(2) Minerals Flashcards
1
Q
What is a mohorovicic?
A
Where the oceanic and the continental crusts meet
2
Q
Plate Tectonics
A
- Theory that considers the lithosphere as broken into plates that are in motion.
- IMPORTANT: provides framework for understanding many of the world’s dynamic geologic process. Past and present.
- Plates change sizes over millions of years
3
Q
3 types of plate boundaries
A
Divergent, Convergent, and Transform
4
Q
Divergent Plate Boundaries
A
- Plates move apart from each other.
- Magma rises from hot asthen to create new crust in the gap between the plates.
- Mechanism of successive separation of plates and filling with magma to produce new oceanic lithospheres
5
Q
Convergent Plate Boundaries
A
- The plates are moving together.
- The less dense the plates will override the denser plate.
- The denser plate descends into the mantle (subducted).
- Oceanic crust is subducted beneath continental crust.
6
Q
Transform Plate Boundaries
A
- Plates slide past each other.
- Plates scrape and deform as they pass each other.
- Results in earthquake along the boundary.
7
Q
Minerals, Rocks, Sediment, Soil definition
A
- M: The basic building blocks of materials that make up the solid part of the earths surface.
- Rocks: a consolidated aggregate of one or more minerals
- Sediment: unconsolidated particles created by weathering and erosion of rocks.
Soil: an unconsolidated combination of minerals and organic material.
8
Q
Why study minerals?
A
- Over 4000 known and new minerals are identified each year.
- 25-30 important rock-forming minerals
- Helps to understand the origin of rocks, soils, and sediments.
- Finding and exploiting natural resources.
- Predictive behaviors of materials.
9
Q
What is a mineral?
A
- A naturally occurring inorganic solid.
- A chemical composition that i fixed or variable within a limited range.
- Uniform and constant chemicals and physical properties
- Has a definite crystal lattice structure.
10
Q
Mineral Groups
A
- Native elements
- Silicates
- Carbonites : calcite, dolomite
- Oxides: hematite, magnetite, ice
- Sulphites: pyrite, galena, spalertite, cinnibar, chacopyrite
- Sulphates: anhydrite, gypsum, barite
- Halides: halite, sylvite, fluorite
11
Q
Native Elements
A
Metals (Au, Cu,..), non-metals (C, S,..)
12
Q
Silicates
A
- Most common rock forming minerals (about 1/3 of all minerals)
- Basic building block is the silicon oxygen tetrahedrum (SiO4)^-4
- Forms the SOT and plus one or more elements
- Arrangement in a crystal lattice depends on : sharing of oxygen atoms ; balance by positive ions
13
Q
Silicate structures (arrangement of SOT and other elements)
A
- Isolated silicate structures are interconnected by cations
- Single chain structures share two oxygen
- Double chain structures share three oxygen
- Sheet structures share three oxygen and have weaker bonds since it connects as a sheet
- Network structures connect on any side (equidimentional)
14
Q
Mineral characteristics are a function of..
A
.. Chemical composition AND the way the elements are arranged in a crystal lattice
15
Q
Chemical composition of minerals
A
- Properties of the elements (size of ions, types of bonds, etc.)
- Some minerals consist of one element
- Most are compounds
- More than 100 elements, but most made up of only 8 (O, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, K, Mg) in different combinations
- These 8 elements make up about 99% of Earth’s crust
