Introduction Geology involves measurement, calculation and modeling. Everyone would agree that these are mathematical activities. Geology also involves classification. “In geology we tend to classify everything” (Thomas and Thomas, 2000, p. 571). This observation is certainly borne out by the GeoRef database. On 29 June, 2001, a search under the keyword “classification” brought up 60 papers wit...

Sahil Agarwal, ∗ Fabio Del Sordo, 3, 4 and John S. Wettlaufer 4, 5, 6 Program in Applied Mathematics, Yale University, New Haven, USA Departments of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, USA Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, USA Nordita, Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden Departments of Geology & Geophysics, Mathemat...

Introduction: One of the major and outstanding problem in Venus geology is: Does Venus possess a non-basaltic crustal component which may be an analog to the continental crust of Earth [e.g. 1]? Detailed photogeologic analysis of plains units that make up the majority of the surface of Venus strongly suggests that the plains were formed by eruptions of low-viscosity lavas [2-4]. Such a morpholo...

Introduction The special issue of this journal (Nov. 2000) that was devoted to “Some Great Ideas for Geoscience Courses,” included nine ideas under the heading “Earth materials.” Six of those papers involved classification (Thomas and Thomas, 2000; Dowse, 2000; Reynolds and Semken, 2000; Harper, 2000; Christman, 2000; Niemitz, 2000). Classification of rocks and minerals is obviously a necessary...