• Rocks and Minerals

• No other planet in the solar system has the unique

combination of fluids of Earth. Earth has a surface
that is mostly covered with liquid water, water vapor
in the atmosphere, and both frozen and liquid water
on the land.
• Earth’s Molten Stage
– During the early formation of the Earth it was
molten
– During this stage the heavier elements such as
iron and nickel, sank to the deeper interior of the
Earth.
– This left a thin layer of lighter materials on the
surface that is mow called the crust.
– The majority of the Earth’s mass lies below the
crust
• Chemical Analysis
– 8 elements make up 98.6% of the crust
– These 8 elements make up the solid materials of
the Earth’s crust and are known as rocks and
minerals.
– A mineral is solid inorganic material of the Earth
that has both a known chemical composition and a
crystalline structure that is unique to that mineral
– A rock is a solid aggregate of one or more
minerals that have been cohesively brought
together by a rock-forming process.
• (A)The percentage by
weight of the elements
that make up Earth's
crust. (B) The
percentage by weight
of the elements that
make up the whole
Earth.
• Minerals
• Introduction
–Minerals
• A mineral is solid inorganic
material of the Earth that has both
a known chemical composition
and a crystalline structure that is
unique to that mineral
• Crystal Structures
– Can be made up of atoms of one or more
kinds of elements.
– Crystals are classified according to six
major groups, with subdivisions of each.
• A crystal is composed of a structural unit that is repeated in
three dimensions. This is the basic structural unit of a crystal
of sodium chloride, the mineral halite.
• The structural unit for a crystal of table salt, sodium
chloride, is cubic, as you can see in the individual grains.
• These quartz crystals are hexagonal prisms.
Crystalline substances are
classified into six major
systems:
•isometric,
•hexagonal,
•tetragonal,
•orthorhombic,
•monoclinic, and
•triclinic.
• Silicates and Nonsilicates
– Silicates – made of silicon and oxygen and make up 92 % of
Earth’s crust.
• Ferromagnesian Silicates
– made of iron, magnesium, and silicates
– Form a basic tetrahederal structure.
– Higher density and darker color than other silicates due to
the presence of iron and magnesium
• Nonferromagnesiam Silicates
– silicates that do not contain either iron or magnesium.
– Lower density and lighter color than the ferromagnesian
silicates.
 Physical Properties of Minerals
– Color
• A visual measure.
• Not very useful for identification as color of
minerals varies considerably.
– Streak
• This is the color of the mineral when it is
finely powdered.
• Rubbed across a piece of tile, leaving a fine
powder of the mineral on the tile.
Hardness
• Resistance of the material to being scratched.
• Measured using the Mohs hardness scale,
which compares the hardness of the mineral
to 10 reference minerals.
Mohs Scale of Hardness
–Crystal form
• Related to the internal geometric
arrangement of the atoms that make
up the crystal structure. It is the
external form or natural shape of a
mineral before the development of
any cleavage or fracture.
–Cleavage
• the tendency of mineral to break
along smooth planes.
• Depends upon zones of weakness in
the crystal structure.
– Fracture
• Some minerals may not have cleavages
but exhibit broken surfaces that are
irregular and non-planar. The broken
surface is irregular and not in a flat
plane.
– Luster
– It is the quality and intensity of reflected light exhibited
by the mineral.

