Talk:Geology of Mars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is part of WikiProject Mars, an attempt to improve and standardise articles related to Mars. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. |
| Top | This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale. |
DOI:10.1046/j.1468-4004.2001.42617.x This is the only science article using this word Areology! The other sources in the net are edu servers of some universities which have more advertising character than scientific.
So lets ask the real question: Where das areology come from, and should it go the way all phantasy word should go in wikipedia? --Stone 18:08, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Just like geo- come from the Greek goddess "Gaia" personifying the Earth, Areology comes from the Greek god Ares (or in Roman Mars), the greek god of war. So if you say the "geology" of Mars, unless geology is put in inverted commas the phrase isn't technically correct. You have a similar naming for other planets. Look up Selenology for "geology" of the moon (although one could argue that since current theory suggests that the moon is derived from the Earth, the "geo" term is perfectly acceptable in this case). I think the reason it is not widely used is becuase people don't want to, even though it is the scientifically correct term.
This discussion mirrors the one we're having about areography but in this case I feel the case is even more clear. I can state without hestitation that professional planetary scientists (like myself) do not use 'areology'. For a concrete example, I just came back from the American Geophysical Union meeting where I attended the following session: http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/sessions5?meeting=fm06&part=P31B&maxhits=400 I don't think that areology is an "incorrect" term -- it's just not the dominant term and I believe that wikipedia ought to use the dominant term in its titles. Jespley 19:29, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
I would say somebody invented it and one or two used it and the rest never heard of it and should be happy with it.--Stone 23:24, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Jespley, you say you're a professional planetary scientist, but you fail to say that you're specialisation is planetary atmospheres NOT planetary geology, most planetary scientists I know use the "are-" terms.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.134.158.31 (talk) 12:13, 23 December 2006
Fair enough -- I can only speak about my own experience. Nonetheless, I do interact with a lot of "pure" geologists and actually my some of my recent work has direct geological implications. Jespley 23:22, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Why does nobody use the term in publications? --Stone 11:12, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Martian spiders / spherules?
I think it might be appropriate to include a mention of the southern hemispheric Martian spiders and other cryptic region features. These are a geological feature of some notable debate currently. Seems worthy of inclusion in an article of Geological features of Mars? Also, wouldn't hurt to update and expand that article, either.
While we're at it, we might also note the Martian spherules in slightly more detail, with a link to the main article. These also seem to be a geological feature of some notable debate curently. May also note similarity to Moqui Marbles, and Stone spheres of Costa Rica on Earth. There may or may not be common causation between all the similar features. If nothing else, almost perfectly spherical natural objects seem to be slightly rare/mysterious. Just a thought.
Both of these notes could be, if nothing else, short snippets mentioning them and very basic info about what and whree, wit ha link to the "main articles" as they exist currently... Mgmirkin 17:41, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
- The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.
The result of the debate was PAGE MOVED per request. -GTBacchus(talk) 08:15, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Proposed move of Areology to Geology of Mars
FOR As someone who studies the geology of the Moon and Mars, I have to say that "selenology" is a dying term, and Areology is almost never used. Even popular articles use expressions like "geomorpology of mars", "the martian geotherm", and others. These "selono-" and "Are-" terms were introduced as soon as one realized that one could study the geology of the Moon and Mars. However, it was later realized that the same geologic processes operate on these bodies, and it thus made no sense to use separate terms for each planet that describe the same phenomenon. Now that we can study the geology of tens of bodies, the proliferation of new words would become absurd if this practice was carried out to its logical extremum. For instance, what do you call the geology of Io, Ganymede, Titan, Tritan, Pluto, etc.??? And what is geometry when you are on Mars? Finally, many find these terms to be pretentious. Lunokhod 17:02, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
- Also, please consult with planetary geology. Lunokhod 17:12, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
Support: As mentionen at Areography and Areology pages there is no literature using this term. --Stone 19:37, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
Support: Wikipedia article titles ought to use the most prevalent term for the subject matter. Areo- terms are not commonly used in general discussion (do a Google search) and in modern professional settings are almost never used (from personal experience and Google searches). However, a sentence within the articles about the areo- terms is quite appropriate. Jespley 21:53, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
- The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.
[edit] More formally known as Areology?
A recent edit has changed to introductory sentence from "sometimes known as Areology" to "formally known as Areology". As is clear from the above discussion, this page was moved from "Areology of Mars" to "Geology of Mars" because this is, in fact, not true. If the author of this change does not add a reference attesting to the verifiability of this statement, I will revert back to "sometimes known as." Lunokhod 13:16, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
