1.
Carmel Formation
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The Carmel Formation is a geologic formation in the San Rafael Group that is spread across the US states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, north east Arizona and New Mexico. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was laid down in the Middle Jurassic during the late Bajocian, through the Bathonian, in 1928 Gilluly and Reeside stated an intent to name the formation after Mount Carmel but did not give a type locality. They noted it as a formation in the San Rafael Group in San Rafael Swell, in Emery County. An overview along with a locality and source of name was stated by Gregory. Mackin revised the description and assigned the Homestake Limestone Member to it in 1954. Harshbarger and others created an overview in 1957 and its eastern areal limits were described by Wright and others in 1962. In 1963, western areal limits along with an overview were completed by Schultz, another revision was done by Phoenix in 1963 who also added a Judd Hollow Tongue member. Isotopic dating was conducted by Marvin and others in 1965, the Kolob, Crystal Creek, Paria River, Winsor, and Wiggler Wash members were assigned by Thompson and Stokes in 1970. Areal limits were adjusted by OSullivan and Craig in 1973 and again in 1983 by Blakey, an overview was completed by Chapman in 1989. Hintze and others conducted isotopic dating and created an overview in 1994, there have been a number of paleontological finds within the Carmel Formation. Among these have been bryozoans, oysters, as well as dinosaur foot prints, there have been a number of bryozoans found within the Carmel Formation. These finds include seven species of calcareous cyclostome bryozoans as well as a soft-bodied ctenosome bryozoan, geologic Province, Black Mesa Basin* Capitol Reef National Park Great Basin province* Green River Basin* Paradox Basin* Plateau sedimentary province* San Juan Basin Uinta Basin* Uinta Uplift*
2.
Jurassic
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The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that spans 56.3 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles, the start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The Jurassic is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, by the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, on land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated by both dinosauromorph and crocodylomorph archosaurs, to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, other major events include the appearance of the earliest lizards, and the evolution of therian mammals, including primitive placentals. Crocodilians made the transition from a terrestrial to a mode of life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, the chronostratigraphic term Jurassic is directly linked to the Jura Mountains. The name Jura is derived from the Celtic root jor, which was Latinised into juria, the Jurassic period is divided into the Early Jurassic, Middle, and Late Jurassic epochs. The Jurassic System, in stratigraphy, is divided into the Lower Jurassic, Middle, the separation of the term Jurassic into three sections goes back to Leopold von Buch. The Jurassic North Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous period, the Tethys Sea closed, and the Neotethys basin appeared. Climates were warm, with no evidence of glaciation, as in the Triassic, there was apparently no land over either pole, and no extensive ice caps existed. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the poorest of the Mesozoic, the Jurassic was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate. Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids, calcitic cements, the first of several massive batholiths were emplaced in the northern American cordillera beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the Nevadan orogeny. Important Jurassic exposures are found in Russia, India, South America, Japan, Australasia. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendaguru fauna in Tanzania, the Late Jurassic life of Tendaguru is very similar to that found in western North Americas Morrison Formation. During the Jurassic period, the primary living in the sea were fish
3.
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
4.
