RELIEF FEATURES OF THE CRUST

CONTINENTAL LANDFORMS
 Mountain ranges: group or chain of mountains. Some can be volcanic
 Canyons and rifts: deep valley carved by a river
 Continental shelves: submerged edges of a continent
 Submarine canyons: steep valleys that cut into the continental shelf
 Shields or cratons: large area of stable rock
 Residual landforms: small mountains, hills or terraced formations produced by
erosion
 Continental slopes: seaward border of the continental shelf.

OCEANIC CRUST
 Island arcs: curved chain of islands of volcanic origin
 Abyssal plains: flat areas that occupy most of the ocean floor
 Ocean trench: deep, narrow underwater depressions
 Mid-ocean ridges: underwater mountain ranges
 Volcanic islands: huge volcanic mountains on the ocean floor that rise above
sea level
 Guyots: inactive underwater volcanoes.
MINERALS AND ROCKS
Mineral are solid composed of one chemical element. They often have impurities that
may affect their characteristics. These are called varieties.
Rocks are solid substances formed by the combination of minerals. They can be
monomineralicsif they consist of only one kind of minerals.

Minerals are composed of one or more chemical elements. The most important are:
Iron. It can combine with oxygen (hematite) and sulphur (pyrite)
Silicon: used in microchips and solar panels
Chlorine : it combines with sodium to form salt
Magnesium: used in fireworks
Calcium: found in many living things
Aluminium : it can be combined with copper or zinc

PROPERTIES OF MINERALS
Minerals have a definite chemical compositionand an ordered atomic arrangement.
Properties:
Naturally occurring: not made by humans
Inorganic: they don’t come from living things
Solid: never gas or liquid

To identify minerals we must examine physical properties as:

Colour: the colour of the surface under bright, white light
Lustre: it is the way they reflect light. Some look metallic, other non-metallic.
Hardness: how a mineral react to be scratched
Cleavage: how a mineral breaks up or cleaves
Streak: the colour of the mineral in powder form.

CRYSTALLINE AND AMORPHOUS MINERALS

Some minerals have flat faces or sides that take the form of geometric shape (crystal)s.
This kind of mineraals is called crystalline.
Amorphous minerals are not crystalline, they have irrefular shapes and they never form
crystals.
CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS
They are classified by their composition in
A) Silicates
These minerals contain oxygen and silicon. We can difference:
 Quarz
 Clay minerals
 Micas
 feldspars
B) Non-silicates
These minerals don’t contain silicon. They are abundant and less diverse. They
are classified into:
 Oxides
 Chlorides
 Carbonates
 Sulphates
 Sulphides

A special group, native elements; contains minerals that consist of a single

element.

ROCKS
They are unique combination of minerals. We can classify them by origin
Sedimentary: consist of layers formed when very deep sediments accumulate
and they are compacted and cemented by pressure
Metamorphic: formed by heat and pressure
Igneous: formed from cooled magma.
USES OF MINERALS AND ROCKS
A) Minerals
1.-Industrial processes:
 Minerals used in the chemical, pharmaceutical and foos industries
 Metals such iron and lead
 Quartz to make glass and electrical components
 Calcite to make cement
 Clay minerals to make ceramics
 Gypsum to make plaster

2.-Jewellery industry
 Gems: diamonds, rubies..
 Semi-precious stones: onyx, amber…
 Native metals: gold, silver…

B) Rocks
1.-Construction industry:
 Limestone to make cement
 Clay to make bricks
 Stones
 Sand and gravel to make concrete
 Marble and granite

C) Uses of coal and oil

 For fuel
 Oil to make fertilizers

EXTRACTION OF MINERALS AND ROCKS

Places where minerals and rocks are extracted are called mines. They can be
A. Surface mines:the mineral is close to the surface
B. Underground mines: minerals are deep in the crust of the Earth
C. Quarries: above-ground mines where blocks of rocks are mined
D. Gravel pits: above-ground mines where sand and gravel are extracted.