contained within them.Biostratinomy - study of the processes that take place after an organism dies but before its final burial.Biotite - A form of black mica widely distributed in igneous rocks (particularly in granites) as lustrous black crystals, with a singularly perfect cleavage. In composition it is a complex silicate, chiefly of iron and magnesium, together with potassium and hydroxyl.Bioturbation - displacement and mixing of sediment particles by benthic fauna (animals) or flora (plants).Blueschist - rock that forms by the metamorphism of basalt and rocks with similar composition at high pressures and low temperatures, approximately corresponding to a depth of 15 to 30 kilometers and 200 to ~500 degrees Celsius.Brackish - water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater.Breadcrust bomb - Rounded, smooth-surfaced volcanic bomb with cracked surface resembling cracked crust of bread, hence the name.Breccia - A coarse grained clastic rock consisting largely of angular fragments of existing rocks.Boudin - geological term used for structures formed by extension, where a rigid tabular body such as a bed of sandstone, is stretched and deformed amidst less competent beds. See also Boudinage.Bowen's reaction series - the sequence in which minerals crystallize from a cooling basaltic magma.Fold Buckling (geology) - typically, folding is thought to occur by simple buckling of a planar surface and its confining volume. The volume change is accommodated by layer parallel shortening the volume, which grows in thickness.Buckling (mechanics) - a failure mode of a rock subjected to high compressive stresses, where the actual compressive stress at the point of failure is less than the ultimate compressive stresses that the material is capable of withstanding.C[edit]Calcareous - sediment, sedimentary rock, or soil type which is formed from or contains a high proportion of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite or aragonite.Calcite - The crystalline form of calcium carbonate, showing trigonal symmetry and a great variety of mineral habits. It is one of the commonest of minerals in association with both igneous and sedimentary rocks.Calcite sea - one in which low-magnesium calcite is the primary inorganic marine calcium carbonate precipitate.Calcrete - a) Conglomerate of surficial sand and gravel cemented by calcium carbonate precipitated from solution. b) A calcareous duricrust.Caldera - volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption.Cambrian - the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from 541.0 1.0 to 485.4 1.9 million years ago (mya) and succeeded by the Ordovician.Carbon film - type of fossil, or preservation.Carbonate - a salt or ester of carbonic acid.Carbonate hardgrounds - surfaces of synsedimentarily-cemented carbonate layers that have been exposed on the seafloor.Casting - process which occurs when a liquid fills a cavity and then solidifies. If the cavity originated from decomposition of dead organisms, casting may result in formation of fossils.Cenozoic Era - the most recent of the eras; followed the Mesozoic Era.Chalk - soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of calcite coccolith plates.Chert - fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils.Chlorite group - A group of allied minerals which may