Name: ___________________________________________ Minerals and Rocks

Date: __________________________ Period: ___________ The Physical Setting: Earth Science

Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

I. Minerals

• Minerals are the ingredients needed to form the different types of rocks
• Rock - ! ______________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Mineral - !_____________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Inorganic - !___________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Crystalline - !__________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Minerals form by three methods:
1. Crystallization - a process of organizing ________________ to form crystalline solids
2. Recrystallization - the cooling and hardening of _________________ or magma into minerals
3. Rearrangement - the realignment of atoms in minerals under high !______________________
and _________________________

• Most rock forming minerals are silicates that result in a tetrahedron shape
• Four-sided units of 4 ____________________ and 1 ____________________

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

• Crystal structure or “_____________________________________________________” are responsible

for the physical and chemical properties a mineral possesses
• Each mineral has a set of physical and chemical properties that can be used to identify the sample

• The methods we use to classify minerals are:

1. Color - a visual attribute of an object based on perception
• One of the most obvious, but not the most reliable
• Many of the 4000 known minerals share similar colors

2. Streak - !_______________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Weathering changes the outside color, but streak gives the true color

3. Luster - !_______________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Two types of luster:
• Metallic Luster - shines like stainless steel
• Nonmetallic Luster - earthy or dull shine

4. Density - !______________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Sample Problem: a student measures the mass of a mineral to be __________ g
and calculates the volume to be __________ mL. What is the density?

Write the Formula:

Show All Work:

Answer:

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

• The methods we will use are (continued):

5. Hardness - !____________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Mohs Hardness Scale is used to classify hardness

Hardness Mineral Test

1 Talc Finger nail scratches easily

2 Gypsum Finger nail scratches

3 Calcite Copper penny scratches

4 Fluorite Steel knife scratches easily

5 Apatite Steel knife scratches

6 Feldspar Steel knife will not scratches

7 Quartz Will scratch glass and steel

8 Topaz Harder then any common mineral

9 Corundum Scratches topaz

10 Diamond Hardest mineral

6. Cleavage - !____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
• Mohs Hardness Scale is used to classify hardness

7. Fracture - ______________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Tends to lack preferred zones of weakness

8. Acid Test - ! ____________________________________________________________________

!______________________________________________________________________________
• Calcite and Dolomite both react with acid

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

II. Igneous Rocks

• Igneous Rocks - !______________________________________________________________________

!_____________________________________________________________________________________

• Methods to classify igneous rocks:

1. Environment of Formation - !______________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Magma - ! _______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Plutonic - !_______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Intrusive - !_______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Lava - !__________________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Volcanic - !_______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Extrusive - !______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________

Lava / Extrusive
Plutonic Rock

Magma / Intrusive
Volcanic Rock

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

2. Color - !_______________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________

3. Composition - a mixture of materials that make up an igneous rock

• Felsic -! _________________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Mafic -!__________________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________

4. Texture - !______________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Vesicular - !______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Porphyritic - !____________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________

5. Crystal Size - !__________________________________________________________________

!______________________________________________________________________________
• Crystal size is an important factor to determine the environment of formation
• The _______________ the cooling time the _______________ the crystal size
(coarse or very coarse)
• The _______________ the cooling time the _______________ the crystal size
(glassy or fine)

Fine Grained Coarse Grained

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

Scheme for Igneous Rock Identification CRYSTAL

SIZE
TEXTURE

crystalline
Obsidian Non-
Basaltic glass vesicular

non-
ENVIRONMENT OF FORMATION

(usually appears black) Glassy

EXTRUSIVE
(Volcanic)

Pumice Scoria Vesicular

(gas
IGNEOUS ROCKS

Vesicular rhyolite Vesicular Vesicular basalt pockets)

andesite

less than
1 mm
Fine
Andesite Basalt
Rhyolite
Diabase

larger 10 mm
Dunite
10 mm 1 mm
Peri- Non-
INTRUSIVE

Granite Diorite Coarse

to
(Plutonic)

Gabbro dotite vesicular

Very
Pegmatite

or
coarse
CHARACTERISTICS

LIGHTER COLOR DARKER

LOWER DENSITY HIGHER

FELSIC COMPOSITION MAFIC
(rich in Si, Al) (rich in Fe, Mg)
100% 100%
Potassium
feldspar
(pink to white)
75% 75%
MINERAL COMPOSITION

Quartz
(relative by volume)

(clear to
white) Plagioclase feldspar
(white to gray)
50% 50%
Pyroxene
(green)
Biotite
(black)
25% Olivine 25%
(green)
Amphibole
(black)

0% 0%

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

III. Sedimentary Rocks

• Sedimentary Rocks - !__________________________________________________________________

!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Lithification - ! _________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________

• Methods to classify sedimentary rocks:

1. Texture - ! _____________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Texture is the main factor in sedimentary rock identification
• Clastic - ! _________________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________

