Mineral And Rock Vocabulary

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Carbonates

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Minerals made of the carbonate ion (one atom of carbon and three atoms of oxygen) in combination with one or more elements like Ca, Mg, Fe (ie calcite-CaCO3)

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Cleavage

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The way a mineral breaks along one or more smooth, flat planes

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Crystal

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A geometric mineral shape having an orderly arrangement of plane surfaces that reflects the fixed pattern of its internal atoms

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Fracture

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The breakage of minerals along irregular surfaces. Facture can be described as uneven, splintered or curved

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Feldspar

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A group of aluminum silicate minerals characterized by their hardness and distinct right-angle cleavage. They are the most abundant of all the rock-forming minerals

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Luster

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The visual appearance of a mineral as it absorbs, reflects or refracts light

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Mineral

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A solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance composed of an element or compound and having a fixed chemical composition

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Muscovite

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A potassium, aluminum silicate mineral of the mica group that has perfect cleavage in one direction (breaks into thin sheets) and has a glassy luster

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Native elements

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Metallic (gold, silver, copper) and nonmetallic (graphite, sulfur, diamond) minerals composed of a single element in its purest uncombined form (ie. Gold-Au)

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Oxides

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Minerals that form when oxygen atoms bond w/ metal atoms like iron, magnesium, or aluminum (ie. magnetite-Fe3O4)

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Quartz

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(SiO2) One of the most abundant and stable minerals in the earth's crust, made of one atom of silicon and two atoms of oxygen

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Silicates

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The rock-forming minerals made up of silicon-oxygen molecules either alone or in combination w/ one or more other elements

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Specific Gravity

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The relative weight of a mineral when compared w/ the weight of an equal volume of water; also referred to as "heft." It is similar to a mineral's density

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Streak

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The color of the powder left by a mineral when it is rubbed across an unglazed tile

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Sulfides

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Metallic minerals that form when a metal element bonds w/ Sulfur (ie. pyrite-FeS2)

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Cementation

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Process in which dissolved minerals left by water passing through sediments binds the sediments together

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Chemical Rock

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Sedimentary rock that forms when minerals crystallize from a solution (ie. Limestone)

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Compaction

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Process in which air and water are squeezed out of sediments, resulting in the formation of sedimentary rock

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Deposition

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The laying down ad accumulation of earth materials in oceans, rivers, deserts, and glaciers

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Extrusive

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A type of rock formed from magma flowing out over the earth's surface

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Foliation

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A distinctly layered texture found in some metamorphic rocks

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Intrusive

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A type of rock formed by magma solidifying among other rocks below the earth's surface

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Igneous Rock

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A type of rock formed when magma cools and crystallizes below or on the surface of the earth

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Lithification

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the set of chemical and physical processes that convert newly deposited sediment into rock

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Metamorphic Rock

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A type of rock formed by the squeezing and heating of rocks deep below the surface of the earth

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Rock

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The material that forms Earth's hard surface, composed of minerals

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Rock Cycle

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A series of processes on the surface and inside Earth that slowly changes rocks from one kind to another

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Sediment

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Earth materials, both mineral and organic, that have been transported and laid to rest on the earth's surface

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Sedimentary Rock

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A type of rock formed when horizontal layers of sediment harden into solid rock at or just below the earth's surface