Topic 11 Rocks Minerals Notes
Topic 11 Rocks Minerals Notes
Topic 11 Rocks Minerals Notes
Or
1. Color
• Least useful property in identifying
minerals.
• Why?
All of these are varieties of quartz!
2. Streak
• The color of a minerals powder.
• “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.
• “Scratch test”
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
• Some minerals tend to form crystals that
aid in the identification of the mineral.
7. Specific Gravity
• The ratio of the density of the mineral to
the density of water (1 g/cm3)
Silicon-oxygen tetrahedron
The basic structural unit of silicate minerals
Rocks
• Naturally-occurring, coherent aggregate of
minerals or solid materials such as natural
glass or organic matter.
• Rocks are found in the lithosphere which
derived from the Greek word “lithos which
means rock.
Rocks
Monomineralic Polymineralic
• 1 Mineral • More than 1 Mineral
B. Chemical (crystaline)
• Formed from the evaporation or precipitation
of sea water.
• The Adirondacks!
Contact Metamorphism
• Occurs when liquid rock comes into
contact with other rocks.
Bedrock Of New York State
Identifying Characteristics of
Rocks
Igneous Sedimentary
• Intergrown crystals • Cemented fragments
• Glassy texture (sediments)
• Fossils
• Organic material
Metamorphic
•Banding
•Foliated
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