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General Work Definitions
A comprehensive set of work definitions to remember
47
Geology
Professional
03/13/2012

Additional Geology Flashcards

 


 

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Term
Aromatic Hydrocarbon: General Definition
Definition
Alternating Double and single bonds between carbon atoms. Named for the pungent aroma. 
Term
Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Benzene Rings
Definition
C6H6 The simplest aromatic structure. Hexagonal configuration of 6 carbon atoms sharing 4 electrons. Alternating single and double bonds around the ring.
Term
Surface Water
Definition

Streams, oceans, rivers, etc.

 

Replenished by rainfall

Depleted by discharge, evaporation, or seep

Term
Groundwater
Definition
Located beneath the ground surface in soil pores or fractures in rock.
Term
Benzene
Definition

Simple, cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. C6H6.

 

Clear, Colorless, odor threshold 4.68 ppm

 

Boiling Point: 80.1 deg C

Melting Point: 5.5 Deg C

Density: 0.8787 at STP

Miscible with alcohol, chloroform, ether, acetone, oil

Sourced from Petroleum and Coal tar.

Term
Miscible
Definition

Property of liquids to mix in all proportions forming homogenous solution.

 

Something must be soluble to the point the two liquids become one, not partially soluble.

Term
Toluene
Definition

C7H8

Colorless Liquid. Benzene like odor.

Boiling Point: 110.6 deg C

Melting Point: -94.9 deg C

Density: 0.8636 at STP

 

Miscible with alcohol, chloroform, ether, acetone

Soluble in ethanol, benzene

Insoluble in water

Gasoline component

Term
Ethylbenzene
Definition

C8H10

Colorless Liquid; Aromatic odor

Boiling point: 136 deg C

Melting point: -94.9 deg C

Density: 0.8670 at STP

Miscible with organic solvents. Soluble in water, chloroform, alcohol, benzene, and ether. Insoluble in Ammonia

 

Component of Crude Oil/biomass combustion. 

Term
Xylenes
Definition

C24H30

Clear liquid, aromatic odor

Boiling point: 160 deg C

Density: 0.86 at STP

Miscible with alcohol, ether

 

 

Sourced from crude oil

Term
Perched Aquifer
Definition
An aquifer that occurs in the vadose zone, atop an aquiclude or aquitard above the main water table/Aquifer.
Term
Water Table
Definition
Surface where water pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. The surface of subsurface materials saturated in meteoric water.
Term

Aquifer

(Also define: Phreatic zone)

Definition
Region below the water table (In the Phreatic zone: Zone of saturation), in which porous or fractured rock yields groundwater 
Term
Aquitard
Definition
Zone within the earth that restricts flow in groundwater from one aquifer to another.
Term
Aquiclude/Aquifuge
Definition
Impermiable layer that Restricts the flow of groundwater. Often overly or underly aquifers.
Term
Unconfined Aquifer
Definition

Aquifer with high storativity values.

 

Aquifer without a aquiclude overlying it.

Term
Confined Aquifer
Definition

Aquifer with very low storativity (10-5 to 10-3)

 

Aquifer with a aquiclude overlying it.

Term
Carbonate Platform
Definition
Large Ediface formed by accumulation of sediment in an area of subsidence.
Term
Carbonate Shelf
Definition
A carbonate platform tied to a adjacent continental land mass.
Term
Epeiric Platform
Definition
A craton with a large horizontal extent, covered in shallow seawater.
Term
Carbonate Bank
Definition
An isolated platform surrounded by deep ocean water and cut off from terrigenous clastic sediments.
Term
Rimmed platform
Definition
Segmented to continuous rampart of reefs and/or lime sand shoals along a margin that absorbs ocean waves. Disappation of wave energy, creates low energy environments, confines coarse grained sediments, and restrict water circulation.
Term
Unrimmed/Open platform
Definition
No barrier against waves. Common in cooler waters.
Term
Carbonate Ramp
Definition
Unrimmed shelf that slopes gentely basinward at an angle less than 1o. Nearshore wave-aggrivated facies grade to low energy deep water deposits. No discernable break in the slope between areas.
Term
Evaporitic Shelves
Definition
Depositional basins that suffer partial or complete desiccation during isolation from the sea.
Term
Carbonate Factory
Definition
Shallow, illuminated seafloor. Sediments crystallize as skeletons or precipitate out of seawater. Fine grained sediments are resuspended, piling as muddy peritidal flats along the shore or highs of the platform. Fine sediments also are swept seaward, accumulating on the basin margin down slope.
Term
Evaporite Factory
Definition

Confined, shallow, hypersaline water, in which evaporation outpaces regeneration of the body of water.

