Geology

North Carolina's rich geologic history and composition are as dramatic as its topography. The collisions of numerous ancient landmasses resulted in majestic mountains, with their blend of diverse rock types, and the state's expansive coast was formed from the eroded sedimentary remnants of those same peaks. Beneath these impressive features lies an immense wealth of mineral resources deposited by regular geologic activity over hundreds of millions of years.

Science organization that provides impartial information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the impacts of climate and land-use change, and the core science systems that help us provide timely, relevant, and useable information.

North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) provides unbiased and technically accurate applied earth science scientific information to address societal needs. This includes geologic maps, mineral resource and geochemical information, topographic maps and digital products, and earth science education initiatives.

Take a journey back through the history of the Earth — jump to a specific time period using the time scale below and examine ancient life, climates, and geography. You might wish to start in the Cenozoic Era (65.5 million years ago to the present) and work back through time, or start with Hadean time (4.6 to 4 billion years ago)* and journey forward to the present day — it's your choice. [Note: "mya" means "millions of years ago"]

Multi-color, interactive charts setting out the geological timescale and geochronological terms used by the British Geological Survey.

Information on over 4000 minerals, including crystallography, physical & optical properties & images, as well as links to other sites.

Provides over 400 full colour photomicrographs of the major ore-forming associations and opaque minerals in non-mineralized rocks. Describes typical examples of each material from many classical localities throughout the world

Illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years.

Joint project of the Department of Mineral Sciences of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The GVP seeks better understanding of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions--small as well as large--during the last 10,000 years.

Provided by the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program to reduce earthquake hazard in the United States. In the past three years the USGS has installed approximately 300 new earthquake monitoring instruments.

Resource for anyone interested in paleontology--professional, amateur or student. Take the site tour to find out more.

Every month University of California Berkeley presents a mystery fossil to identify. By examining these specimens, visitors can get a sense of what paleontologists see as they uncover their discoveries. Past fossils are archived.