On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 23:35:52 +0000 (UTC), (Brian Tung) wrote:

As Rod mentioned, the Martian analogue is areological. That said, your
suggestion is not a bad one, for we may soon have to deal with rocks from
a great many worlds. Perhaps lithology, from a Greek word meaning
"stone." Lithological formations. It has a certain ring to it, don't
you think?

I think that the term "lithology" is already formally defined to include the
study of the solid matter of a celestial body, so it is a good choice g.

Lithology is also a branch of geology, so in a sense it is less encompassing
(that is, "geology" includes even the study of the history of life on Earth,
most often through lithology, but not exclusively). So the meaning of lithology
needs to be expanded when dealing with other bodies than the Earth, or a new
word chosen. Personally, I'm quite happy sticking with "geology". IMO the "geo"
root in there is just a matter of historical interest, stemming from the time
when that was all there was. Nowadays, I think what gets the meaning across best
is "geology" used with a qualifier, as in "Martian geology" or "lunar geology".

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com