 

Export of sediment is uncommon because evaporite formation is diagenetic, and lithification occurs prior to precipitation.

Term
Evaporite: Indicators that can be gleaned from the evaporte mineralogy and overal composition
Definition
Type of water being evaporated, temperature, salinity, and the degree of basin isolation.
Term
Goldilocks Window
Definition
The key conditions for carbonate production: Correct elevation, correct depth beneath water (Not too deep, not too shallow), not too fresh or saline, not too much terrigenous sediment, not too many or too few nutriens
Term
Evaporite accumulation window
Definition

The conditions in which formation of evaporites will occur

 

Just enough water flowing into the basin, brine loss must happen, evaporation rates must be high, terrigenous clastic influx must be low.

Term
Carbonates: Precipitates
Definition
Grains, either directly or mediated biologically, that preciptiate calcium carbonate.
Term
Carbonates: Bioclasts
Definition

Calcareous sheaths, shells, tests, and spicules of sessile, burrowing, drifting, or swimming invertabrates, microbes, or algae.

 

Sourced from shallow and deep water across the environmental spectrum

Term
Carbonates: Peloids
Definition
Grains of microcrystalline carbonate. Agglutinated or cemented feces or diagenatically altered grains.
Term
Carbonates: Lithoclasts
Definition
Fragments of consolidated, hardened, or lithified sediments.
Term
Steam cracking
Definition

Breakdown of saturated hydrocarbons to unsaturated hydrocarbons by dillution using steam, before heating in a furnace.

 

Higher temperatures used to produce light armoatic hydrocarbons.

 

Low temperatures used to produce liquid products.

 

Coke produced as a bi-product

Term
Soil organic Carbon-Water partitioning Coefficient (KOC)
Definition
ratio of the mass of a chemical that is adsorbed in the soil, per unit of organic carbon in the soil per the equillirbium chemical concentration in solution.

Used to judge mobility of contaminates in soil 
Term
Flash Point
Definition
Lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form an ignitiable mixture in air. 
Term
ADEM Acronyms: COPCs
Definition
Constituents of Potential Concern. General term applicable to sites, dependant on the conditions onsite. 
Term
ADEM Acronym: AOC
Definition
Area of Concern: Site dependant defintion of area effected by COPCs
Term
Thalweg
Definition
Deepest point in a stream of water
Term
Storativity
Definition
The volume of water released per unit decline in hydraulic head in the aquifer per unit area of aquifer.
Term
Hydraulic Head
Definition
Specific measure of water pressure above datum. Can be measured in units of length at the entrance of a piezometer (Specialized water well)
Term
Piezometer
Definition

Device used to measure static liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of liquid rises against gravity, at a specific point.

 

Solid section down to area of interest, with slotted section within the zone where water pressure is being measured.

 

Unconfined: water levels coincident with water table

Confined: Water levels indicative of pressure in the aquifer

Term
Transmissivity
Definition
Rate at which groundwater flows through a unit in an aquifer. Correlates with horizontal hydraulic conductivity and  thickness of a unit.
Term
Hydraulic conductivity
Definition
Rate at which water moves throughp ore spaces or fractures.
Term
ADEM Acronymns: PSV
Definition
Preliminary Screening values: Corrective action defined values. Values are conservative health based concentrations of hazardous constituents determined to be indicators for the protection of human health or the environment. Based on conservative exposure asumptions. 
Term

Mercaptan

(General Chemical Definition)

Definition
Not a thiol, sulfide.
Term
Vadose Zone
Definition

The area above the water table at atmospheric pressure.

 

Water contained there has a pressure head lower than Atmospheric pressure.

 

Water retained by adhesion and capillary action.

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