Egg
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An egg is the organic vessel containing the zygote in which an animal embryo develops until it can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches. An egg results from fertilization of an ovum, most arthropods, vertebrates, and mollusks lay eggs, although some do not, such as scorpions and most mammals. Reptile eggs, bird eggs, and monotreme eggs are laid out of water, eggs laid on land or in nests are usually kept within a favorable temperature range while the embryo grows. When the embryo is developed it hatches, i. e. breaks out of the eggs shell. Some embryos have an egg tooth with which to crack, pip. The largest recorded egg is from a shark, and was 30 cm ×14 cm ×9 cm in size. At 1.5 kg and up to 17.8 cm ×14 cm, the bee hummingbird produces the smallest known bird egg, which weighs half of a gram. The eggs laid by some reptiles and most fish can be smaller. Reproductive structures similar to the egg in other kingdoms are termed spores, or in spermatophytes seeds, several major groups of animals typically have readily distinguishable eggs. The most common strategy for fish is known as oviparity. Typically large numbers of eggs are laid at one time and the eggs are left to develop without parental care. When the larvae hatch from the egg, they carry the remains of the yolk in a yolk sac which continues to nourish the larvae for a few days as they learn how to swim. Once the yolk is consumed, there is a point after which they must learn how to hunt. A few fish, notably the rays and most sharks use ovoviviparity in which the eggs are fertilized, however the larvae still grow inside the egg consuming the eggs yolk and without any direct nourishment from the mother. The mother then gives birth to relatively mature young, in certain instances, the physically most developed offspring will devour its smaller siblings for further nutrition while still within the mothers body. This is known as intrauterine cannibalism, the eggs of fish and amphibians are jellylike. Cartilagenous fish eggs are fertilized internally and exhibit a variety of both internal and external embryonic development. Most fish species spawn eggs that are fertilized externally, typically with the male inseminating the eggs after the female lays them and these eggs do not have a shell and would dry out in the air
5.
Rock (geology)
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Rock or stone is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar. The Earths outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock, rock has been used by mankind throughout history. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization, three major groups of rocks are defined, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is a component of geology. At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, the aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed, many rocks contain silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74. 3% of the Earths crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock, the proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties. Rocks are geologically classified according to such as mineral and chemical composition, permeability, the texture of the constituent particles. These physical properties are the end result of the processes that formed the rocks, over the course of time, rocks can transform from one type into another, as described by the geological model called the rock cycle. These events produce three general classes of rock, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, the three classes of rocks are subdivided into many groups. However, there are no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks, hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to more or less arbitrary selected points in a continuously graduated series. Igneous rock forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava and this magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, igneous rocks are divided into two main categories, plutonic rock and volcanic. Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earths crust, a common example of this type is granite. Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta, the chemical abundance and the rate of cooling of magma typically forms a sequence known as Bowens reaction series. Most major igneous rocks are found along this scale, about 64. 7% of the Earths crust by volume consists of igneous rocks, making it the most plentiful category. Of these, 66% are basalts and gabbros, 16% are granite, only 0. 6% are syenites and 0. 3% peridotites and dunites
6.
Calcium carbonate
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Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a substance found in rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite and is the main component of pearls and the shells of marine organisms, snails. Calcium carbonate is the ingredient in agricultural lime and is created when calcium ions in hard water react with carbonate ions to create limescale. It is medicinally used as a supplement or as an antacid. Calcium carbonate shares the properties of other carbonates. CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O → Ca2 This reaction is important in the erosion of rock, forming caverns. An unusual form of calcium carbonate is the hexahydrate, ikaite, ikaite is stable only below 6 °C. The vast majority of calcium used in industry is extracted by mining or quarrying. Pure calcium carbonate, can be produced from a quarried source. Alternatively, calcium carbonate is prepared from calcium oxide, other forms can be prepared, the denser, orthorhombic λ-CaCO3 and μ-CaCO3, occurring as the mineral vaterite. The aragonite form can be prepared by precipitation at temperatures above 85 °C, calcite contains calcium atoms coordinated by 6 oxygen atoms, in aragonite they are coordinated by 9 oxygen atoms. The vaterite structure is not fully understood, magnesium carbonate MgCO3 has the calcite structure, whereas strontium and barium carbonate adopt the aragonite structure, reflecting their larger ionic radii. Calcite, aragonite and vaterite are pure calcium carbonate minerals, industrially important source rocks which are predominantly calcium carbonate include limestone, chalk, marble and travertine. Eggshells, snail shells and most seashells are predominantly calcium carbonate, oyster shells have enjoyed recent recognition as a source of dietary calcium, but are also a practical industrial source. While not practical as a source, dark green vegetables such as broccoli. Beyond Earth, strong evidence suggests the presence of Calcium carbonate on Mars, signs of Calcium Carbonate have been detected at more than one location. This provides some evidence for the past presence of liquid water, Carbonate is found frequently in geologic settings and constitute an enormous carbon reservoir. Calcium carbonate occurs as aragonite, calcite and dolomite, the carbonate minerals form the rock types, limestone, chalk, marble, travertine, tufa, and others
7.
