1. Name:___________________ Date:__/___/09
Earth Science Rabbi Goldberg
Minerals & Rocks
Review Notes
Vocabulary
1. Monomineralic- rock made of one mineral
2. Polymineralic- rocks made out of more than one mineral
3. rocks- formed material made up of one or more minerals
4. rockformers- are minerals that are common in most rocks
5. streak – color of the powder when scratched or crushed on a streak plate
6. Luster- appearance of the outside when looked at in the light
7. cleavage- smooth planes when the rock breaks
8. fracture- when rock cracks rough edge
9. crystalline- atoms inside are bonded in a particular structure or pattern
10. magma- molten rock inside the earth
11. lava- molten rocks that breaks through the surface of the Earth
12. vesicular- bubbles of gas that solidified and formed holes
13. extrusive igneous rocks – lava flows out and cools and hardens on the
surface
14. intrusive igneous rocks – magma cools and hardens inside the Earth
15. transporting agents – things in nature that move particles from one place
to another

2. Monomineralic Polymineralic
Rocks Rockformers
Streak Luster
Cleavage Fracture
Crystalline Magma
Lava Vesicular
intrusive igneous extrusive igneous
rocks rocks
transporting agents

3. rock made of one mineral rocks made out of more
than one mineral
formed material made up of are minerals that are common
one or more minerals in most rocks
color of the powder when appearance of the outside
scratched or crushed on a when looked at in the light
streak plate
smooth planes when the rock when rock cracks rough edge
breaks
atoms inside are bonded in molten rock inside the earth
a particular structure or
pattern
molten rocks that breaks bubbles of gas that solidified
and formed holes
through the surface of the
Earth
magma cools and hardens magma cools and hardens
inside the Earth
inside the Earth
things in nature that move
particles from one place to
another

4. Name:___________________ Date:11/___/09
Earth Science Rabbi Goldberg
Minerals & Rocks
Review Notes
I. Introduction
a. The Lithosphere is the solid potion of the Earth
i. It is made of naturally formed material called rock
1. all rocks are made of minerals
a. monomineralic – made of 1 mineral
b. Polymineralic – made of more than one mineral
II. Minerals
a. Introduction
i. Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline, solid
material, with definite chemical compositions, and specific
physical properties
ii. There are more than 2,400 minerals found on earth
iii. There are only 12 minerals called rockformers that make up
90% of the rocks on earth.
b. Characteristics of minerals in rock
i. Minerals are made up of elements
1. Elements – made of atoms having the same protons
and electrons cant be broken down mechanically
a. The must abundant element is oxygen
b. the second most abundant element is silicon
c. Physical and Chemical properties
i. Minerals can be identified based on their physical and
chemical properties
1. Color –
a. The color of the mineral can help identify
certain minerals
b. However, since VERY few minerals have a
specific color it really can’t be used
2. Hardness
a. Hardiness- is the resistance of a mineral being
scratched
i. Hard mineral will make a mark on a softer
mineral
b. Moh’ Scale of Hardness
i. List 10 minerals from soft to the hardest
1. #1 is talc with is the softect
mineral

5. 2. #10 is diamonds which is the
hardest mineral
ii. By using this list we can determine which
minerals will scratch the other
1. For example if a mineral cant
scratch quartz but can scratch
feldspar What number of
hardness is it?
a. Answer is 6.5
3. Streak
a. Is the color of powder of a mineral when it is
either crushed or scratched on a streak plate
b. The color of the mineral might be different then
the color of the streak
4. Luster
a. If you would look at the mineral in light what
type reflection would it give off
b. It might shine like metal and therefore would
have a metallic luster
OR
c. it might not shine like metal and therefore
would be called non metallic luster
5. Cleavage vs Fracture
a. Lets say I would break a mineral
b. If the mineral breaks with smooth edges or
surfaces it is said to have cleavage
c. If the mineral has jaggered or rough surface by
the break then it is said to be fracture
6. Crystal formation
a. This depends on the atomic structure of the
mineral
b. Is the mineral formed under the amount of
pressure
c. Two mineral with similar properties can be
distinguished by their crystal formation
7. Specific gravity
a. The ratio of the weight of a mineral to equal
volume of water
b. A mineral with specific gravity 3.0 will be 3x
heavier then the equal volume of water
c. Specific gravity = density
8. Special Properties
a. Some mineral have special properties

