IDENTIFY
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TOPIC 11
ROCKS & MINERALS
• Minerals are the
ingredients of
rocks.
Or
• Rocks are made
up of minerals.
Minerals
• Defn: naturally occurring, inorganic
elements or compounds with specific
physical and chemical properties.
The physical properties of minerals
Used to identify the minerals
1. Color
• Least useful property in identifying
minerals.
• Why?
All of these are varieties of quartz!
2. Streak
• The color of a minerals in powdered
form.
• “streak test”
3. Luster
• How the minerals surface reflects
light.
• Metallic vs. non- metallic.
4. Hardness
• The ability of a mineral to resist being
scratched.
• Hardness of a mineral is a measurement
of the strength of the chemical bonds in
its structure.
Moh’s Hardness Scale
Soft
Hard
5. Fracture/ Cleavage
Fracture Cleavage
• Mineral breaks • The tendency of
unevenly or a Mineral to
irregularly break evenly
along its weakest
plane.
6. Crystal Form and Habit
• Habit is the outward appearance of the mineral’s crystal
form
• Some minerals tend to form crystals that aid in the
identification of the mineral.
7. Specific Gravity
• Specific gravity is a measure of the density of a
mineral.
• The ratio of the density of the mineral to
the density of water (1 g/cm3)
• If a mineral has a specific gravity of 5 that
means it is 5 times as dense as water.
8. Others
• Acid test – Calcite
• Magnetic – Magnetite
• Taste - Halite
A minerals properties are
due to the internal
arrangement of its atoms.
Silicate Minerals
• Minerals that contain a combination of
silicon and oxygen.
Silicon-oxygen tetrahedron
The basic structural unit of silicate minerals
Rocks are a naturally-occurring
aggregate of one or more
minerals that form naturally.
Rocks
Monomineralic Polymineralic
• 1 Mineral • More than 1 Mineral
Rocks are classified by
how they are formed!!!
• ROCKS-are categorized into three major
classes.
1) Sedimentary rocks, which are made up of fragments
from older rocks or materials precipitated from solutions;
2) Igneous rocks, which are mainly composed of molten
magma
3) Metamorphic rocks, which are made up of igneous or
sedimentary rocks that have undergone changes in
mineralogical composition, texture, and internal structure.
• Sedimentary rock, it is a mixture of minerals,
rocks, and even dead organisms.
• It was formed because of weathering, where the
rocks break down into smaller pieces because of
the rain.
• The small fragments of rock will be washed away
and blown away by the wind or rain, ending up
in streams, rivers, and seas. Later on, a layer of
rocks was formed.
Three categories
Clastic sedimentary rocks
Chemical sedimentary rocks
Organic sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary Rocks:
1. Clastics
• Rocks that form when sediments
(sand, silt etc.) are lithified.
Processes
• Compacting and cementing
• Vary due to grain size!
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Breecia Conglomerate
Siltstone Shale
SANDSTONE
2. Non-Clastics
A. Organics (bioclastics)
• Form from living things.
COAL CHALK
B. Chemical (crystaline)
• Formed from the evaporation or
precipitation of sea water.
FLINT IRON ORE
Igneous Rocks
- Form when liquid rock cools and solidifies
Two types of igneous rocks
Intrusive
Extrusive igneous rocks.
Intrusive Extrusive
• Cools below the • Cools at the Earths
earths surface surface (quickly!)
(slowwwwly!)
• Lava
• Magma • “Volcanic”
• “Plutonic”
The longer the rock takes to cool, the
larger the crystals!
• Cools slow …..Large crystals
• Cools fast …….small crystals
• Cools immediately……NO Crystals (glass)
Vesicular- gas pockets
Metamorphic:
• Rocks that are changed due to extreme
heat and/or pressure.
• DO NOT MELT!!! (they recrystalize)
Metamorphic rocks become…
1. Harder
2. More dense
3. Banded or foliated
4. Distorted
Banding
Foliated
Metamorphism
• Process where the mineral content and
texture of the protolith change because of
changes in the physical and chemical
environment of the rock.
• It can be caused by heat, pressure, and
other natural agency such as the collision
of continents, the subduction of oceanic
crust, etc.
Two Types of Metamorphism,
• Regional
• Contact metamorphism.
Regional Metamorphism
• Occurs when large areas of rock are
changed.
• Usually deep below the surface where
crustal plates collide.
• The Adirondacks!
Contact Metamorphism
• Occurs when liquid rock comes into
contact with other rocks.
Identifying Characteristics of
Rocks
Igneous Sedimentary
• Intergrown crystals • Cemented fragments
• Glassy texture (sediments)
• Fossils
• Organic material
Metamorphic
•Banding
•Foliated
The Rock Cycle
BONUS:
• CLASSIFY this rock as igneous,
sedimentary or metamorphic and
EXPLAIN why you classified it that way.
BONUS:
Name the mineral that has the following
properties:
• Non-metallic
• Can scratch fluorite but cannot scratch
quartz
• Exhibits cleavage
• Contains the elements sodium &
hydrogen