Martian Geology. Must be a better word

What is the correct word to describe Martian rocks? "Geo-" means earthly.
Study of moon rocks was called selenology, I think. Is there a correct,
official term? If not, it's time to invent one.

What is the correct word to describe Martian rocks?

Areology.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
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Areology.

No, no, no. It's Barsoomology.

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...

What is the correct word to describe Martian rocks?

Areology.

Almost sounds like the study of airheads!

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
************************************

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
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"Tony Turner" wrote in message
...
What is the correct word to describe Martian rocks? "Geo-" means earthly.
Study of moon rocks was called selenology, I think. Is there a correct,
official term? If not, it's time to invent one.




Will there be a different word for each planet explored? What about the
rocks on a asteroid?

Maybe they should settle on one word for all off Earth study of rocks.

We might end up exploring Jupiter's moons within one or a few human
lifetimes.

I suggest Washingtonology in honor of George Washington. Or maybe Kirkology
in honor of fictional captain James Kirk or the enterprise. In fact, maybe
since it is science all of earth study of that which we would use the prefix
"Geo" - Geophysics or Geomorphology or Geology - should be Spockology. In
honor of the fictional Science officer of the Enterprise?


The entire world has seen Star Trek and it is a non political show. I think
everything that uses the word "Geo" should just be replaced with the word
"Spock".


An easier way might be just to not worry about the original meaning of "Geo"
and just stick to Geology etc.? Get rid of Selenology. It was a mistake to
open that door.

You could look at it as an investigation of Earth people of these worlds. At
some point there will be an indigenous population of humans on a lot of
these places and they linguistically probably will come up with their own
dialect and then actual differing languages. They can worry about
substituting Geo just as the French try to after the fact get rid of
Americanisms. They will use whatever language they come up with and it will
be yet another AP class for us on Earth to take to master the various words
for Geology.

U840 wrote:
Will there be a different word for each planet explored? What about the
rocks on a asteroid?

Maybe they should settle on one word for all off Earth study of rocks.

We might end up exploring Jupiter's moons within one or a few human
lifetimes.

They could be identifying joviological formations. :-o

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?

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
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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?



Ok, Martian Lithology..settled

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

Chris L Peterson wrote:
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.

Ahh, well, if it wasn't worth re-inventing, it couldn't have been worth
inventing in the first place.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

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".


It is related to the ancient greek goddess of Earth gaia or ge..hence GE
ology so we still are
bound to an earthly origin.
My vote goes to Lithology - Lithos. More general and widely applicable to
any rocky body other than
earth. Lithos is a greek word for "stone".