Geochemistry

/ˌdʒiːoʊˈkɛmɪstri/ noun

Definition

The science that studies the composition, structure, and behavior of Earth materials and the chemical processes that occur in the crust, atmosphere, and oceans.

Etymology

From geo- (earth) + chemistry (from alchemy). Established as a formal discipline in the 1920s-1930s, particularly through the work of scientists studying isotope distributions.

Kelly Says

Geochemistry discovered that different atoms of the same element (isotopes) are distributed differently depending on temperature and history—basically, the Earth's rocks are records written in chemistry.

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