Calcite
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Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The Mohs scale of hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison. Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite, aragonite will change to calcite at 380–470 °C, and vaterite is even less stable. Calcite is derived from the German Calcit, a term coined in the 19th century from the Latin word for lime and it is thus etymologically related to chalk. Calcite crystals are trigonal-rhombohedral, though actual calcite rhombohedra are rare as natural crystals, however, they show a remarkable variety of habits including acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular forms, prisms, or various scalenohedra. Calcite exhibits several twinning types adding to the variety of observed forms and it may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form and its fracture is conchoidal, but difficult to obtain. It has a defining Mohs hardness of 3, a gravity of 2.71. Color is white or none, though shades of gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, calcite is transparent to opaque and may occasionally show phosphorescence or fluorescence. A transparent variety called Iceland spar is used for optical purposes, acute scalenohedral crystals are sometimes referred to as dogtooth spar while the rhombohedral form is sometimes referred to as nailhead spar. Single calcite crystals display an optical property called birefringence and this strong birefringence causes objects viewed through a clear piece of calcite to appear doubled. The birefringent effect was first described by the Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669, at a wavelength of ~590 nm calcite has ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of 1.658 and 1.486, respectively. Between 190 and 1700 nm, the refractive index varies roughly between 1.9 and 1.5, while the extraordinary refractive index varies between 1.6 and 1.4. Calcite, like most carbonates, will dissolve with most forms of acid, calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Although calcite is fairly insoluble in water, acidity can cause dissolution of calcite. Ambient carbon dioxide, due to its acidity, has a slight solubilizing effect on calcite, calcite exhibits an unusual 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. On a landscape scale, continued dissolution of calcium carbonate-rich rocks can lead to the expansion and eventual collapse of cave systems, high-grade optical calcite was used in World War II for gun sights, specifically in bomb sights and anti-aircraft weaponry
8.
Aragonite
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Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the two most common, naturally occurring, crystal forms of calcium carbonate, CaCO3. It is formed by biological and physical processes, including precipitation from marine, aragonites crystal lattice differs from that of calcite, resulting in a different crystal shape, an orthorhombic crystal system with acicular crystal. Repeated twinning results in pseudo-hexagonal forms, Aragonite may be columnar or fibrous, occasionally in branching stalactitic forms called flos-ferri from their association with the ores at the Carinthian iron mines. The type location for aragonite is Molina de Aragón,25 km from Aragon for which it was named in 1797, an aragonite cave, the Ochtinská Aragonite Cave, is situated in Slovakia. In the US, aragonite in the form of stalactites and cave flowers is known from Carlsbad Caverns, massive deposits of oolitic aragonite sand are found on the seabed in the Bahamas. Aragonite is the high pressure polymorph of calcium carbonate, as such, it occurs in high pressure metamorphic rocks such as those formed at subduction zones. Aragonite forms naturally in almost all mollusk shells, and as the calcareous endoskeleton of warm-, because the mineral deposition in mollusk shells is strongly biologically controlled, some crystal forms are distinctively different from those of inorganic aragonite. In some mollusks, the shell is aragonite, in others. The nacreous layer of the fossil shells of some extinct ammonites forms an iridescent material called ammolite. Aragonite also forms in the ocean and in caves as inorganic precipitates called marine cements and speleothems, Aragonite is not uncommon in serpentinites where high Mg in pore solutions apparently inhibits calcite growth and promotes aragonite precipitation. Aragonite is metastable at the low pressures near the Earths surface and is commonly replaced by calcite in fossils. Aragonite older than the Carboniferous is essentially unknown and it can also be synthesized by adding a calcium chloride solution to a sodium carbonate solution at temperatures above 60 °C or in water-ethanol mixtures at ambient temperatures. Aragonite is thermodynamically unstable at temperature and pressure, and tends to alter to calcite on scales of 107 to 108 years. The mineral vaterite, also known as μ-CaCO3, is another phase of calcium carbonate that is metastable at ambient conditions typical of Earths surface, in aquaria, aragonite is considered essential for the replication of reef conditions. Aragonite provides the necessary for much sea life and also keeps the pH of the water close to its natural level. Aragonite has been tested for the removal of pollutants like zinc, cobalt. Aragonite sea Ikaite, CaCO3·6H2O Monohydrocalcite, CaCO3·H2O Nacre, otherwise known as Mother-of-Pearl Oolitic aragonite sand The Ochtinska aragonite cave Kosovo Caves Aragonite Formations
9.
