Quartz makes up more than 10% of the Earth's crust by mass. Minerals are natural occurring elements and compounds with a definite homogeneous chemical composition and ordered atomic composition. Meteorites and other extra-terrestrial natural materials are also studied by geological methods. These typically fall into one of two categories: rock and unlithified material. The majority of geological data comes from research on solid Earth materials. Geology is a major academic discipline, and it is central to geological engineering and plays an important role in geotechnical engineering. In practical terms, geology is important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, evaluating water resources, understanding of natural hazards, the remediation of environmental problems, and providing insights into past climate change. Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution, including field work, rock description, geophysical techniques, chemical analysis, physical experiments, and numerical modelling. Geology provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates. By combining these tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole, and also to demonstrate the age of the Earth. It also provides tools to determine the relative and absolute ages of rocks found in a given location, and also to describe the histories of those rocks.
Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface, and the processes that have shaped that structure. Kinney Lake and Mount Whitehorn near Mount Robson, Canada
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