The word Geology comes from two Greek words geo (earth) and logos (treatise, study); Therefore, it is the study or knowledge of the Earth, its origin, its formation, especially the materials that compose it, as well as their chemical character, their distribution in space and time and the transformation processes that they experience.
Geology aims to decipher the complete evolution of the planet and its inhabitants, from the most ancient times, whose traces can be discovered in the rocks, to the present day. It tries to give a total or partial answer to many questions about the origin of the great mountain ranges and volcanoes, the development and formation of rivers, why earthquakes occur, among others, using all the available knowledge.
The study of geology is generally divided into two parts: external, which studies the materials that make up the earth's crust and the processes that occur directly on it, the atmospheric layer and the biosphere; and internal, which is responsible for the processes that develop under the earth's crust and the causes that produce them.
Geology is a difficult and immense science, since it needs the help of almost all sciences, especially natural ones such as physics, chemistry and biology; in turn, it is an important science because it provides resources for immediate application to industry, the arts, and agriculture.
Curiosity about the origin and constitution of the Earth has been held since ancient times. Both Greek philosophers and scientists developed a large number of correct hypotheses, based on direct observation.
The term geology became popular in the middle of the 18th century, but, as its field of research is very extensive, it was not until the 19th century that systematic studies could be undertaken, and only when physics, chemistry and mineralogy were previously and fully developed geology became an autonomous science.
Geology deals with a large number of issues related to the Earth, covering such a varied and wide range of fields, which we have: paleontology, is concerned with studying ancient life forms through the analysis of fossils; the petrography and mineralogy are interested in the origin and composition of rocks and minerals.
The Christology is the regular arrangement of atoms that make up certain minerals; the geodynamic studies the transformations of the earth 's surface; the stratigraphy investigates the relationship existing between the various strata or layers of the earth 's crust; and volcanology and seismology focus their efforts on understanding volcanoes and earthquakes.
Geology is complemented by other fields that also deal with the study of the Earth: historical geology, geodesy (topography), geochemistry, geophysics, geochronology (used as a dating method), geomorphology, edaphology, geotechnics, sedimentology, economic geology, geology environmental and geological engineering.