6. b. Calcite will bubble carbon dioxide when
dropped in hydrochloric acid
c. Halite – tastes salty
d. Magnetite – is magnetic
9. Mineral Properties
a. Minerals are crystalline
i. The atoms inside are bonded in a
particular way
ii. Two mineral with the same chemical
composition (make up) CAN HAVE
DIFFERENT PROPERTIES
1. Graphite and diamonds are both
chemically made up the same
materials
2. Diamonds are under extreme
pressure and therefore their
crystalline composition is closer
together and stronger than
graphite
III. Rocks
a. There are three categories of rocks
i. Igneous rocks
ii. Sedimentary rocks
iii. Metamorphic rocks
IV. Igneous Rock
a. Igneous Rocks Definition
i. Igneous rocks are formed from the solidification (making
hard) and crystallization of molten rock.
ii. This makes the rocks hard, solid and compact.
b. Two Types of Molten Rocks
i. Magma – is the molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface
ii. Lava is the molten rock that reaches the Earth’s surface
c. How is it made?
i. When magma or lava cools and solidifies it forms igneous
rocks
ii. As the liquid rocks gets harder crystals may form
iii. This gives the igneous rocks it’s texture
d. Two types of Igneous Textures
i. The texture of igneous rock is dependent (relies) the rate
(speed) of cooling.
ii. Slow cooling bigger crystals
1. Coarser (rougher) texture
e. Rapid cooling smaller crystals
1. Finer texture

7. f. Vesicular
i. When bubbles of gas are in solidified lava there are gas
holes called Vesicles
ii. Igneous rocks that have these holes are said to be vesicular.
g. Cooling , Temperature, & Pressure
i. Cooling is related to both temperature and pressure
1. When the temperature drops rapidly or pressure is
lessened you are going to have less crystals and a
finer texture.
2. This is usually with molten rocks closer to the earth’s
surface or lava on top of the surface.
What are
extrusive and
intrusive Igneous
rocks?
h. Extrusive Igneous rocks
i. Extrusive – when the lava exits the earth’s
surface and hardens.
ii. since it is cooler and less pressure exists on the
surface the rocks are finer and have less crystals.
i. Intrusive Igneous Rocks
i. Intrusive when the magma hardens inside the earth.
ii. since there is more pressure and heat the deeper you go
into the Earth
iii. the larger the crystals and the courser (rougher) the texture
of the rock is
Through the
Let’s recap! solidification and
How do Igneous crystallization of
rocks form ?
magma and lava!
How does
Minerals must be
magma form? melted
Some like mica melt
under very low temp
and other needs a

8. V. Igneous rock scheme ( ESRT)
• This chart is used to help us identify: What type of Igneous rock it is.
– It shows us
• Color
• Texture
• Density
• Mineral composition
Where are
igneous rocks
found? All over
They are in
oceans,
continental

9. I. Sedimentary rocks
a. How are Sedimentary rocks made?
i. The weathering process breaks down rock and make
inorganic sediments (pieces)
ii. The sediments are then transported either by water, glaciers
and wind and deposit the pieces in different locations
iii. Then they are made into rocks by one of the following ways
1. Compression cementations
2. Chemical process
3. Biological process
4. Transporting agents
b. What are the different Transporting agents?
i. As we said before
1. Wind
2. Glaciers
3. Water – this is the most common form of
transportation for these sediments
c. Why does sedimentary rocks usually of rounded sediments?
i. This is due to the water.
1. The water pushes the sediments down a stream or
whatever and the sediments get reformed
II. Compression and cementation
a. This is when the water and other sediments out pressure on a
group of sediments
i. This pressure alone sometimes can cause these sediments
to form a rock
1. Ex Shale
b. Sometimes they are combined by mineral cements that separate
from the mineral
i. This is like glue that sticks the pieces together
ii. Usually occurs with larger sediments like sand, pebbles
small rocks
III. Chemical Processes
a. Some sedimentary rocks are formed from
i. Evaporation
ii. Precipitation
iii. Of minerals out of evaporating water
iv. Ex
1. Gypsum
2. Limestone
3. Etc…

10. IV. Biological Process
a. Sometimes organic (living) sediments of remains –including plants
and animals
b. They decay and then they compress with other materials to form a
rock
c. FOSSILS are primarily found in sedimentary rocks
V. How are sedimentary rocks classified?
a. There are three main categories of sedimentary rocks
i. Organic
ii. Fragmental (clastic)
iii. Chemical
b. Fragmental (clastic) Sedimentary Rock
i. These are the sedimentary rocks that fragments are pressed
and cemented together
1. Ex. Sandstone
ii. These rocks are classified based on grain size
iii. Horizontal Layers
1. The size of the rocks is based on the agent hat
transported the particles
a. Horizontal layered rocks are transported by
rocks
b. The larger particles are on the bottom and the
smaller ones on top
c. Chemically formed
i. Identified based on composition and texture
ii. Chemically sedimentary tend to be made with one mineral
1. ex: halite is only made of salt
d. Fossils
i. Found in sedimentary rocks provide evidence of the
environment in which the rocks formed.