovitch orbital forcing, marl as lacustrine sediment is common in post glacial lake-bed sediments, often found underlying peat bogs. It has been used as a conditioner and acid soil neutralizing agent. Marl was extensively mined in Central New Jersey as a soil conditioner in the 1800s, in 1863, the most common marl was blue marl. Marl was in demand for farms. Agricultural lime Keuper marl Schurrenberger, D. Russell, J. classification of lacustrine sediments based on sedimentary components