Chert
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Chert is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline silica. Depending on its origin, it can contain either microfossils, small macrofossils, Chert occurs as oval to irregular nodules in greensand, limestone, chalk, and dolostone formations as a replacement mineral, where it is formed as a result of some type of diagenesis. Where it occurs in chalk or marl, it is usually called flint and it also occurs in thin beds, when it is a primary deposit. Thick beds of chert occur in marine deposits. These thickly bedded cherts include the novaculite of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, the banded iron formations of Precambrian age are composed of alternating layers of chert and iron oxides. Chert also occurs in deposits and is known as diatomaceous chert. Diatomaceous chert consists of beds and lenses of diatomite which were converted during diagenesis into dense, in petrology the term chert is used to refer generally to all rocks composed primarily of microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline and microfibrous quartz. The term does not include quartzite, chalcedony is a microfibrous variety of quartz. Strictly speaking, the flint is reserved for varieties of chert which occur in chalk. Among non-geologists, the distinction between flint and chert is often one of quality - chert being lower quality than flint, among petrologists, chalcedony is sometimes considered separately from chert due to its fibrous structure. Since many cherts contain both microcrystalline and microfibrous quartz, it is difficult to classify a rock as completely chalcedony. The cryptocrystalline nature of chert, combined with its above average ability to resist weathering, recrystallization, for example, The 3.2 Ga chert of the Fig Tree Formation in the Barbeton Mountains between Swaziland and South Africa preserved non-colonial unicellular bacteria-like fossils. The Gunflint Chert of western Ontario preserves not only bacteria and cyanobacteria but also believed to be ammonia-consuming and some that resemble green algae. The Apex Chert of the Pilbara craton, Australia preserved eleven taxa of prokaryotes, the Bitter Springs Formation of the Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, preserves 850 Ma cyanobacteria and algae. The Rhynie chert of Scotland has remains of a Devonian land flora, in prehistoric times, chert was often used as a raw material for the construction of stone tools. Like obsidian, as well as some rhyolites, felsites, quartzites and this results in conchoidal fractures, a characteristic of all minerals with no cleavage planes. When a chert stone is struck against an iron-bearing surface sparks result and this makes chert an excellent tool for starting fires, and both flint and common chert were used in various types of fire-starting tools, such as tinderboxes, throughout history. Cherts are subject to problems when used as concrete aggregates, deeply weathered chert develops surface pop-outs when used in concrete that undergoes freezing and thawing because of the high porosity of weathered chert
10.
Iron
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Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series and it is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earths outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earths crust, like the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen, fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon. A certain proportion of carbon steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with metals are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties. Iron chemical compounds have many uses, Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens, among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Iron is also the metal at the site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body and this iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma. The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys can be evaluated using a variety of tests, including the Brinell test, Rockwell test, the data on iron is so consistent that it is often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. An increase in the content will cause a significant increase in the hardness. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0. 6% carbon content, because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium. Because of its significance for planetary cores, the properties of iron at high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively
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