Введение в геологию

TOMSK POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

R.N. Abramova, A.Yu. Falk

INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY

Recommended for publishing as a study aid 

by the Editorial Board of Tomsk Polytechnic University

Tomsk Polytechnic University Publishing House 

2016

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования

«НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ

ТОМСКИЙ ПОЛИТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

Р.Н. Абрамова, А.Ю. Фальк

ВВЕДЕНИЕ В ГЕОЛОГИЮ

Рекомендовано в качестве учебного пособия

Редакционно-издательским советом

Томского политехнического университета

Издательство 

Томского политехнического университета

2016

УДК 811.111:55(075.8)
ББК Ш143.21-923

A16

Абрамова Р.Н.

A16
Введение в геологию : учебное пособие / Р.Н. Абрамова, 

A.Ю. Фальк ; Томский политехнический университет. – Томск : 
Изд-во Томского политехнического университета, 2016. – 280 с.

ISBN 978-5-4387-0699-1

В пособии изложены основные сведения о строении, составе и истории 

Земли, о минералах и горных породах как продуктах геологических 
процессов.

Пособие подготовлено на основе материалов преподаваемого авторами 

курса «Профессиональный английский язык» и по содержанию в основном 
соответствует дисциплине «Геология».

УДК 811.111:55(075.8)
ББК Ш143.21-923

Рецензенты

Доктор геолого-минералогических наук,

профессор заведующий кафедрой динамической геологии

Томского государственного университета

В.П. Парначев

Кандидат геолого-минералогических наук

заведующий сектором литологии

лаборатории седиментологии

ОАО «ТомскНИПИнефть»

M.В. Шалдыбин

ISBN 978-5-4387-0699-1
© ФГАОУ ВО НИ ТПУ, 2016
© Абрамова Р.Н., Фальк A.Ю., 2016
© Оформление. Издательство Томского 

политехнического университета, 2016

PREFACE

This is an introductory course for 3d-year students of the Natural 

Resources Institute (speciality "Land Management", "Applied Geology"). 
The course aim is professional language communication competence 
development as a means of professional intercommunication at an 
international standard level.

Manual "Introduction to Geology" consists of six units and is for the 

intermediate level. Each unit covers such specific aspects as background 
knowledge of geology as a science, basic concepts and principles of geology,
information on structure, composition and age of the Earth, minerals and
rocks. The units contain exercises for revision of definite terms and concepts 
to prepare the students to communicate effectively in the tasks prescribed by 
their professional fields of study.

Thus, the course objectives are to:
1. enlarge specific vocabulary through reading, writing, speaking and 

listening;

2. recognize, deduce, understand, distinguish, interpret and clarify 

specific information from different sources;

3. communicate effectively in the written tasks prescribed by the 

student’s study or future professional situation;

4. communicate successfully in professional interaction focusing on 

appropriate language;

5. develop professional language user confidence.
Key aspects of this manual include:
 An overall emphasis on geology with different tasks.
 A substantial amount of testing of specific listening and reading skills.
All these aspects reflect the practical skills-orientated nature of the 

course. Key listening, vocabulary and reading skills are introduced in units 
and then practiced systematically, while frequent activities build up student’s 
confidence and proficiency in a range of language skills.

This manual has diverse supplementary materials at the end of each unit, 

which can be used in preparing reports, presentation or simply for reading 
and writing skills. It is of significant importance to work with special texts 
and vocabulary.

Terminology and General Vocabulary
Section 
"Vocabulary"
contains 
vast 
amounts 
of 
professional 

terminology and vocabulary. Cross-checking with the glossary of the main 
terms you’ll be able to differentiate what terminology goes for active usage 

and what for passive reference. As a rule all active usage terminology is 
presented before the texts. Professional language items are chosen according 
to the topics to be covered in this course.

Vocabulary is introduced to provide students with useful terms and 

phrases to express their ideas, introduce a concept, defend a theory, draw 
conclusion and outline study’s perspectives.

Exposure to passive vocabulary will allow students to recognize certain 

words, pronounce them and learn not to be field-dependent, i. e. not to get 
distracted from the main idea of the context.

Reading
There are long and short texts for general and/or detailed understanding. 

