Portal:Geology

The Geology Portal

Structure of the Earth

Geology (from Ancient Greek γῆ (gê) 'earth' and λoγία (-logía) 'study of, discourse') is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences, including hydrology. It is integrated with Earth system science and planetary science.

Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface and the processes that have shaped that structure. Geologists study the mineralogical composition of rocks in order to get insight into their history of formation. Geology determines the relative ages of rocks found at a given location; geochemistry (a branch of geology) determines their absolute ages. By combining various petrological, crystallographic, and paleontological tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole. One aspect is to demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates.

Geologists broadly study the properties and processes of Earth and other terrestrial planets. Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution, including fieldwork, rock description, geophysical techniques, chemical analysis, physical experiments, and numerical modelling. In practical terms, geology is important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, evaluating water resources, understanding natural hazards, remediating environmental problems, and providing insights into past climate change. Geology is a major academic discipline, and it is central to geological engineering and plays an important role in geotechnical engineering. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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  Imaging from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission STS-99 reveals part of the diameter ring of the crater in the form of a shallow circular trough. Numerous cenotes (sinkholes) cluster around the trough marking the inner crater rim.

  
  The Chicxulub crater (IPA: [t͡ʃikʃuˈluɓ] cheek-shoo-LOOB) is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore, but the crater is named after the onshore community of Chicxulub Pueblo (not the larger coastal town of Chicxulub Puerto). It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when an asteroid, about ten kilometers (six miles) in diameter, struck Earth. The crater is estimated to be 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in depth. It is believed to be the second largest impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research.
  
  The crater was discovered by Antonio Camargo and Glen Penfield, geophysicists who had been looking for petroleum in the Yucatán Peninsula during the late 1970s. Penfield was initially unable to obtain evidence that the geological feature was a crater and gave up his search. Later, through contact with Alan R. Hildebrand in 1990, Penfield obtained samples that suggested it was an impact feature. Evidence for the crater's impact origin includes shocked quartz, a gravity anomaly, and tektites in surrounding areas. (Full article...)
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  Map showing location of epicenter of earthquake relative to Ambato; the bullseye is the epicenter; small blue lines are rivers

  
  The 1949 Ambato earthquake was the deadliest earthquake in the Western Hemisphere in five years. On August 5, 1949, it struck Ecuador's Tungurahua Province southeast of its capital Ambato and killed 5,050 people. Measuring 6.4 on the M_s scale, it originated from a hypocenter 15 km beneath the surface. The nearby villages of Guano, Patate, Pelileo, and Pillaro were destroyed, and the city of Ambato suffered heavy damage. The earthquake flattened buildings and subsequent landslides caused damage throughout the Tungurahua, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi Provinces. It disrupted water mains and communication lines and opened a fissure into which the small town of Libertad sank. Moderate shaking from the event extended as far away as Quito and Guayaquil.
  
  Earthquakes in Ecuador stem from two major interrelated tectonic areas: the subduction of the Nazca plate under the South American plate and the Andean Volcanic Belt. The 1949 Ambato earthquake initially followed an intersection of several northwest–southeast-trending faults in the Inter-Andean Valley which were created by the subduction of the Carnegie Ridge. Strata of rock cracked as the earthquake ruptured the faults, sending out powerful shock waves. Today threats exist throughout the country from both interplate and intraplate seismicity. (Full article...)
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  Eruptions in the Lassen volcanic area in the last 70,000 years. Circle shows base of Mount Tehama. See timeline image.

  
  
  The Lassen volcanic area presents a geological record of sedimentation and volcanic activity in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California, U.S. The park is located in the southernmost part of the Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Pacific Oceanic tectonic plates have plunged below the North American Plate in this part of North America for hundreds of millions of years. Heat and molten rock from these subducting plates has fed scores of volcanoes in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia over at least the past 30 million years, including these in the Lassen volcanic areas.
  
