Earth Science

Week 2
What you are expected to learn:
✓ Classify rocks into igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
✓ Identify the minerals important to society.
✓ Describe how ore minerals are found, mined, and processed for human use.

Below are guidelines for you in going about the module:

1. Read and follow instructions very carefully.
2. Read each lesson and do the activities that are provided for you.
3. Perform all the activities diligently to help you understand the topic.
4. Take the self-test after each lesson to determine how much you understand the topic.
5. Answer the posttest to measure how much you have gained from the lessons.

Good luck and have fun!

Introduction:
Minerals in Cell phone: Cell phones have become part of our culture that it would be
hard to live without them. They are used for staying connected with their on-the-go access
to the internet, make voice calls, send and receive text messages, listen to music, watch
movies, play games, and take videos and photos. The advent of smartphones that can be
installed with applications have also opened up countless possibilities of their functions.
Have you ever wondered what minerals go into the construction of cell phones? Have
you ever considered how minerals are important in your daily life?

Chapter 2: Rocks and Minerals

Discussion:
What are Minerals?
To meet the definition of "mineral" used by most geologists, a substance must meet five
requirements:
• naturally occurring
• inorganic
• solid
• definite chemical composition
• ordered internal structure

"Naturally occurring" means that people did not make it. Steel is not a mineral because it is
an alloy produced by people.

"Inorganic" means that the substance is not made by an organism. Wood and pearls are made
by organisms and thus are not minerals.

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"Solid" means that it is not a liquid or a gas at standard temperature and pressure. Water is
not a mineral because it is a liquid.

"Definite chemical composition" means that all occurrences of that mineral have a chemical
composition that varies within a specific limited range. For example: the mineral halite
(known as "rock salt" when it is mined) has a chemical composition of NaCl. It is made up of
an equal number of atoms of sodium and chlorine.

"Ordered internal structure" means that the atoms in a mineral are arranged in a systematic
and repeating pattern. The structure of the mineral halite is shown in the illustration on this
page. Halite is composed of an equal ratio of sodium and chlorine atoms arranged in a cubic
pattern.

Composition of Minerals
In terms of composition, minerals can be classified into seven mineral classes which
are mainly composed of elements that are abundant on Earth’s crust.
1. Silicates are composed primarily of silicon-oxygen tetrahedrons (SiO42-). Silicates are
the major rock-forming minerals and includes olivine ((Mg,Fe) 2SiO4) and quartz
(SiO2)
2. Oxides consists of metal cations bonded to oxygen anions. Common oxide minerals
are magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite (Fe2O3).
3. Sulfides consist of metal cation bonded to sulfide. They are common ore minerals
along with oxides since metals form a high proportion of the mineral. Examples of
sulfides are galena and pyrite.
4. Sulfates consist of a metal cation bonded to the SO42- anionic group. They usually
precipitate out of water near Earth’s surface. An example of sulfate is gypsum.
5. Halides are composed of a halogen ion such as chlorine or fluorine which forms halite
or rock salt and fluorite.
6. Carbonates are characterized by the presence of carbonic ion which bonds elements
such as calcium or magnesium to form calcite or dolomite.
7. Native Metals consist of a single metal such as copper and gold.

What are the Properties of a Mineral?

OPTICAL PROPERTIES- Properties of a mineral that can be seen with our naked eye.
o Luster- is the quality of light that is being reflected on the surface of the mineral.
Mineral can be:
Metallic Luster- minerals look like metals and are shinny
Submetallic Luster- minerals that develop a dull coating and are not as shinny
Nonmetallic Luster- minerals that described as glassy, earthy, pearly and greasy

A mineral’s ability to transmit light determines whether:

Opaque-when light that strikes the object does not pass through.
Translucent- when some of the light passes trough
Transparent- when almost all the light will completely pass trough
o Color- Is the property of a mineral that is easiest to identify.

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 It considered as unreliable property when it comes to identifying
minerals since slight impurities can affect color.
o Streak- is the color of a mineral in its powdered form.
This property is often used in identifying the mineral since it is very
consistent unlike color.
Streak can be obtained by rubbing the mineral across a streak plate.

MINERAL STRENGTH - It determines how easy the mineral breaks or deforms when exposed to
stress.
o Tenacity- Refers to the mineral’s resistance to
breaking or deforming
o Hardness- is the measure of the mineral’s resistance
to abrasion or scratching. To measure the relative
hardness of minerals, the Mohs scale is used. The
harder the mineral, the greater is its resistance to
scratching, The Mohs scale of hardness was
developed in 1812 by a German mineralogist named
Friedrich Mohs (1773-1839) – It grades 10 fairly
common minerals on a scale from 1 being the softest
to 10 being the hardest.
o Cleavage- Exhibited when a mineral breaks and
smooth flat surfaces are formed from the breakage
o Fracture- Exhibited if the mineral does not have a
cleavage plane. This is usually due to the equally
strong chemical bonds between atoms of the mineral.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY- is a measure of the density of a mineral. It determines how heavy the
mineral is by its weight to water. Specific gravity is used especially when two minerals have
the same size or the same color. The specific gravity of each mineral can distinguish them
apart.

Reflect:
What is the importance of classifying minerals based on their properties? Cite examples
to support your answer.

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 Rocks and the Rock Cycle
Rocks
Rocks are all around us. They make up the backbones of hills and mountains and the
foundations of plains and valleys. Beneath the soil you walk on and the deep layers of soft
mud that cover the ocean basins is a basement of hard rock.

What are rocks made of?

Rocks are made up mostly of crystals of different kinds of minerals, or broken pieces of
crystals, or broken pieces of rocks. Some rocks are made of the shells of once-living animals,
or of compressed pieces of plants.

