Lithology is the study of rocks, emphasizing their macroscopic physical characteristics, including grain size, mineral composition, and color. Lithology and its related field, petrography (the description and systematic classification of rocks), are...

Petrology (from Greek: πέτρα, petra, rock; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is a field of geology that focuses on the study of rocks and the conditions on which they form. The word lithology once was approximately synonymous with petrography, but...

The Cima Volcanic Field seems like nothing but a vast wasteland.It’s a forbidding-looking landscape with its abandoned mines, craggy hillsides, cacti, dry wind, sun-bleached paths and orange rust. “It seems like a place you would never want to go,” Cal State Fullerton volcano expert Brandon...