Introduction To Earth Science & Minerals: Building Blocks Of Rocks

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What is the study of earth?

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Geology

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Any naturally occurring inorganic solids that posses an orderly internal structure & a definite chemical compostion.

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Mineral

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Any solid mass of mineral, or mineral like, matter that occurs naturally as part of our planet.

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Rock

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The smallest particle of matter that retains the essentail characteristics of an element.

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Atom

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The external expression of a mineral's internal orderly arrangement of atoms.

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Crystal Form

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The appearance or quality of light reflected from the surface of a mineral.

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Luster

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Obvious feature of a mineral, it is often an unreliable diagnostic property.

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Color

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The color of a mineral in its powdered form, which is a much more reliable indication of color.

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Streak

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Measure of the resisitance of a mineral to abrasion or scratching.

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Hardness

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Standard hardness scale.

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Mohns Scale

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Tendency of a mineral to cleave, or break, along planes of weak bonding.

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Cleavage

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Minerals that do not exhibit cleavage when broken, such as quartz.

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Fracture

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Compares the weight of a mineral to the weight of an equal volume of water.

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Specific Gravity

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Most common mineral group.

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Silicates

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Second most abundant mineral in the continental crust, is the only common mineral made completely of silicon and oxygen.

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Quartz

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Earth's storehouse of useful minerals that can be recovered for use.

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Mineral Resources

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Denotes useful metallic minerals that can be mined at a profit.

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Ore

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Allows us to view many of the interrelationships among different parts of the Earth's system.

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Rock Cycle

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Molten material that forms inside Earth.

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Magma

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When magma cools and solidifies, may occur either beneath the surface, or following a volcanic eruption, at the surface.

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Crystallization

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Rocks exposed at the surface, they will undergo weathering, in which the day-in and day-out influences of the atmosphere slowly disintegrate and decompose rocks.

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Igneous Rocks

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Particles and dissolved substances from igneous rock are deposited.

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Sediment

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Conversion into rock.

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Lithification

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Rocks formed by the alteration of preexisting rock deep within Earth, by hear, pressure, and/or chemically active fluids.

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Metamorphic Rock

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Similar to magma, except that most of the gaeous component has escaped.

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Lava

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The rocks that result when lava solidifies

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Volcanic (extrusive)

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The formation and growth of a crystalline solid from a liquid or gas.

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Crystallization

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The size, shape, and distribution of the particles that collectively constitute a rock.

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Texture

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A texture of igneous rocks in which the crystals are too small for individual minerals to be distinguished with the unaided eye.

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Fine-grained Texture

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Voids left by gas bubbles that formed as the lava solidified.

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Vesicles

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An ingeous rock texture in which the crystals are roughly equal in size and large enough so that individual minerals can be identified with the unaided eye.

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Coarse-grained Rocks

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A rock that has large crystals embedded in a matrix of smaller crystals.

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Porphyritic Texture

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When the ions do not have sufficient time to unite into an orderly crystalline structure.

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Glassy Texture

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A common type of natural glass that is similar to a dark chunck of manufactured glass.

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Obsidian

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A concept proposed by N.L. Bowen that illustrates the relationships between magma and the minerals crystallizing from it during the formation of igneous rocks.

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Bowen's Reaction Series

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During the crystallization of magma, the earlier-formed minerals are denser than the liquid portion and settle to the bottom of the magma chamber.

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Crystal Settling

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A compositional group of igneous rocks that indicate a rock is composed almost entirely of light-colored silicates.

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Granitic Composition

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A coarse-grained igneous rock that forms where large masses of magma slowly solidfy at depth.

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Granite

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The extrusive equivalent of granit, and like granit, is composed essentially of the light-colored silicates.

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Rhyolite

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A composition group of igneous rocks indicating that the rock contains substantial dark silicate minerals and calcium-rich plagioclas feldspar.

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Basaltic Composition

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Igneous rocks with a low silica content and a high iron-magnesium content.

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Mafic

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The composition of igneous rocks lying between felsic and mafic.

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Intermediate Composition

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Igneous rocks composed mainly of iron and magnesium-rich minerals.

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Ultramafic

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Rock formed from the accumulation of material that originated and was transported in the form of solid particles derived from both mechanical and chemical weathering.

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Detrital Sedimentary Rocks

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Sedimentary rock consisting of material that was precipitated from water by either inorganic or organic means.

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Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

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When gravel-size particles predominate, if the sediment is rounded.

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Conglomerate

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When gravel size particles predominate, if the pieces are angular.

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Breccia

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The name given to rocks when sand-size grains prevail.

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Sandstone

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The most common sedimentary rock, is made of very fine-grained sediment.

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Shale

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Another rather fine-grained rock, is sometimes difficult to differentiate from rocks such as shale that are composed of even smaller clay-size sediment.

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Siltstone

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The most abundant chemcial sedimentary rock, it's composed chiefly of mineral calcite.

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Limestone

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A coarse rock composed of loosely cemented shells and shell fragments.

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Coquina

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A soft, porousrock made up almost entirely of the hard parts of microscopic organisms.

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Chalk

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The type of limestone that decorates caverns.

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Travertine

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A mineral containing halite.

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Rock Salt

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Made of gypsum.

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Rock Gypsum

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A sedimentary rock formed of material deposited from solution by evaporation of the water.

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Evaporites

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Form from dissolved materials left behind as a white ccrust on the ground.

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Salt Flats

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Made mostly of organic matter.

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Coal

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The processes by which sediments are transformed into solid sedimentary rocks.

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Lithification

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Single most characteristic feature of sedimentary rocks.

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Strata (beds)

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Traces or remains of prehistoric life, or perhaps the most important inclusions found in some sedimentary rock.

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Fossils

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Takes place where preexisting rock is subjected to temperatures and pressures unlike those in which it formed.

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Metamorphism

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Changes in rock caused by the heat from a nearby magma body.

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Thermal Metamorphism

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Associated with large-scale mountain-building processes

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Regional Metamorphism

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Hot water masses

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Hydrothermal Solutions

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A mineral filling a fracture or fault in a host rock.

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Vein Deposits

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Type of accumulation generated by hydrothermal activity

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Disseminated Deposits

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The physical breakdown and chemical aloteration of rocks at or near Earth's surface.

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Weathering

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The transfer of rock and soil downslope under the influence of gravity.

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Mass Wasting

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The physical removal of material by mobile agents such as water, wind, or ice.

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Erosion

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Accomplished by physical forces that break rock into smaller and smaller pieces without changing the rock's mineral composition.

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Mechanical Weathering

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Involves a chemcial transformation of rock into one or more new compounds

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Chemcial Weathering

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The mechancial break up of rock caused by the expansion of freezing water in cracks and crevices.

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Frost Wedging

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Sections of rock are wedged loose and may tumble into large piles which often format the base of steep rocky cliffs.

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Talus Slopes

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Oxygen dissolved in water.

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Oxidize

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Any weathering process that tends to produce a spherical shape from an initially blocky shape.

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Spheroidal Weathering