• Crystalline - ! ______________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________
• Bioclastic - !_______________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________

Bioclastic
Contains Shell Fragments

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

• Methods to classify sedimentary rocks (continued):

2. Formation - !___________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Most sedimentary rocks form under large bodies of water by the following:
• Cementation - !____________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________
• Occurs as water between sediments dissolves and the remaining
materials hold the clasts together
• Compaction - !_____________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________
• Usually results in a decrease in pore space and sediments become
more tightly packs
• Chemical Action - !_________________________________________________
!_________________________________________________________________
3. Characteristics - !_______________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
• Form at or near Earth’s surface where weathering can break down rocks into pieces
• Forms in horizontal layers
• May contain fossils

Horizontal Layers

Fossils

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

Scheme for Sedimentary Rock Identification

INORGANIC LAND-DERIVED SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
TEXTURE GRAIN SIZE COMPOSITION COMMENTS ROCK NAME MAP SYMBOL

Pebbles, cobbles, Rounded fragments Conglomerate

and/or boulders
embedded in sand, Mostly
silt, and/or clay quartz, Angular fragments Breccia
feldspar, and
Clastic Sand clay minerals;
(0.006 to 0.2 cm) Fine to coarse Sandstone
(fragmental) may contain
fragments of . . . . .
Silt Very fine grain Siltstone . . . .
(0.0004 to 0.006 cm) other rocks . . . . .
. . . .
and minerals
Clay Compact; may split
Shale
(less than 0.0004 cm) easily

CHEMICALLY AND/OR ORGANICALLY FORMED SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

TEXTURE GRAIN SIZE COMPOSITION COMMENTS ROCK NAME MAP SYMBOL

Halite Rock salt

Fine Crystals from
to chemical
Crystalline Gypsum Rock gypsum
coarse precipitates
crystals and evaporites
Dolomite Dolostone

Crystalline or Precipitates of biologic

Calcite origin or cemented shell Limestone
bioclastic Microscopic to fragments
very coarse
Bioclastic Compacted
Carbon plant remains Bituminous coal

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

IV. Metamorphic Rocks

• Metamorphic Rocks - ! _________________________________________________________________

!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Parent Rock - !________________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________

• Heat
• Rock expands when heated causing the atoms to break apart and move freely
• As temperature decreases atoms join with other atoms to form different compounds
• The result is a structural and chemical change
• Pressure
• Under extreme pressure at great depths inside the Earth, atoms bonds are broken and re-
arranged into a denser and more compact structure

• Methods to classify metamorphic rocks:

1. Texture - the general appearance of the rock
• Foliation -!_______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Banding -!_______________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Non-foliated -!____________________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________

Foliated Banding Non-foliated

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

• Methods to classify metamorphic rocks (continued):

2. Grain Size - ! ___________________________________________________________________

!______________________________________________________________________________
3. Composition- !__________________________________________________________________
!______________________________________________________________________________
4. Type of Metamorphism-
• Regional Metamorphism -! _________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________
• Most metamorphic rocks form regionally under a mountain or deep in-
side the Earth
• Contact Metamorphism -!__________________________________________________
! _______________________________________________________________________

Scheme for Metamorphic Rock Identification

GRAIN TYPE OF
TEXTURE SIZE COMPOSITION METAMORPHISM COMMENTS ROCK NAME MAP SYMBOL

Fine Low-grade Slate

metamorphism of shale
FOLIATED

ALIGNMENT

Regional
MINERAL

(Heat and Foliation surfaces shiny

pressure from microscopic mica Phyllite
Fine crystals
to increases)
AMPHIBOLE
MICA

medium
FELDSPAR

Platy mica crystals visible

QUARTZ

GARNET

from metamorphism of clay Schist

or feldspars
PYROXENE
BAND-

Medium High-grade metamorphism;

ING

to mineral types segregated Gneiss

coarse into bands

Metamorphism of
Fine Carbon Regional bituminous coal Anthracite coal

Various Various rocks changed by

Fine Contact heat from nearby Hornfels
minerals (heat)
NONFOLIATED

magma/lava

Metamorphism of
Quartz quartz sandstone Quartzite
Fine
to Regional
coarse Calcite and/or Metamorphism of
or Marble
dolomite limestone or dolostone
contact

Coarse Various Pebbles may be distorted Metaconglomerate

minerals or stretched

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 Class Notes: Minerals and Rocks

V. Rock Cycle

• Rock Cycle - !_________________________________________________________________________

!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Any rock type can change into another rock type
• Therefore any rock could contain materials that were one part of another rock
• Igneous Rock - !_______________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Sedimentary Rock - !___________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Metamorphic Rock - ! __________________________________________________________________
!_____________________________________________________________________________________
• Driving Forces - the processes that create uplift, weathering, erosion, pressure, and melting to form
the different rock types
• ______________________________________________
• ______________________________________________
• ______________________________________________

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