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What Is a Geologist? Careers in Science

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What Is a Geologist?
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.43

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		geologist, geologic, origin, continental, magma, mantle, geologists, knowing, mass, outer, core, timeline, beginning, environment, liquid, fuel
	content words:		Himalaya Mountains

Other Languages
     Spanish: ¿Qué es un geólogo?

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What Is a Geologist? By Cindy Grigg

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¹     A geologist is a person who studies the earth. Geologists study the structure of the Earth, or how it is made, the origin, or the beginning of the Earth, and its history. Geologists study rocks, soil, fossils, mountains, and earthquakes.
 
²     Geologists study the structure of the Earth, and they have found that it is made up of four main parts. The earth has a solid inner core, a liquid outer core, a mantle, and a crust. The crust is the outer layer of the Earth, just as bread crust is on the outside of the bread slice. The crust has continents and ocean basins. It is made up of many plates, or pieces, that move around. At one time, all the continents were joined together in one giant land mass. Scientists called this Pangea. There is scientific evidence that the continents have joined together and moved away from each other many times during Earth's history. The movement of these plates, although it happens very slowly, is what causes earthquakes. Some geologists study earthquakes to help people by predicting when an earthquake might happen and how to prepare for it. Sometimes the plates push apart, and sometimes they push together. When plates push together, mountains are formed. The Himalaya Mountains, the tallest mountains on Earth, were formed when two continental plates pushed together and pushed up these great mountains!
 
³     Also, by studying the structure of the Earth, geologists have helped us understand why there are volcanoes. Inside the Earth's mantle, rock is under great pressure and heat, and it melts and becomes magma. Magma sometimes is released from inside the Earth, and when this happens, a volcano erupts. After the magma reaches the surface of the Earth, we call it lava.

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Careers in Science

Careers in Science

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Labor Day

Labor Day

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Science

Science

Careers in Science         Caring for Earth         Clouds         Dinosaurs         Earth's Land         Earth         Earthquakes         Electricity         Energy         Erosion         Food Pyramid         Food Webs and Food Chain         Forces and Motion         Fossils         Health and Nutrition         How Things Work         Landforms         Life Science         Light         Magnets         Matter

Moon         Natural Disasters         Photosynthesis         Plant and Animal Cells         Plants         Rocks and Minerals         Science Process Skills         Scientific Notation         Seasons         Simple Machines         Soil         Solar System         Sound         Space and Stars         Sun         Tsunami         Volcanoes         Water Cycle         Water         Weather

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