It has a temperate climate and provides a unique geological and biological environment that has been recognised by the designation of several Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish various species, and these properties in turn are influenced by the mineral's geological environment of formation.

This field studies the interactions of physical, chemical, geological, and biological components of the environment, with a particular regard to the effect of human activities and the impact on biodiversity and sustainability.

Geologically, the value of echinoderms is in their ossified skeletons, which are major contributors to many limestone formations, and can provide valuable clues as to the geological environment.

A marker that accounts for a substantial global impact of humans on the total environment, comparable in scale to those associated with significant perturbations of the geological past, is needed in place of minor changes in atmosphere composition.

Scientific analysis of the mere, in particular sedimentary pollen studies, provides insight into the geological history and makeup of the local environment and allows accurate dating of events before, during and after the Devensian ice age.

( 1988 ) " Coral cays: products of wave action and geological processes in a biogenic environment ".

HMP has conducted geological, hydrological, botanical, and microbiological studies in this harsh environment since 1997.

This phenomenon is caused by the colossal weight of the artificial river, resulting in the shift of layers of rock, and although officials state that the reservoirs are only shallow lakes and the occurrence of such disaster is remote at best, these geological tremors could potentially fatally harm Quebec's local population and surrounding environment, as the region is typically dominated by slump-sensitive clays, and fault lines present in the St. Lawrence Valley.

Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment ( including the biosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere, the atmosphere, and the lithosphere ).

In the contemporary environment, the amount of influence humans have on the other two spheres is comparable to a geological force ( see Anthropocene ).

Such a paleolatitude provides information about the geological environment at the time of deposition.

Life depends on adequate conditions of food, water, and shelter from inclement elements and also that weather, geological, and biological factors ( among others ) are involved in the web of life that affords this environment.

Habitat fragmentation can be caused by geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment ( suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation ), or by human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and causes extinctions of many species.

This flexibility in substrate demonstrates a less specialized geological environment.

This makes it prefer a more specialized geological environment.

Some study all aspects of plant life, including algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, conifers, and flowering plants ; others specialize in areas such as identification and classification of plants, the structure and function of plant parts, the biochemistry of plant processes, the causes and cures of plant diseases, the interaction of plants with other organisms and the environment, the geological record of plants and their evolution.

On other planets and moons that experience more-active surface geological processes, such as Earth, Venus, Mars, Europa, Io and Titan, visible impact craters are less common because they become eroded, buried or transformed by tectonics over time.

These range in diameter from a few tens of meters up to about 300 km, and they range in age from recent times ( e. g. the Sikhote-Alin craters in Russia whose creation were witnessed in 1947 ) to more than two billion years, though most are less than 500 million years old because geological processes tend to obliterate older craters.

The study of fossils across geological time, how they were formed, and the evolutionary relationships between taxa ( phylogeny ) are some of the most important functions of the science of paleontology.

Although any amount of rock emplacement and rock deformation can occur, and they can occur any number of times, these concepts provide a guide to understanding the geological history of an area.

Earthcaches are the exception to the no-container rule ; they are caches in which players must answer geological questions to complete the cache.

The geological properties of a white silica sand found at Basin Head are unique in the province ; the sand grains cause a scrubbing noise as they rub against each other when walked on, and have been called the " singing sands ".

Where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass ( sometime termed a gap ).

To this end, Gould later commented that " Most of our paleontological colleagues missed this insight because they had not studied evolutionary theory and either did not know about allopatric speciation or had not considered its translation to geological time.

Our evolutionary colleagues also failed to grasp the implication ( s ), primarily because they did not think at geological scales ".

For example, no new evidence will demonstrate that the Earth does not orbit around the sun ( heliocentric theory ), or that living things are not made of cells ( cell theory ), that matter is not composed of atoms, or that the surface of the Earth is not divided into solid plates that have moved over geological timescales ( the theory of plate tectonics )... One of the most useful properties of scientific theories is that they can be used to make predictions about natural events or phenomena that have not yet been observed.