  Between 3 and 4 million years ago, volcanic-derived mud flows called lahars streamed down several major mountains that included nearby but now extinct Mount Yana and Mount Maidu to become the Tuscan Formation. Basaltic and later andesitic to dacitic flows of lava covered increasingly larger areas of this formation to eventually form the lava plateau upon which the park is situated. About 600,000 years ago, Mount Tehama started to rise as a stratovolcano in the southwestern corner of the park, eventually reaching an estimated 11,000 ft (3,400 m) in height. (Full article...)
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  The Qayen earthquake, also known as the Ardekul or Qaen earthquake, struck northern Iran's Khorasan Province in the vicinity of Qaen on May 10, 1997, at 07:57 UTC (12:57 local time). The largest in the area since 1990, the earthquake registered 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale and was centered approximately 270 kilometers (170 mi) south of Mashhad on the village of Ardekul. The third earthquake that year to cause severe damage, it devastated the Birjand–Qayen region, killing 1,567 and injuring more than 2,300. The earthquake—which left 50,000 homeless and damaged or destroyed over 15,000 homes—was described as the deadliest of 1997 by the United States Geological Survey. Some 155 aftershocks caused further destruction and drove away survivors. The earthquake was later discovered to have been caused by a rupture along a fault that runs underneath the Iran–Afghanistan border.
  
  Damage was eventually estimated at $100 million, and many countries responded to the emergency with donations of blankets, tents, clothing, and food. Rescue teams were also dispatched to assist local volunteers in finding survivors trapped under the debris. The destruction around the earthquake's epicenter was, in places, almost total; this has been attributed to poor construction practices in rural areas, and imparted momentum to a growing movement for changes in building codes for earthquake-safe buildings. With 1 in 3,000 deaths in Iran attributable to earthquakes, a US geophysicist has suggested that a country-wide rebuilding program would be needed to address the ongoing public safety concerns. (Full article...)
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  Mauna Loa as seen from the air.
  Hualālai is visible in the background.

  
  Mauna Loa (/ˌmɔːnə ˈloʊ.ə, ˌmaʊnə -/, Hawaiian: [ˈmɐwnə ˈlowə]; lit. 'Long Mountain') is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest volcano on Earth until Tamu Massif was discovered to be larger. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, and a volume estimated at 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km³), although its peak is about 125 feet (38 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and tend to be non-explosive.
  
  Mauna Loa has likely been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago. Some dated rocks are 470,000 years old. The volcano's magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian Island chain over tens of millions of years. The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one million years from now, at which point it will become extinct. (Full article...)
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  The Grand Canyon from Navajo Point. The Colorado River is to the right and the North Rim is visible at all in the distance. The view shows nearly every sedimentary layer described in this article.

  
  
  The geology of the Grand Canyon area includes one of the most complete and studied sequences of rock on Earth. The nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and near ancient, long-gone sea shores in western North America. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including lithified sand dunes from an extinct desert. There are at least 14 known unconformities in the geologic record found in the Grand Canyon.
  
  Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny; a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. In total, the Colorado Plateau was uplifted an estimated 2 miles (3.2 km). The adjacent Basin and Range Province to the west started to form about 18 million years ago as the result of crustal stretching. A drainage system that flowed through what is today the eastern Grand Canyon emptied into the now lower Basin and Range province. The opening of the Gulf of California around 6 million years ago enabled a large river to cut its way northeast from the gulf. The new river captured the older drainage to form the ancestral Colorado River, which in turn started to form the Grand Canyon. (Full article...)
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  An earthquake occurred on November 27, 2005, at 13:52 IRST (10:22 UTC) on the sparsely populated Qeshm Island off Southern Iran, killing 13 people and devastating 13 villages. It was Iran's second major earthquake of 2005, following the one at Zarand in February. The epicenter was about 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) south of Tehran, close to Iran's southern borders. Initial measurements showed that the earthquake registered about 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, although that was reduced to 5.8 after further analysis. More than 400 minor aftershocks followed the main quake, 36 of which were greater than magnitude 2.5. The earthquake occurred in a remote area during the middle of the day, limiting the number of fatalities. Iranian relief efforts were effective and largely adequate, leading the country to decline offers of support from other nations and UNICEF.
  
