Earth Science Library — Index
The geosciences — the materials, structure, history, surface, water, and resources of the solid Earth (and its oceans). The descriptive and field-science complement to
Physics/geophysics(which carries the physics of the Earth’s interior, seismology, gravity, and the geodynamo). Sister toChemistry/,Biology/,MaterialsScience/, andClimateScience/(which carries the atmosphere, climate, and cryosphere).
- Status: Tier 1 complete across the core subfields (13 notes, authored 2026-06-02).
- Conventions: SI units; equations in KaTeX (
$...$, LaTeX commands only); named workers/discoveries with years.
Tier 1 — Materials of the Earth
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Mineralogy | mineralogy | crystallography, crystal chemistry, properties, the silicate classification |
| Igneous & metamorphic petrology | igneous-and-metamorphic-petrology | magma & crystallization, metamorphic facies & textures, tectonic significance |
| Sedimentology & stratigraphy | sedimentology-and-stratigraphy | weathering & transport, sedimentary rocks & environments, the layered record, sequence stratigraphy |
| Geochemistry | geochemistry | cosmochemistry, element distribution, isotopes, aqueous & trace-element geochemistry |
Tier 1 — Structure and dynamics
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Structural geology & tectonics | structural-geology-and-tectonics | stress & strain, faults & folds, plate tectonics, orogeny, basins |
| Volcanology | volcanology | eruption styles & products, edifices, hazards, monitoring |
Tier 1 — Surface and water
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Geomorphology & surface processes | geomorphology-and-surface-processes | landscape evolution, hillslopes, fluvial/glacial/aeolian/coastal/karst |
| Hydrology & water resources | hydrology-and-water-resources | the water cycle, surface water, groundwater (Darcy), water quality & management |
| Oceanography | oceanography | marine geology, physical/chemical/biological oceanography, circulation, waves & tides |
Tier 1 — Time and life
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Geochronology & geologic time | geochronology-and-geologic-time | deep time, relative & radiometric dating, the timescale, Earth history |
| Paleontology | paleontology | fossils & fossilization, the history of life, mass extinctions, macroevolution |
Tier 1 — Applied geology
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Economic & resource geology | economic-and-resource-geology | ore deposits, petroleum systems, critical minerals, exploration & mining |
| Environmental & engineering geology | environmental-and-engineering-geology | geohazards, soil/rock mechanics, contamination, human impacts, risk |
Tier 2 — Specialty deep dives
| Topic | File | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Plate tectonics | plate-tectonics-deep | the evidence & history, plate kinematics (Euler poles), boundary processes, driving forces, the Wilson cycle |
Tier 3 — Catalogs
- Tier 3 index
- minerals-catalog — ~210 minerals by chemical class
- rocks-catalog — ~135 rock types across the three families
- geologic-time-scale-catalog — the full ICS time scale with dates & events
Adjacent libraries
- geophysics — the physics of the Earth’s interior, seismology, gravity, the geodynamo
- ClimateScience — atmosphere, climate, carbon cycle, glaciology, ocean biogeochemistry, paleoclimate
- crystallography-phase-diagrams — the crystallography & phase-equilibrium math behind minerals and petrology
- physical-chemistry — the thermodynamics & equilibria behind geochemistry
- ecology-and-evolution — the evolutionary biology behind paleontology
- nuclear-physics — the decay physics behind radiometric dating