Have you tried to guess the Earth’s age?

This world is far older than you can gage. Try, if you to
count to four billion, then add an other six hundred
million. Earth is older than you can see any river,
mountain, valley, or tree.
Mother Earth is four thousand, six hundred million years old (4,600
million = 4.6 billion), give or take a few hundred million years.
It is older than anything you can see around you.

The age of Earth is so long compared to all periods of time that we humans
are familiar with, it has been given a special name: Geologic time.

The age of Earth is as vast in time as the universe is vast in space. It is not
easy to really get a "feel" for 4,600 million years! One way to try to get a "feel"
for how big it is, is to break the number down into smaller pieces that perhaps
we can understand. Just for fun you might try the activity, "What is a Million?"
Then try to think about 4,600 million!
Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer
Here we use another comparison to help show the span of time since the formation
of Earth:
The odd names
of the different

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time periods on
Tim the Staircase of
of
Time were made
ay

up by geologists,
rw

who were the first

tai

people really
eS

interested in
finding out the
Th

actual age of the

Earth. Most of
the names have
to do with places
where certain
types of fossils
were found.

Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer

 How Old is That Rock?
• How can you tell the age of a rock or to which geologic time period it
belongs? One way is to look at any fossils the rock may contain. If any of
the fossils are unique to one of the geologic time periods, then the rock was
formed during that particular time period. Another way is to use the "What's
on top?" rule. When you find layers of rocks in a cliff or hillside, younger
rocks are on top of older rocks.

• But these two methods only give the relative age of rocks which are younger
and which are older. How do we find out how old a rock is in years? Or how
do we know how long ago a particular group of fossilized creatures lived?

• The age of a rock in years is called its absolute age. Geologists find
absolute ages by measuring the amount of certain radioactive elements in
the rock. When rocks are formed, small amounts of radioactive elements
usually get included. As time passes, the "parent" radioactiv
• e elements change at a regular rate into non-radioactive "daughter"
elements. Thus, the older a rock is, the larger the number of daughter
elements and the smaller the number of parent elements are found in the
rock.

Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer

• A common "parent-daughter" combination that
geologists use is radioactive uranium and non-
radioactive lead. As shown in the diagram at right,
uranium is trapped in a newly formed rock. As the
rock ages, more and more of the uranium changes
into lead.
• The age of the rock in years can be found by
measuring the rate at which a parent element decays
and then measuring the ratio of parent element to
daughter element in the rock. The ages in years of
the different geological time periods are found by
measuring the absolute ages of many rocks from all
of the different periods. The absolute ages of some of
the different geologic time periods are shown along
the right side of the Staircase of Time.
• The steps of the Staircase of Time are drawn to be
almost the same size, so you might think that the
time periods are the same length, but they are not.
The absolute ages of rocks taken from the different
time periods have shown that the time periods were
of greatly differing lengths. Some were very short, like
the Quaternary period (only 2 million years), while
others were very long, like the Proterozoic Era
(almost 2 billion years). According to absolute-age
measurements.
Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer
Minerals are defined as naturally occurring, inorganic, solids with a
definite chemical composition and a regular, internal crystalline
structure.

- Hardness is one of the better physical properties for minerals

- Hardness is one measure of the strength of the structure of the
mineral relative to the strength of its chemical bonds
- Hardness can be tested through scratching. A scratch on a
mineral is actually a groove produced by micro fractures on the
surface of the mineral
- A harder substance can only scratch a mineral. A hard mineral
can scratch a softer mineral, but a soft mineral cannot scratch a
harder mineral (no matter how hard you try). Therefore, a
relative scale can be established to account for the differences
in hardness simply by seeing which mineral scratches another.
That is exactly what French mineralogist Friedrich Mohs
proposed
Houideg almost
Athmane Geologist one hundred and seventy years ago.
Engineer
For thousands, even millions of years, little pieces of our earth have
been eroded-broken down and worn away by wind and water.
These little bits of our earth are washed downstream where they
settle to the bottom of the rivers, lakes, and oceans. Layer after
layer of eroded earth is deposited on top of each. These layers are
pressed down more and more through time, until the bottom
layers slowly turn into rock

Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer

Argillaceous Rocks
Shale - Clay - Claystone - marl
Carbonate Rocks
Limestone - Dolomite - Chalk
Siliceous Rocks Siltstone - Sand - Sandstone - Chert
- Conglomerate
Evaporites Rocks Gypsum - Anhydrite - Halite

Organic Materials
Coal - Lignite - Bituminous Minerals

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 1-Talc 2- Gypsum 3- Calcite 4- Fluorite 5- Apatite 6- Orthoclase
7- Quartz 8- Topaz 9- Corundum (ruby and sapphire) 10- Diamond
To remember the Mohs scale try remembering this phrase:
The Geologist Can Find An Ordinary Quartz, (that) Tourists Call Diamond!