  Qeshm Island is part of the Simply Folded Belt, the most seismically active part of the Zagros fold and thrust belt. Similar to most earthquakes in the area, the 2005 event resulted from reverse slip faulting. Since it lies in such a seismically active area, there is a high risk of destructive earthquakes in Iran; 1 in 3,000 deaths are attributable to earthquakes. One geophysicist has cited the lack of strict building codes as a serious concern. (Full article...)
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  Darwin, c. 1854, when he was preparing On the Origin of Species

  
  Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (/ˈdɑːrwɪn/ DAR-win; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
  
  Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. His studies at the University of Cambridge's Christ's College from 1828 to 1831 encouraged his passion for natural science. However, it was his five-year voyage on HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 that truly established Darwin as an eminent geologist. The observations and theories he developed during his voyage supported Charles Lyell's concept of gradual geological change. Publication of his journal of the voyage made Darwin famous as a popular author. (Full article...)
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  Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan (born October 3, 1951) is an American geologist, oceanographer, and former NASA astronaut and US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions.
  
  A graduate of University of California, Santa Cruz, in the United States, and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada—where she earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in geology in 1978—Sullivan was selected as one of the six women among the 35 astronaut candidate in NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first group to include women. During her training, she became the first woman to be certified to wear a United States Air Force pressure suit, and on July 1, 1979, she set an unofficial sustained American aviation altitude record for women. During her first mission, STS-41-G, Sullivan performed the first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) by an American woman. On her second, STS-31, she helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. On the third, STS-45, she served as Payload Commander on the first Spacelab mission dedicated to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. (Full article...)
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  Life in the Ediacaran Period as imagined by researchers in 1980.

  
  The Ediacaran (/ˌiːdiˈækərən/; formerly Vendian) biota is a taxonomic period classification that consists of all life forms that were present on Earth during the Ediacaran Period (c. 635–538.8 Mya). These were enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile, organisms. Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms. The term "Ediacara biota" has received criticism from some scientists due to its alleged inconsistency, arbitrary exclusion of certain fossils, and inability to be precisely defined.
  
  The Ediacaran biota may have undergone evolutionary radiation in a proposed event called the Avalon explosion, 575 million years ago. This was after the Earth had thawed from the Cryogenian period's extensive glaciation. This biota largely disappeared with the rapid increase in biodiversity known as the Cambrian explosion. Most of the currently existing body plans of animals first appeared in the fossil record of the Cambrian rather than the Ediacaran. For macroorganisms, the Cambrian biota appears to have almost completely replaced the organisms that dominated the Ediacaran fossil record, although relationships are still a matter of debate. (Full article...)

Vital article

Vital articles to understand Geology.

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Mudpots lined up above a volcanic fissure at Hverarönd, Iceland

A mudpot, or mud pool, is a type of acidic hot spring, or fumarole, with limited water. It usually takes the form of a pool of bubbling mud, as a result of the acid and microorganisms decomposing surrounding rock into clay and mud. (Full article...)

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Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Geology-related articles, visit WikiProject Geology.

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Preludhamian Citing sources : No sources: Compression_(geology) No in-text citations: Petrology Needing additional references: Absolute dating, Age of the Earth, Fossil, Geological history of Earth, Hydrology, Ice age, Impact crater, Index fossil, Magma, Metamorphic rock, Paleogene, Precambrian, Subduction, Taphonomy Disputed statements: Ordovician Failed verification: Rock (geology) Unsourced statements: Age of the Earth, Calcium carbonate, Cambrian, Devonian, Earth science, Earthquake, Erosion, Evolutionary history of life, Geological history of Earth, Hydrology, Ice age, Lava, Magma, Mineral, Permian, Planetary geology, Precambrian, Quartz, Silurian, Subduction, Volcano Cleanup : Landslide mitigation Copyedit : Clarification needed: Basalt, Devonian, Earth, History of Earth, Lava, List of fossil sites, Plate tectonics Too technical: Subduction, Panasqueira#Geology Expand : geothermal activity, Geology of Iceland, Geology of Japan, Horizon (geology), Palaeogeography, Chu Pong Massif, Compression (geology). Stubs : Geologic province, Quaternary geology Update : Geochemistry, Weathering Verify : List of fossil sites Other : Collaboration of the year: Geology of countries of Africa, Rock (geology) and Geology. Limited geographical scope: Lava, Dune, Global warming, Structural basin Peer review: Request

