ROCKS AND MINERALS Flashcards
It is a homogenous solid and is naturally occurring substance with a chemical composition, a high
ordered atomic structure and has a specific physical property
Minerals
It is an example of a mineral; a substance with three-dimensional plane faces
Crystal Solid
The least reliable property for identifying minerals
Color
The color of a mineral in powdered form
Streak
What are the 2 mineral samples most difficult to distinguish from each other based on their color, luster, and
streak?
Halite and quartz
It is the resistance to scratching
Hardness
a mineral that can be scratched by a copper penny
Gypsum
It is a white color mineral and the softest mineral that a fingernail can scratch it.
Talc
It is a property of a mineral breaking in a more or less random pattern with no
smooth planar surfaces; illustrated by the peeling of muscovite mica into thin, flat sheets
Cleavage/Fracture
a transparent gemstone; has a conchoidal fracture, and is relatively brittle
Quartz
- geometric shape of mineral crystals
Crystalline Structure
- the degree to which light is transmitted through a mineral
Transparency/diaphaneity
most apparent to iron
Magnetism
- resistance to breaking
Tenacity
- describes how a mineral’s surface reflects light and how the interior of the mineral may
refract or bend light.
Luster
weight/heaviness of a mineral; determines how heavy the mineral is by
comparing its weight to that of water
Specific gravity/Density
- aggregation of minerals and another rock fragment
Rocks
forms from cooling/solidification of molten rocks- lava/magma
Igneous Rocks
beneath the earth’s surface
Lava
On the earth’s surface
Magma
formed from the remains of once-living organisms, such as shells or plant material
Sedimentary Rocks
rocks formed by heat and pressure
Metamorphic
- process of changing the materials that make up a rock
Metamorphism
- those that occur or are created under the Earth’s surface; processes
driven by the earth’s heat and gravity.
Endogenic Processes
geological phenomena and processes that originate externally to the
Earth’s surface
Exogenic Processes
- the displacement of rock upward or downward from their original position along
such a fracture
Faulting
process of slow downslope flowing of soil mass or fine-grained rock debris
saturated or lubricated with water; very slow to extremely slow movement of earth material
along a slope
Solifluction
the physical disintegration and chemical decomposition of Earth materials at the
surface of the earth
Weathering
It is the breakdown of rocks by mechanical forces concentrated along rock
fractures.
Physical Weathering
process by which rocks break down through chemical reactions
Chemical Weathering
the absence of vegetation and cover and with heavy rainfall, thick layers of
weathered materials get saturated with water and either slow or rapidly flow down along definite
channels; This happens when combined soil and water flow downslope
Mudflow
a slow downslope movement of loosely consolidated materials of rocks and
soil layers
Mass Wasting
- a large amount of sediments, usually rock of various sizes, fall downslope
Debris Flow
- process by which earth’s surface is worn away by wind, water, or ice.
Erosion
the laying down of broken rocks carried by wind, water, or ice.
Deposition
It means to strip off or uncover
Denudation
scale that represents the intensity of earthquake by analyzing the aftereffects like
how many people felt
Mercalli Scale
scale that represents the magnitude of the earthquake.
Richter Scale
nothing but the slide of individual rock masses.
Rockslide
- It is the movement of earth materials on a downslope terrain
Slump
- very large composite volcano collapsed after an explosive period
Caldera
It forms horizontal sheet of lava or low dome shaped volcano with a
broad base; liquid lava emitted from a central vent; large; sometimes has a
Shield Volcano
the weak or violent shaking of the earth’s surface caused by the sudden movement of
rock materials beneath it.
Earthquake
- apparatus/instrument that measures and records ground shaking
Seismogram
the place in the surface of the earth right above the focus of an earthquake
Epicenter
the place in an earthquake where the energy is released like an explosion. The source of the
energy
Focus
