Mineral and Rock Vocabulary
Terms
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- Carbonates
- Minerals made of the carbonate ion (one atom of carbon and three atoms of oxygen) in combination with one or more elements like Ca, Mg, Fe (ie calcite-CaCO3)
- Cleavage
- The way a mineral breaks along one or more smooth, flat planes
- Crystal
- A geometric mineral shape having an orderly arrangement of plane surfaces that reflects the fixed pattern of its internal atoms
- Fracture
- The breakage of minerals along irregular surfaces. Facture can be described as uneven, splintered or curved
- Feldspar
- A group of aluminum silicate minerals characterized by their hardness and distinct right-angle cleavage. They are the most abundant of all the rock-forming minerals
- Luster
- The visual appearance of a mineral as it absorbs, reflects or refracts light
- Mineral
- A solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance composed of an element or compound and having a fixed chemical composition
- Muscovite
- A potassium, aluminum silicate mineral of the mica group that has perfect cleavage in one direction (breaks into thin sheets) and has a glassy luster
- Native elements
- Metallic (gold, silver, copper) and nonmetallic (graphite, sulfur, diamond) minerals composed of a single element in its purest uncombined form (ie. Gold-Au)
- Oxides
- Minerals that form when oxygen atoms bond w/ metal atoms like iron, magnesium, or aluminum (ie. magnetite-Fe3O4)
- Quartz
- (SiO2) One of the most abundant and stable minerals in the earth's crust, made of one atom of silicon and two atoms of oxygen
- Silicates
- The rock-forming minerals made up of silicon-oxygen molecules either alone or in combination w/ one or more other elements
- Specific Gravity
- The relative weight of a mineral when compared w/ the weight of an equal volume of water; also referred to as "heft." It is similar to a mineral's density
- Streak
- The color of the powder left by a mineral when it is rubbed across an unglazed tile
- Sulfides
- Metallic minerals that form when a metal element bonds w/ Sulfur (ie. pyrite-FeS2)
- Cementation
- Process in which dissolved minerals left by water passing through sediments binds the sediments together
- Chemical Rock
- Sedimentary rock that forms when minerals crystallize from a solution (ie. Limestone)
- Compaction
- Process in which air and water are squeezed out of sediments, resulting in the formation of sedimentary rock
- Deposition
- The laying down ad accumulation of earth materials in oceans, rivers, deserts, and glaciers
- Extrusive
- A type of rock formed from magma flowing out over the earth's surface
- Foliation
- A distinctly layered texture found in some metamorphic rocks
- Intrusive
- A type of rock formed by magma solidifying among other rocks below the earth's surface
- Igneous Rock
- A type of rock formed when magma cools and crystallizes below or on the surface of the earth
- Lithification
- the set of chemical and physical processes that convert newly deposited sediment into rock
- Metamorphic Rock
- A type of rock formed by the squeezing and heating of rocks deep below the surface of the earth
- Rock
- The material that forms Earth's hard surface, composed of minerals
- Rock Cycle
- A series of processes on the surface and inside Earth that slowly changes rocks from one kind to another
- Sediment
- Earth materials, both mineral and organic, that have been transported and laid to rest on the earth's surface
- Sedimentary Rock
- A type of rock formed when horizontal layers of sediment harden into solid rock at or just below the earth's surface