Featured biography

Featured biography articles in Geology

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Şengör in 2021

Ali Mehmet Celâl Şengör (Turkish: [ˈali ˈmehmet ˈdʒeɫal ˈʃænɟœɾ]; born 24 March 1955) is a Turkish geologist. He is retired from the faculty at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Geological Engineering.

Şengör is a (foreign) member of the American Philosophical Society, the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Science. He is a recipient of Gustav-Steinmann-Medaille — the highest distinction of the Geologische Vereinigung e.V. (Full article...)

Did you know

Did you know it about Geology?

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• ... that the Apollo 12 Solar Wind Spectrometer detected a gas-ion shockwave produced by the impact of the Apollo 13 S-IVB stage on the lunar surface?
• ... that the Danish geologist Tove Birkelund received a gold medal for her early work on fossils of Scaphites in Greenland?
• ... that English amateur geologist Charlotte Eyton wrote a number of papers and pamphlets on the geology of the Wrekin, a part of Shropshire, between 1862 and 1870?
• ... that from 1904 to 1911 Arthur Lewis Hall covered 17,479 miles (28,130 km), mostly on foot, to map the geology of the Transvaal?
• ... that Karen Hanghøj, the 2023 winner of the William Smith Medal for applied geology, became the first female director of the British Geological Survey, 183 years after it was founded?
• ... that Frederick Murray Trotter had a distinguished career as a field geologist despite losing a part of his skull and an eye to shrapnel during World War I?
• ... that the geology of the Ellsworth Mountains was explored by geologists using motor toboggans in 1961?
• ... that the groundwater level of a coastal aquifer system changes with the tide?

Top 10 WikiProject Geology Popular articles of the month

This following Geology-related articles is a most visited articles of WikiProject Geology, See complete list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Geology/Popular pages.

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  The Blue Marble, Apollo 17, December 1972

  
  Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large sheets of ice at Earth's polar deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers and atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a magnetosphere capable of deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation. (Full article...)
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  Aerial photo from the south, with Mount Everest rising above the ridge connecting Nuptse and Lhotse

  
  Mount Everest, known locally as Sagarmatha or Qomolangma, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities. (Full article...)
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  Animated, colour-coded map showing some continents and the region of Oceania (purple), which includes the continent of Australia. Depending on the convention and model, some continents may be consolidated or subdivided.

  
  
  A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single landmass or a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe. Due to this, the number of continents varies; up to seven or as few as four geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Most English-speaking countries recognize seven regions as continents. In order from largest to smallest in area, these seven regions are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Different variations with fewer continents merge some of these regions; examples of this are merging North America and South America into America, Asia and Europe into Eurasia, and Africa, Asia, and Europe into Afro-Eurasia. (Full article...)
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  Imaging from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission STS-99 reveals part of the diameter ring of the crater in the form of a shallow circular trough. Numerous cenotes (sinkholes) cluster around the trough marking the inner crater rim.

  
  The Chicxulub crater (IPA: [t͡ʃikʃuˈluɓ] cheek-shoo-LOOB) is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore, but the crater is named after the onshore community of Chicxulub Pueblo (not the larger coastal town of Chicxulub Puerto). It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when an asteroid, about ten kilometers (six miles) in diameter, struck Earth. The crater is estimated to be 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in depth. It is believed to be the second largest impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research. (Full article...)
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  Darwin, c. 1854, when he was preparing On the Origin of Species

  
  Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (/ˈdɑːrwɪn/ DAR-win; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. (Full article...)
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  Changes in surface air temperature over the past 50 years. The Arctic has warmed the most, and temperatures on land have generally increased more than sea surface temperatures.