We can learn something about the way a rock formed from by looking carefully at the
evidence preserved inside. What a rock is made of, the shapes of the grains or crystals within
the rock, and how the grains or crystals fit together all provide valuable clues to help us
unlock the rock's history hidden within.

Where do rocks come from?

Rocks are divided into three basic types, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic, depending
upon how they were formed. Plate tectonics provides an explanation for how rocks are
recycled from igneous to sedimentary to metamorphic and back to igneous again.

Rock Cycle
All rocks are connected in a cycle of creation, change, and destruction called the Rock Cycle.
The rock cycle begins with molten rock (magma below ground, lava above ground), which
cools and hardens to form igneous rock. Exposure to weathering and erosional forces, break
the original rock into smaller pieces. The smaller material (now called sediment) is carried
away by rivers, wind, glaciers, and other means and is eventually deposited elsewhere. These
sediments can then be buried and lithified (hardened), forming sedimentary rock.

Sedimentary rock can be deeply buried, subjected to heat and pressure, which over time,
cause it to change its structure into a new rock, a metamorphic rock. Metamorphism is a big
word meaning change. Eventually, these metamorphic rocks may be heated to the point
where they again melt into magma.

Note that the rock cycle doesn't always have to work in this order; sometimes igneous rocks
can be buried and metamorphosed, skipping the sedimentary rock phase, and sometimes
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks can be uplifted and eroded to form new sedimentary
rocks. It is also possible for rocks to remain unchanged in stable regions for long periods of
time.

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Fill the blanks to complete the rock cycle using these words: (5points)

Metamorphic rocks Igneous rocks Sedimentary rocks

Magma sediment

Classifications of Rocks: Sedimentary, Igneous and Metamorphic

What are the 3 basic types of rocks?
Just as any person can be put into one of two main categories of human being, all rocks can
be put into one of three fundamentally different types of rocks. They are as follows:
#1. Igneous Rocks
• Igneous rocks are crystalline solids which form directly from the cooling of magma.

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• This is an exothermic process (it loses heat) and involves a phase change from the liquid
to the solid state.
• The earth is made of igneous rock – at least at the surface where our planet is exposed to
the coldness of space.
• Igneous rocks are given names based upon two things:
o composition (what they are made of) and
o texture (how big the crystals are)

The word igneous is derived from the Latin word Ignis which means fire. The rocks formed
by the solidification on the cooling of molten magma, are called igneous rocks.

Depending on where the molten magma cools, they are of the following types:
o Intrusive Rocks

o Extrusive Rocks

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 When the molten magma cools deep inside the earth’s crust, intrusive igneous rocks are
formed. They:
• Cool down slowly
• Form large grains
• Granite is intrusive igneous rock. Grinding stones used to prepare paste / powder of
spices and grains are made of granite.

Extrusive Igneous Rocks:

• When the molten magma (lava) comes on the earth’s surface.
• It rapidly cools down and becomes solid.
• Rocks formed in such a manner on the crust are called extrusive igneous rocks.
• They have a very fine-grained structure.
• Basalt is an example of extrusive igneous rocks. The Deccan Plateau is made up of
basalt rocks.
#2. Sedimentary Rocks

• These rocks get their name from the Latin word sedimentum which means settle down.
• These rocks are formed by the settling down of sediments.
• Sediments are the smaller particles / fragments that are formed by the breaking down of
rocks when they roll down, crack and hit each other.
• These sediments are transported by wind, water etc.
• These sediments; when compressed and hardened; form sedimentary rocks.
• Sandstone is an example of sedimentary rock. It is made up of grains of sand.
• The sedimentary rocks may also contain fossils of plants, animals and other micro –
organisms that once lived on them.

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 #3. Metamorphic Rocks:
The Greek word ‘metamorphose’ which means change of form, is the root of the word
metamorphic. In other words, these are the rocks that are formed when the igneous and
sedimentary rocks change their form under the following two circumstances:

• Great heat and

• Great pressure

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 The following are the examples of metamorphic rocks:

• Slate: Clay becomes slate after metamorphosis [Texture = Foliated]

• Marble: Limestone becomes marble after metamorphosis [Texture = Non-
Foliated]

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 WAYS WE USE ROCKS
In the boxes draw or write about some things that are made from rocks and what
ways we use rocks in everyday life. (20points)

We use
rocks in
many
ways.......

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 Identify at least 5 minerals that are important in society and describe how they are found,
mined and processed for human use.

Test Yourself
A. Multiple Choice. Encircle the letter that corresponds to the correct answer.
1. It includes the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle.
a. Asthenosphere c. Hydrosphere
b. Geosphere d. Lithosphere
2. Rocks that are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma.
a. Silicates c. Sedimentary rocks
b. Igneous rocks d. Metamorphic rocks
3. A type of rock that has solidified on Earth's surface.
a. Metamorphic c. Extrusive igneous
b. Sedimentary d. Intrusive igneous
4. The process by which unconsolidated material becomes solidified into rock.
a. Erosion c. Lithification
b. Deposition d. Weathering
5. It refers to the property of a mineral to break into planes of weaknesses.
a. Hardness c. Luster
b. Color d. Cleavage
6. A light felsic, igneous rock with an aphanitic texture.
a. Diorite c. Granite
b. Dunite d. Rhyolite
7. A gray, intermediate volcanic rock with a phaneritic texture.
a. Andesite c. Diorite
b. Basalt d. Granite
8. A sedimentary rock that is composed of calcite.
a. Chert c. Marble
b. Limestone d. Slate
9. A foliated rock with gneissic banding composed of feldspar, mica, and quartz.
a. Coal c. Schist
b. Gneiss d. Slate
10. A Nonfoliated metamorphic rock composed of calcite.
a. Gneiss c. Marble
b. Limestone d. Slate

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