Physical Definition Testing Method

Property

COLOUR Visible light spectrum Look at the sample and determine its colour
radiation reflected - white, black, green, clear, etc.
from mineral
Use minerals of known hardness from the
Mohs Hardness Kits. Scratch the unknown
HARDNESS mineral with a known hardness to
Resistance to
determine which mineral is harder.
scratching or abrasion
Continue doing this with harder or softer
minerals from the kit until the hardness is
determined.

REACTION to Chemical interaction of Place one small drop of HCL on a sample a

hydrochloric acid and watch for a reaction - effervesces (bubbles)
HCL
calcium carbonate
Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer
(CaCO3)
 are made from the mineral calcite which came from the
Composition beds of evaporated seas and lakes and from sea animal
shells
Limestone rocks are sedimentary rocks, his rock is
Characteristics used in concrete and is an excellent building stone for
humid regions, Limestone dissolves in rainwater more
easily than other rocks
Colour Black Pink - Brown White - Grayish - Green Translucent
Hardness Soft Firm - Friable - Indurate - Brittle

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 CaMg(CO3)2

Ca: Calcium = 21.73 % Mg:Magnesium =13.18 %

Composition C:Carbon =13.03 % O:Oxygen = 52.06 %

Reacts to HCL in its powdered form, similar properties to

calcite, is similar to that of calcite, with alternate layers
of calcium ions totally replaced by magnesium. This
ordered arrangement of cations slightly impairs the
overall symmetry of the structure but is essential to the
Characteristics stability of the mineral, Chemically and structurally it
may be regarded as calcite with half the calcium ions
replaced by magnesium , Dolomite in addition to the
sedimentary beds is also found in metamorphic marbles,
hydrothermal veins and replacement deposits
Colour White, Gray, Reddish white, Brownish white, Gray
Hardness 3.5 - 4
Density (g/cc) 2.8 - 2.9
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 FeS2

Fe: Iron = 46.55%

Composition
S2:Sulfur = 53.45%
"Fool's Gold“; abrasive, magnetic after
heating, could be: sedimentary, magmatic,
metamorphic, and hydrothermal deposits,
Characteristics not Radioactive, very dangerous on bits if
shown as cement between Sandstone
grains, but less dangerous if shown as
nodules inclusions in Claystone
Colour gold metallic colour or Creamy white
Hardness 6.5
Density (g/cc) 5.01
Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer
 SiO2

Si: Silicon = 46.74 %

Composition O: Oxygen =53.26 %
is typically white or clear, abrasive,
Characteristics Sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous
rocks, not Radioactive
Colour Clear, Transparent, Translucent, Vitreous,
white, Brown, Colourless, Violet, Gray, Yellow
Hardness 7(Mohs scale ), Hard to very hard
Density (g/cc) 2.6 - 2.65
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 Ca(SO4) (Calcium Sulphate)

Composition Ca:Calcium = 29.44 % , S:Sulfur = 23.55 % O:Oxygen

= 47.01 %
A member of the evaporite group of minerals and the
soft rock comprising anhydrite, formed by precipitation
of Calcium Sulphate from evaporation of seawater, also
Characteristics after dehydration of Gypsum, Anhydrite can also form
through the dehydration of gypsum, another sulphate
mineral found in evaporites, Anhydrite may occur as a
cap rock above salt domes,

Colour milky, grey, white

Hardness 3.5 poorly indurate to moderately indurate, firm, well
compacted
Density (g/cc) Geologist
Houideg Athmane 2.97Engineer
Composition Grains of Quartz and Feldspar

Sandstone rocks are sedimentary rocks

Characteristics made from small grains of the minerals
quartz and feldspar. They often form in layers
as seen in this picture. They are often used
as building stones
Colour grey,white, yellowish, clear, transparent and
translucent
Hardness moderate indurate to well indurate, friable,
could be moderately hard to very hard
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Composition Is made of finer grains of Quartz and
Feldspar
Silt is a size term used for material that's
Characteristics smaller than sand (generally 0.1 millimeter),
The field test for siltstone is that you can't
see the individual grains, but you can feel
them. Many geologists rub their teeth
against the stone to detect the fine grit of silt
Colour brown, grey,white, yellowish
Hardness moderate indurate to well indurate, friable,
could be moderately hard
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Composition Contains at least 50% of Aluminium Silicate,
results to the decomposition of rocks rich in
Feldspar, adsorb water to form a sticky
material
Shale rock is a type of sedimentary rock
Characteristics formed from clay that is compacted together
by pressure. They are used to make bricks
and other material that is fired in a kiln;
impermeable
Colour black, occasinally brown, orange, dark grey,
dark
Hardness Plastic, soft, firm, hard, brittle, compacted to
Houideg Athmane Geologist Engineer
moderately compacted