5. Find the synonyms to the following words in the text.

inside, to explain, to find job, oil, use, building, to act, humanity (humankind), harm, forecast

6. Match the term on the left with its definition on the right.

Evolution	A holder of an academic degree or diploma.
Mankind	Third planet in distance outward from the sun.
Earthquake	The rapid downward movement of a mass of rock, earth.
Graduate	Scientific study of the earth, including its composition, structure, physical properties, and history
Earth	The human race: the totality of human beings.
Geology	A shaking or trembling of the earth that is volcanic or tectonic in origin.
Landslide	The historical development of smth

7. Say if the following statements correspond to the text. Correct the wrong ones.

1. Geology is concerned with the origin and development of the Mars.

2. Geology is concerned with the structure of both the surface and the interior of the Earth.

3. Geologists never interpret the processes and conditions, which operated during the 4,500,000,000 years of the Earth's history.

4. The evolution of the planet has involved а wide range of physical, chemical and biological processes, and thus the geologist must have а broad scientific training.

5. A degree course in geology provides the student with а poor scien­tific background.

6. Many of the Earth's major resources are found in the rocks on or within the Earth.

7. The Sun’s resources include minerals, energy and water.

8. The geologist doesn’t play any role in exploration and production of these resources and in minimizing damage to the envi­ronment.

9. The applications of biology include the predic­tion and mitigation of geological hazards, such as earthquakes, volca­nic eruptions and landslides.

10. The science of geology and its many appli­cations play а major part in the economy of the nations of the world.

8. Speak on the following topics.

1. Geology as a science.

2. Applications of geology.

OUR EARTH

The earth is a huge, slightly lopsided ball of rock. When geologists talk of the earth as a ball of rock, they do not mean it is solidly made up of the stones you see on a rocky beach. Scientists actually know very little about the rocks deep inside the earth. And even the definition of a rock itself may seem vague and complicated. It is easy to define chemical elements and the minerals they form, but it is not easy to define the rocks of which the earth is made.

The story of where rocks came from is closely related to the origin of the earth, and this mystery is yet to be unraveled. The best guess is that the earth and the entire solar system have been in existence for a little over four billion years.

Our direct knowledge of rocks is limited very much to the crust of the earth.

Scientists can measure quite accurately the age of rocks that contain uranium. Uranium in a rock slowly but steadily decays into one kind of lead. Thus, careful measurements to find the relative weight of uranium and lead in the rock can be used to measure the rock’s age. When about one quarter of the uranium has changed to lead, two billion years passed. This is almost the age of the oldest known rocks, found in the mountains of India.

In recent years astronomers and geologists have shown that the story of the origin of the world is very complicated. Yet everyone agrees that the earth, the sun and the planets are made of matter. Therefore, comprehension what is meant by matter is the first step in understanding rocks.

Matter is anything that occupies space, has weight and can be detected by some means or other. All matter is made of elements listed in Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. Over 99 per cent of the material in the earth is made of 30 lightest elements. In the crust of the earth 30 light elements have joined together to make thousands upon thousands of different molecules. These molecules form chemicals which occur naturally in the crust of the earth. When these natural chemicals have definite crystal structure and are not formed in or by living things, they are called minerals.

Thousands of kinds of minerals are known, but only a hundred or so are common. Best known and most important of all minerals in the earth’s crust are the oxides like silicon dioxide, the chemical name for quartz or sand and the silicates.

These common kinds of minerals are made mainly of eight elements: oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium. These eight elements joined together in various ways make up nearly 99 per cent of the crust or outer part of the earth. Whether in the form of silicon dioxide or in the form of silicates the two elements – silicon and oxygen – together make up 83 per cent of the crust of the earth. Six metals make up 16 per cent; other elements like iron and all the precious stones add up to one per cent. All of these together are the materials comprising the earth’s crust.