Terminology

Q

This page provides an alphabetical listing of some of the basic hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, camping, and archaeological terms that one might encounter while preparing for an adventure in canyon country. The definitions on these pages are meant only as a beginning, a point from which to get familiar as quickly as possible with the jargon of the trail. Please do not consider these explanations as definitive nor comprehensive. There are outside resources listed and linked for more in-depth definitions.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Q

Quadrupeds
When discussing rock art, these are animal figures with four legs.

Quarry
An open or surface working, usually for the extraction of building stone or other industrial minerals.

Quartz
An important rock-forming mineral (silicon dioxide). Quarts is second only to feldspar as the most common rock-forming mineral, and it forms the major portion of most sands. It has a widespread distribution in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Quartz has a glassy luster and fracture, and lacks cleavage.

Quicksand
A mass of deep, soft, wet sand that yields easily to pressure and will not support a heavy object, but will slowly engulf it.