• Metallic – like metal

• Pearly – like pearl
• Vitreous – like glass
• Earthy
– Density – ratio of the mass of a mineral
to its volume.
• Specific gravity – ratio of mineral
density to the density of water
• Depends on:
–Kind of atoms which make up the
mineral
–How the atoms are arranged in the
crystal lattice.
• Mineral-forming Processes
• Introduction
– Magma
• Molten rock from which minerals are formed
– Lava
• Magma that is forced to the surface
– Influences on the mineral forming process
• Temperature
• Pressure
• Time
• Availability and concentration of ions that are in
solution
• Minerals Formed at High Temperatures
– Bowen’s Reaction Series
• Arranged with minerals at the top that crystallize at
higher temperature and minerals at the bottom that
crystallize out at lower temperature.
• Bowen's reaction series. Minerals at the top of the series
(olivine, augite, and calcium-rich plagioclase) crystallize at
higher temperatures, leaving the magma enriched in silica.
Later, the residual magma cools and lighter-colored, less
dense minerals (orthoclase feldspar, quartz, and white mica)
crystallize. Thus, granitelike rocks can form from a magma
that would have produced basaltic rocks had it cooled
quickly.
• Minerals Formed at Normal Temperatures
– These form at normal temperatures and pressures and in
contact with atmospheric gases such as oxygen, carbon
dioxide, and water.
– There are most of the non-silicates; carbonates, sulfates,
oxides, halides, and sulfides.
• Altered Minerals
– These minerals undergo changes in chemistry or crystal
structure as a result of pressure, temperature, or chemical
solutions
– Similar to minerals that form under high temperatures
with similar physical properties.
• Ore Minerals
– Some minerals are left over after the crystallizing of
magma
– These elements are flushed away in hot water solutions
as the magma crystallizes.
– Usually crystallize in rock fractures to form thin, flat
bodies of mineral material called veins.
– If these minerals have some economic value they are
called ore minerals.
Rocks
– Elements are chemically combined to form
minerals
– Minerals are physically combined to form
rocks.
• Igneous Rocks
– Form from molten rock material
– Intrusive igneous rock
• Formed when magma cools deep within the Earth’s surface
• Cools very slowly as it is in contact with molten rock.
• Produces course-grained igneous rock.
– Extrusive igneous rock
• Magma that cools above the Earth’s surface.
• Produces fine-grained igneous rocks.
• This rapid cooling does not allow time for crystals to form.
• Igneous rock classification scheme based on mineral
composition and texture. There are other blends of minerals
with various textures, many of which have specific names.
• Granite is a coarse-grained igneous rock composed mostly
of light-colored, light-density, nonferromagnesian minerals.
The earth's continental areas are dominated by granite and
by rocks with the same mineral composition of granite.
• This is a piece of obsidian, which has the same chemical
composition as the granite. Obsidian has a different texture
because it does not have crystals and is a volcanic glass.
The curved fracture surface is common in noncrystalline
substances such as glass.
• Sedimentary Rocks
– Form from material from previously existing rock
• Material is provided by weathering of previously
existing rock
– Sediments
• Weathered rock materials
• Dissolved rock materials
– Clastic sediments
• Another name for weathered rock materials
• This is a sample of breccia, a coarse-grained
sedimentary rock with coarse, angular fragments.
Compare the grain sizes to the centimeter scale.
• This is a sample of sandstone, a sedimentary rock that
formed from sand grains in a matrix of very fine-grained
silt, clay, or other materials. The grains in this sample are
mostly the feldspar and quartz minerals, which probably
accumulated near the granite from which they were eroded.
• This is a sample of limestone, a sedimentary rock made of
calcium carbonate that formed under water directly or
indirectly from the actions of plants and animals. This fine-
grained limestone formed indirectly from the remains of
tiny marine organisms.
– Chemical sediments
• Another name for dissolved rock material.
• The dissolved materials are ions from mineral and
rocks that have been completely broken down.
• Removed from solution by:
– Chemical precipitation from the solution
– Crystallization from evaporating water.
– Biological sediments.
– Compaction
• As sediments are laid down grain by grain, the mass becomes
greater.
• The increasing mass of the sediment layer above creates
pressure on the layers below.
• Eventually this pressure becomes great enough to compact the
existing layers into a cohesive rock layer.
– Cementation
• After, or during, the compaction process, the spaces between
the sediment particles become filled with a chemical deposit.
• This deposit holds the compacted layers into a cohesive mass
of sedimentary rock.
• (A)In compaction, the
sediment grains are
packed more tightly
together, often by
overlying sediments,
as represented by the
bricks. (B) In
cementation, fluids
contain dissolved
minerals that are
precipitated in the
space between the
grains, cementing
them together into a
rigid, solid mass.
• Metamorphic Rocks
– Rocks changed by heat, pressure, or hot solutions due to:
• Movement of the Earth’s crust
• Heat generated by intrusion of hot magma
• Pressure can change rock by flattening, deforming, or
realigning mineral grains.
– Foliation
• When the pressure on flat crystal flakes tends to align the flakes
into parallel sheets.
• Gives the rock the property of breaking along the planes
between the aligned mineral grains in what is known as rock
cleavage.
• Increasing metamorphic change occurs with
increasing temperatures and pressures. If the
melting point is reached, the change is no longer
metamorphic, and igneous rocks are formed.
• This is a sample of marble, a coarse-grained metamorphic
rock with interlocking calcite crystals. The calcite crystals
were recrystallized from limestone during metamorphism.
• This banded
metamorphic rock is
very old; at an age of
3.8 billion years, it is
probably among the
oldest rocks on the
surface of the earth.
• The Rock Cycle
• Earth is a dynamic planet with the surface and
interior in a constant state of flux.
– Internal changes alter the surface by moving the Earth’s
plates, building mountains.
– Seas advance and retreat over the continents brining in
new materials and taking other materials away.
– Rocks are continually being changed by Earth’s forces.
• The Rock Cycle describes the continually changing
structure of rocks.
– Igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic rock are just
temporary stages in the continuing changes that all rocks
undergo.
• A schematic diagram of the rock cycle concept,
which states that geologic processes act
continuously to produce new rocks from old ones.