  
  Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global temperatures is driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming, has grown by about 50% and is at levels unseen for millions of years. (Full article...)
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  Gold is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Au (from Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series. It is solid under standard conditions. (Full article...)
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  Location of the Mariana Trench

  
  
  The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about 2,550 km (1,580 mi) in length and 69 km (43 mi) in width. The maximum known depth is 10,984 ± 25 metres (36,037 ± 82 ft; 6,006 ± 14 fathoms; 6.825 ± 0.016 mi) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep. The deepest point of the trench is more than 2 km (1.2 mi) farther from sea level than the peak of Mount Everest. (Full article...)
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  Fibrous tremolite asbestos on muscovite

  
  Asbestos (/æsˈbɛstəs, æz-, -tɒs/ ass-BES-təs, az-, -⁠toss) is a naturally occurring, carcinogenic, fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre (particulate with length substantially greater than width) being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion and other processes. Inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to various dangerous lung conditions, including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. As a result of these health effects, asbestos is considered a serious health and safety hazard. (Full article...)
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  The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami at Ao Nang, Krabi Province, Thailand

  
  A tsunami (/(t)suːˈnɑːmi, (t)sʊˈ-/ (t)soo-NAH-mee, (t)suu-; from Japanese: 津波, lit. 'harbour wave', pronounced [tsɯnami]) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal ocean waves, which are generated by wind, or tides, which are in turn generated by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun, a tsunami is generated by the displacement of water from a large event. (Full article...)

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  Cathedral Peak Granodiorite

  Map: Grandiose, based on a map by the United States Geological Survey

  A geological map of Yosemite National Park (full size), showing the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite, the largest unit in the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, which in turn is the largest granitic suite in the park.
       Cathedral Peak Granodiorite
       Rest of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite
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  Cartographic relief depiction

  Image credit: United States Geological Survey

  Cartographic relief depiction showing the varying age of bedrock underlying North America. This image combines a geologic map and a shaded relief image. This combination reveals the geologic history of North America through the interrelation of rock type, topography and time. Regional surface processes as well as continent-scale tectonic events are exposed in the three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension, geologic time. From most recent to oldest, age is indicated by color: yellow, green, blue, red.
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  Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection

  Map: Strebe, using Geocart

  The Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection is a projection used for mapping a sphere to a disk. It accurately represents area in all regions of the sphere, but it does not accurately represent angles. It is used in scientific disciplines such as geology for plotting the orientations of lines in three-dimensional space, and by the National Atlas of the US in its online map-making application.
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  Curiosity

  Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

  Curiosity is a car-sized rover designed to explore the crater Gale on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in November 2011 and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on August 6, 2012, at 05:17 UTC. Curiosity's landing site, nicknamed Bradbury Landing, was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 560-million km (350-million mi) journey. The rover's goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; as well as planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration.
  
  This picture is a self-portrait of Curiosity on Mars at the "Big Sky" drilling site, where it collected a rock sample at the foothills of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) in October 2015. The photograph combines dozens of images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover's robotic arm; the arm itself is not included, although its shadow is visible on the ground. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images.
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  Geology of the Moon

  Image credit: Galileo spacecraft

  This false-color mosaic showing compositional variations in the geology of the Moon was constructed from a series of 53 images taken through three spectral filters by the imaging system of the Galileo spacecraft. Bright pinkish areas are highlands materials, such as those surrounding the oval lava-filled Mare Crisium impact basin toward the bottom. Blue to orange shades indicate volcanic lava flows. To the left of Crisium, the dark blue Mare Tranquillitatis is richer in titanium than the green and orange maria above it. Thin mineral-rich soils associated with relatively recent impacts are represented by light blue colors. The monochrome band on the right edge shows the unretouched surface of the moon.

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