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77 Cards in this Set
- Front
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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
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