Anthropocene: Term coined by scientists to describe the age in which humans have been the strongest force of change on the planet. It is generally believed to date from at least the dawn of the Nuclear Age (in the middle 1940s), and possibly even earlier — from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s.
ash: (in geology) Small, lightweight fragments of rock and glass spewed by volcanic eruptions. (in biology) A group of deciduous trees in the olive family that are popular in landscaping and for timber.
climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.
coral: Marine animals that often produce a hard and stony exoskeleton and tend to live on reefs (the exoskeletons of dead ancestor corals).
crystal: (adj. crystalline) A solid consisting of a symmetrical, ordered, three-dimensional arrangement of atoms or molecules. It’s the organized structure taken by most minerals. Apatite, for example, forms six-sided crystals. The crystalline components of a rock are usually too small to be seen with the unaided eye.
element: A building block of some larger structure. (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium.
epoch: (in geology) A span of time in the geologic past that was shorter than a period (which is itself, part of some era ) and marked when some dramatic changes occurred.
fossil fuel: Any fuel — such as coal, petroleum (crude oil) or natural gas — that has developed within the Earth over millions of years from the decayed remains of bacteria, plants or animals.
geological: Adjective to describe things related to Earth’s physical structure and substance, its history and the processes that act on it. People who work in this field are known as geologists.
Holocene: The current period in geologic time. Meaning “entirely recent,” the Holocene…
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