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Lithosphere
Lithosphere
That part of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle which is brittle and makes up the tectonic plates.
Loam
A soil texture containing approximately equal proportions of sand, silt and clay particles. Loamy soils have good drainage (from the sand) and good fertility (from the clay). Loam is often considered to be an ideal soil texture for gardening and farming. (See also: Friable.)
Lode
A mining term for a rock containing many rich ore-bearing minerals. Prospectors often looked for a rich vein that was the source of fragments of metal they found in nearby rivers. They called it ‘the mother lode’. Lode is used in a way similar to vein.
Loess
A name for a silt rich loose material that blankets the hard rocks in some parts of the world. It is a deposit that formed at
the end of the last Ice Age,
when vast tracts of land were released from under the ice. Glacial erosion naturally produces huge amounts of silt. Winds can carry the silt from newly exposed areas to settle elsewhere. This is the material called loess.
Large loess spreads are found in North America and China. Loess is an example of a material that geologists call a superficial, or unconsolidated, deposit.
(See also: Parent material.) Lustre
The way in which a mineral reflects light. Used as a test for identifying minerals.
Manure
Organic material made from the waste of animals or decaying plants. As it breaks down, it forms humus, which is vital to soil fertility and structure (see: Fertile soil).
Marble
Carbonate sedimentary rocks
that have been subjected to heat, pressure and hydrothermal fluids. Because calcite and dolomite minerals are uniform in character, the effect of regional
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Magma
The molten material that comes from the Earth’s mantle and that cools to form igneous rocks.
 Magma – Magma is found in large chambers below volcanoes. It is the source of lava (shown orange) or dikes and sills (shown black), as well as the heat source for geothermal power supplies (indicated by the purple arrow).
Geothermal water
Magma
Volcano
Dikes and sills