Rocks Flashcards
a solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance.
mineral
the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
lithosphere
hot fluid or semi-fluid material below or within the earth’s crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed on cooling.
magma
the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid; dregs.
sediments
chemical elements that occur in nature in an uncombined or pure form
native elements
a piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces.
crystals
a gentle sheen or soft glow
lustre
a long, thin line or mark of a different substance or colour from its surroundings.
streak
the quality or condition of being hard.
hardness
rocks formed by the cooling and solidifying of molten materials
igneous rocks
the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff.
extrusive rocks
a very light and porous volcanic rock formed when a gas-rich froth of glassy lava solidifies rapidly.
pumice
basaltic lava ejected as fragments from a volcano, typically with a frothy texture.
scoria
(of a substance or material) capable of polishing or cleaning a hard surface by rubbing or grinding.
abrasive
the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.
erosion
denoting rocks composed of broken pieces of older rocks.
clastic
a sedimentary rock composed primarily of material formed directly by precipitation from solution or colloidal suspension.
chemical
relating to or derived from living matter.
organic
the remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal embedded in rock and preserved in petrified form.
fossils
It most commonly forms as an extrusive rock, such as a lava flow, but can also form in small intrusive bodies
basalt
it is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. it is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth.
obsidian
rocks that are formed inside of the crust
intrusive rocks
Large bodies of intrusive rock are
called
batholiths
is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture
granite
an area of land adjacent to a stream or river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge
floodplains
a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight
glaciers
any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions on Earth
moraines
a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments
sandstone
a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.063 millimetres with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope
mudstone
a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock, composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals
shale
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystone.
siltstone
a coarse-grained sedimentary rock composed of rounded fragments embedded in a matrix of cementing material such as silica.
conglomerate
Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs
limestone
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams.
coal
Halite, commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral form of sodium chloride
rock salt
An ore is a natural occurrence of rock or sediment which contains enough minerals with economically important elements
mineral ores
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposit. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner
mining
An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a document prepared to describe the effects of proposed activities on the environment
environmental impact statement
restore (someone) to health or normal life by training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.
rehabilitated
rock or soil overlying a mineral deposit, archaeological site, or other underground feature.
overburden
Open-pit, open-cast or open cut mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow
open-cut mining