Texts are taken from textbooks and articles from professional works and 
journals on geology. Reading is aimed at developing student’s reading skills 
only. Please note that some texts are for multiple activities, e. g. reading, 
rendering, writing a summary, fill in the gaps, etc.

Listening Comprehension
This section provides the opportunity for the students to listen to 

authentic texts of different genres (scientific reports, lectures, summaries) 
and dialogues and complete various exercises: filling in the gaps, T/F 
statements, multiple-choice tests. Students, thus, can improve their listening 
skills – and gain valuable language input – through a combination of 
extensive and intensive listening material and procedures.

Grammar
As the skill-oriented work in ESP does not concentrate on grammar 

itself, it is incorrect to consider grammar teaching as outside the remit of 
ESP. Where students have grammatical difficulties that interfere with the 
essentially productive skills of speaking and writing, or the essentially 
receptive skills of listening and reading, it is necessary to pay attention to 
those difficulties. How much priority is paid to grammatical weakness 
depends on the learners’ level in English and whether priority needs to be 
given to grammatical accuracy or to fluency in using the language:

 for accuracy, direct teaching of grammatical forms to express 

particular meanings will be required;

 for reading, where the learners’ grammatical weaknesses interfere 

with comprehension of meaning, the relationship between meaning and form 
can be taught or revised in context through analysis and explanation;

 for communication medium (written work, oral presentation), serious 

weaknesses in grammar require more specific help. This may mean allocating 

time to concentrate on the given difficulty, teaching both the form and its use 
in contexts relevant to learners’ needs.

The context-area (in our case, geology) determines what aspect of 

grammar is appropriate.

Speaking. Discussion
This section targets development of skills to use appropriate English for 

specific purposes. Spoken language items are chosen taking into 
consideration what students will need to do during their studies, professional 
contacts, writing reports and communicating with people to get necessary 
information.

The following course is designed for one academic semester including 

32-hour session. It is specially designed to motivate and involve students in 
effective learning. This manual provides systematic preparation for all basic 
skills required for successful professional communication. The authors 
consider that this course is a new approach to ESP teaching as it includes the 
following 
features: 
comprehensive 
practical 
approach, 
universality, 

flexibility, simplicity and inter-disciplinary approach.

UNIT 1

GEOLOGY

Learning objectives:

The objectives of this unit are to introduce some basic concepts that will 

be necessary as the fundamentals of geology. These are:

 Geology as a science;
 Fundamental principles of geology.

At the end of the unit, the student will be able to:

 understand what geology is;
 identify the fundamental principles of geology;
 know the basic terminology in geology as a field of study;
 know how to write precise and clear definitions;
 process the lecture information and convert its content according to 

specific aims.

1. COMPREHENSION. GEOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Read the following text and make up a diagram that will demonstrate the 
complexity of geology

Geologists have found it useful to divide geology into many fields.
Physical geology can be subdivided into a number of disciplines 

according to the way geologists study the Earth and which physical aspects 
they study. Fields such as geochemistry, geophysics, mineralogy and 
petrology and structural geology apply the sciences of physics and chemistry 
to study aspects of the Earth. Hydrology, geomorphology, and marine 
geology incorporate the study of water and its effects on weathering into 
geology, while environmental, economic and engineering geology apply 
geologic knowledge and engineering principles to solve practical problems.

Geophysics in this field, geologists apply the concepts of physics to the 

study of the Earth. Geophysics is such a broad field that scientists sometimes 
consider it a separate field from geology. The largest subdiscipline in 
geophysics is seismology, the study of the travel of seismic waves through 
the earth. Earthquakes generate seismic waves naturally, or explosions can 
make them artificially from bombs or air guns. Seismologists study 
earthquakes and construct models of the Earth’s interior using seismic 

techniques. Geophysics also includes the study of the physics of materials 
such as rocks, minerals, and ice within the fields of petrology, mineralogy 
and glaciology. Geophysicists study the behavior of the planet’s oceans, 
atmosphere and volcanoes. Specialists called volcanologists study the 
world’s volcanoes and try to predict eruptions by using seismology and other 
remote sensing techniques, such as satellite imagery. Monitoring active 
volcanoes is especially important in highly populated areas.

Geochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of the Earth, 

its materials and the cycling of chemicals through its systems. It is essential 
in numerical dating and in reconstructing past conditions on the Earth. 
Geochemistry is important for tracing the transport of chemicals through 
the Earth’s four component systems: the lithosphere (rocky exterior), 
the hydrosphere (waters of the Earth), the atmosphere (air) and the biosphere 
(the system of living things). Biochemistry is an emerging field that examines 
the chemical interactions between living and nonliving systems – for 
example, microorganisms that act in soil formation. Geochemistry has 
important applications in environmental and economic geology as well as in 
the fields of mineralogy and petrology.

The fields of mineralogy (the study of minerals) and petrology

(the study of rocks) are closely related because rocks are made of minerals. 
Mineralogists and petrologists study the origin, occurrence, structure and 
history of rocks and minerals. They attempt to understand the physical, 
chemical and less commonly, biological conditions under which geologic 
materials form. Mineralogy is important for understanding natural materials 
and is also used in the materials engineering field, such as in ceramics. 
Petrology focuses on two of the three rock types: igneous rocks – rocks made 
from molten material, and metamorphic rocks – those rocks that have been 
changed by high temperatures or pressures. The third rock types, sedimentary 
rocks, are the focus of sedimentary geology, commonly classified under 
historical geology.

Structural geology deals with the form, arrangement and internal 

structure of rocks, including their history of deformation, such as folding and 
faulting. Structural geology includes everything from filed mapping to the 
study 
of 
microscopic 
deformation 
within 
rocks. 
Most 
geologic 

reconstructions require an understanding of structural geology. The term 
tectonics is commonly used for large-scale structural geology, such as the 
study of the history of a mountain belt, or plate tectonics (the study of the 
crustal plate). Neotectonics is the study of recent faulting and deformation; 
such studies can reconstruct the history of active faults, and the history can be 
used in hazard analysis and land-use planning.

The Earth's surface processes are the focus of hydrology and 

geomorphology. Hydrology is the study of water on the Earth's surface, 
excluding the oceans. Hydrogeology is the study of groundwater (water 
under ground) and the geologic processes of surface water. As water is 
necessary for life, hydrology and hydrogeology are important for economic 
and environmental reasons, such as maintaining a clean water supply. 
Geomorphology is the examination of the development of present landforms; 
geomorphologists attempt to understand the nature and origin of these 
landforms. They may work from the large scale of mountain belts to the 
small scale of rill marks (small grooves in sand). Geomorphologists 
commonly specialize in one of many areas, such as in glacial or periglacial 
(near glacial), fluvial (river), hillslope or coastal processes. Their work is 
important for a basic understanding of the active surface that humans live on, 
a surface that is subject to erosion, landslides, floods and other processes that 
affect our daily lives.

Environmental, economic and engineering geology focuses on the 

application of geologic knowledge to practical problems. Environmental 
geology involves the protection of human health and safety through 
understanding geological processes. For example, it is critically important to 
understand the geology of areas where people propose to store nuclear waste 
products. The study of geologic hazards, such as earthquakes and volcanic 
eruptions, can also be considered as a part of environmental geology. 
Economic geology is the use of geologic knowledge to find and recover 
materials that can be used profitably by humans, including fuels, ores and 
building materials. Because these products are so diverse, economic 
geologists must be broadly trained; they commonly specialize in a particular 
aspect of economic geology, such as petroleum or mining geology. 
Engineering geology is the application of engineering principles to geologic 
problems. Two fields of engineering that use geology extensively are civil 
engineering and mining engineering. For example, the stability of a building 
or bridge requires an understanding of both foundation materials (rocks, soil) 
and the potential for earthquakes in the area.

Historical geology focuses on the study of the evolution of Earth and its 

life through time. Historical geology includes many subfields. Stratigraphy 
and sedimentary geology are the fields that investigate layered rocks and the 
environments in which they are found. Geochronolgy is the study of 
determining the age of rocks, while paleonotolgy is the study of fossils. Other 
fields, such as paleoceanography, paleoseismology, paleoclimatology, apply 
geologic knowledge of ancient conditions to learn more about the Earth. 
The Greek prefix paleo is used to identify ancient conditions or periods in 
time, and commonly means "the reconstruction of the past".