All terms in this list:

mineral: Any naturally occurring inorganic material that has a (more or less) definite chemical composition and characteristic physical properties.

elements: Outdoor weather, such as wind or rain.

atoms: Plural form of atom.

compound: a group of buildings situated close together, eg. for a school or block of offices

matter: Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles. (Non-antimatter matter).

crystal: A solid (mineral quartz or otherwise) composed of an array of atoms possessing long-range order and arranged in a pattern which is periodic in three dimensions.

steak: By extension, a slice of meat of other large animals; as venison steak, bear steak, pork steak, turtle steak.

luster: By extension, brilliance, attractiveness or splendor.

cleavage: The tendency of a crystal to split along specific planes. [from 19th c.]

weathering: mechanical or chemical erosion of rocks due to weather.

erosion: The changing of a surface by mechanical action, friction, thermal expansion or contraction, or impact.

deposition: The act of depositing material, especially by a natural process; the resultant deposit.

igneous rock: one of the major groups of rock that makes up the crust of the Earth; formed by the cooling of molten rock, either below the surface (intrusive) or on the surface (extrusive)

sedimentary rock: one of the major groups of rock that makes up the crust of the Earth; formed by the deposition of either the weathered remains of other rocks, the results of biological activity, or precipitation from solution

metamorphic rock: one of the major groups of rock that makes up the crust of the Earth; consists of pre-existing rock mass in which new minerals or textures are formed at higher temperatures and greater pressures than those present on the Earth's surface

rock cycle: The series of processes in which rock changes from one type to another is called the rock cycle.

uplift: To raise something or someone to a higher physical, social, moral, intellectual, spiritual or emotional level.

subsidence: A sinking of something to a lower level, especially of part of the surface of the Earth due to underground excavation or seismic activity

rift zone: Is a set of deep cracks that forms between two tectonic plates that are pulling apart.

floodplain: An alluvial plain that experiences occasional or periodic flooding.

delta: A landform at the mouth of a river where it empties into a body of water.

alluvial fan: A cone-shaped heap of alluvium deposited by a river.

groundwater: Water that exists beneath the earth's surface in underground streams and aquifers.

sinkhole: A hole formed in soluble rock by the action of water, serving to conduct surface water to an underground passage

karst topography: is type of irregular landscape that forms on limestones or other soluble rock and is characterized by caverns,sinkholes and streams that disappear underground.

glacier: A large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill.

glacial drift: An accumulation of earth and rock which have been transported by moving ice, land ice, or icebergs.

soil: The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.

humus: A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms

soil profile: A vertical section of soil layers from the developed lower layers

soil horizon: Each layer of soil within a soil profile

crust: A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.

mantle: anything that covers or conceals something else

convection: The transmission of heat in a fluid or gas by the circulation of currents.

core: A body of individuals; an assemblage.

lithosphere: The rigid, mechanically strong, outer layer of the Earth; divided into twelve major plates

asthenosphere: the zone of the Earth's upper mantle, below the lithosphere

mesosphere: layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere

pangaea: A supercontinent that included all the landmasses of the earth before the Triassic period and that broke up into Laurasia and Gondwana.

sea-floor spreading: Age and magnetic patterns of sea-floor rocks

plate tectonics: The large-scale movement of tectonic plates that contributes to continental drift.

tectonic plates: Plural form of tectonic plate.

convergent boundaries: form of two plates collide

divergent boundary: two plates move away from each other

transform boundary: when two plates move past each other horizontally

deformation: The act of deforming, or state of being deformed.