In the summer of 2000, a Helwan University geological team, prospecting for petroleum in Egypt's Western Desert, came across well-preserved fragments of textiles, bits of metal resembling weapons, and human remains that they believed to be traces of the Lost Army of Cambyses.

Hooke believed that such fossils provided reliable clues to the past history of life on earth, and, despite the objections of contemporary naturalists like John Ray who found the concept of extinction theologically unacceptable, that in some cases they might represent species that had become extinct through some geological disaster.

* There are very few old soils ( in a geological sense ) because they can be destroyed or buried by geological events, or modified by shifts in climate by virtue of their vulnerable position at the surface of the earth.

Ammonites are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

They are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

In some stories, a planet is mainly considered as an object in space: the interest of the fiction depends upon its astronomical characteristics, such as its mass, its geological composition, its atmosphere, how many moons it has and what size they are, how close it is to its sun ( or suns ) and how hot they are.

Because they symbolize man's battle against the sea and are relatively rare, provincial authorities designated them " geological monuments " in June 2005.

Geologists have noted the chemical and geological content of these three mountains to be much different than that of the Cascade Range, simply because they are not volcanic in origin, while the entire Cascade Range is postulated to have formed from volcanic action.

The Eifel range in Germany adjoins the Ardennes and is part of the same geological formation, although they are conventionally regarded as being two distinct areas.

There was considerable debate between its proponents and those favouring a rival theory known as plutonism which gave a significant role to volcanic origins, and in modified form replaced neptunism in the early 19th century as the principle of uniformitarianism was shown to fit better with the geological facts as they became better known.

In this monograph they identified characteristic fossils of different rock layers that they used to analyze the geological column, the ordered layers of sedimentary rock, of the Paris basin.

Regions as defined in this context are merely for statistical, geographical, geological and climate related purposes and do not refer to an administrative division.

Also known as the K – T extinction event, it is associated with a geological signature known variously as the K – T boundary, the Cretaceous – Paleogene boundary or the K – Pg boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation visible wherever rocks of this age are exposed.

Further benefits are the existing infrastructure and the geophysical and geological information about the oil field that is available from the oil exploration.

Identified possible problems are the many ' leak ' opportunities provided by old oil wells, the need for high injection pressures and acidification which can damage the geological barrier.

Some volcanic features can resemble impact craters, and brecciated rocks are associated with other geological formations besides impact craters.

Similar to the desert, the peninsula contains mountains in its southern sector that are a geological extension of the Red Sea Hills, the low range along the Red Sea coast that includes Mount Catherine ( Jabal Katrinah ), the country's highest point, at 2, 642 m above sea-level.

Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests.

Rock series are divided into stages, just as geological epochs are divided into ages.

This theory states that slow geological processes have occurred throughout the Earth's history and are still occurring today.

Today, handheld computer s with GPS and geographic information systems software are often used in geological field work ( digital geologic mapping ).

In the field of civil engineering, geological principles and analyses are used in order to ascertain the mechanical principles of the material on which structures are built.

Different spans of time on the GTS are usually delimited by changes in the composition of strata which correspond to them, indicating major geological or paleontological events, such as mass extinctions.

Geysers are temporary geological features.

Various resources from national geological survey organizations are accessible online to assist in assessing the risk factors in granite country and design rules relating, in particular, to preventing accumulation of radon gas in enclosed basements and dwellings.

The Highland Boundary Fault runs past Bute and through the northern part of Arran, so from a geological perspective some of the islands are in the Highlands and some in the Central Lowlands.

Fractures of the Earth's surface are evident in the great geological rift that extends southward from the Jordan Valley through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, gradually disappearing south of the lake country of East Africa.

" Biogenic substances are chemical compounds produced entirely by biological processes without a geological component ( e. g., urinary calculi, oxalate crystals in plant tissues, shells of marine molluscs, etc.