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Subduction of an
oceanic plate beneath
a continental plate
uplifts a volcanic
mountain range
GEOLOGIC CYCLE
Magma
rises from
melting
plate and
intrudes or
extrudes in
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the crust
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Magmas cool to Weathering and

make igneous erosion creates
rock sediments
Extrusive versus
Intrusive

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Metamorphism of subducted rock

Sediments
are carried to
the oceans
and lakes

Lithification

Tectonic plates interact

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The Geologic Cycle

Three Great Families of Rock

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Two Types of Igneous Rocks

Igneous Rocks
Extrusive igneous rocks
(Volcanic rocks) form
when magma erupts at
the surface (i.e., above
ground) and rapidly cools
Intrusive igneous rocks
(Plutonic Rocks) form
when magma intrudes
into bedrock and slowly
Igneous rocks form as molten rock cools cools (i.e., below ground)
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and solidifies

Two Types of Igneous Rocks Igneous textures

• Texture refers to a rock’s appearance
with respect to the size, shape, and
arrangement of its grains or other
constituents.
• Most (but not all) igneous rocks are
crystalline; that is, they are made of
interlocking crystals

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Igneous Rock Texture

• Factors affecting crystal (grain) size
1. Rate of cooling
– Slow rate = fewer but larger crystals
– Fast rate = many small crystals
– Very fast rate forms glass
2. % of silica (SiO2) present
3. Dissolved gases
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• Extrusive rocks typically are fine-grained
rocks, in which most of the grains are
smaller than 1 millimeter.
Ex. Basalt, andesite, and rhyolite
• Intrusive rocks (plutonic rocks) are
coarse-grained, reflecting the slow cooling
and solidification of magma.
• Ex. Granite, Diorite, Gabbro
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Igneous textures
• Types of igneous textures
• Aphanitic (fine-grained) texture
– Rapid rate of cooling
– Microscopic crystals
– May contain vesicles (holes from gas
bubbles)
• Phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture
– Slow cooling
– Large, visible crystals

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Aphanitic texture Phaneritic texture

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Igneous textures Porphyritic texture

• Types of igneous textures
• Porphyritic texture
– Minerals form at different temperatures
– Large crystals (phenocrysts) are embedded
in a matrix of smaller crystals (groundmass)
• Glassy texture
– Very rapid cooling of lava
– Resulting rock is called obsidian

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Porphyritic texture Glassy texture

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Glassy texture Igneous textures

• Types of igneous textures
• Pegmatitic texture
– Exceptionally coarse grained (grain-size is
2 to 3 cm)
– Form in late stages of crystallization of
granitic magmas

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Pegmatitic texture Igneous compositions

• Igneous rocks are composed primarily
of silicate minerals
• Dark (or ferromagnesian) silicates
– Olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite
mica
• Light (or nonferromagnesian) silicates
– Quartz, muscovite mica, and feldspars

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Igneous compositions Igneous compositions

• Granitic versus basaltic compositions
• Granitic composition
– Light-colored silicates
– Termed felsic (feldspar and silica) in
composition
– High amounts of silica (SiO2)
– Major constituent of continental crust
• Granitic versus basaltic compositions
• Basaltic composition
– Dark silicates and calcium-rich feldspar
– Termed mafic (magnesium and ferrum, for
iron) in composition
– Higher dense than granitic rocks
– Comprise the ocean floor and many
volcanic islands

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Igneous compositions Granite

• Naming igneous rocks – granitic rocks
• Granite
– Phaneritic
– Over 25% quartz, about 65% or more
feldspar
– Very abundant - often associated with
mountain building
– The term granite includes a wide range of
mineral compositions

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Igneous compositions Rhyolite

• Naming igneous rocks – granitic rocks

• Rhyolite
– Extrusive equivalent of granite
– May contain glass fragments and vesicles
– Aphanitic texture
– Less common and less voluminous than
granite

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Rhyolite and Granite Igneous compositions

• Naming igneous rocks – basaltic rocks
• Basalt
– Volcanic origin (extrusive rock)
– Aphanitic texture
– Composed mainly of pyroxene and calcium-
rich plagioclase feldspar
– Most common extrusive igneous rock

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Basalt Igneous compositions

• Naming igneous rocks – mafic rocks
• Gabbro
– Intrusive equivalent of basalt
– Phaneritic texture consisting of pyroxene
and calcium-rich plagioclase
– Significant % of the oceanic crust

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Gabbro Basalt and Gabbro

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Sedimentary Rocks What is a sedimentary rock?

• Sediment is the collective name for loose,
Sedimentary Rocks solid particles of mineral that originate from:
1. Weathering and erosion of preexisting
rocks (detrital sediments).
2. Precipitation from solution, including
secretion by organisms in water (chemical
sediments).

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Turning sediment into rock

Turning sediment into rock
• Many changes occur to sediment after it is
deposited
• Diagenesis = chemical, physical, and
biological changes that take place after
sediments are deposited
• Occurs within the upper few kilometers of
Earth’s crust
• Diagenesis
• Includes
– Recrystallization – development of more
stable minerals from less stable ones
– Lithification – sediments are transformed
into solid rock by
» Compaction and cementation
» Natural cements include calcite, silica,
and iron oxide

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Types of sedimentary rocks Detrital sedimentary rocks

• Sediment originates from mechanical
and/or chemical weathering • The chief constituents of detrital rocks
include
• Rock types are based on the source of
• Clay minerals
the material
• Quartz
• Detrital rocks – transported sediment as
solid particles; fragments of preexisting • Feldspars
rocks • Micas
• Chemical rocks – sediment that was once • Particle size is used to distinguish
in solution among the various rock types
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Detrital sedimentary rocks

• Common detrital sedimentary rocks
• Shale
– Mud-sized particles in thin layers that are
commonly referred to as laminea
– Most common sedimentary rock
• Sandstone
– Composed of sand-sized particles
– Forms in a variety of environments
– Quartz is the predominant mineral

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Shale Quartz sandstone

Fine-grained Shale tends to split into

very thin layers.

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Detrital sedimentary rocks Conglomerate

• Conglomerate and breccia

– Both are composed of particles greater than
2mm in diameter
– Conglomerate consists largely of rounded
gravels; often has a similar appearance to
“concrete”
– Breccia is composed mainly of large
angular particles and fragments, which have
not been rounded

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Breccia
Chemical sedimentary rocks
• Consist of precipitated material that
was once in solution
• Precipitation of material occurs by
• Inorganic processes
• Organic processes (biochemical origin)

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Ancient
Chemical sedimentary rocks Coral Reef
• Common chemical sedimentary rocks • El Capitan
• Limestone Peak in the
Guadalupe
– Composed chiefly of the mineral calcite
Mtns of Texas
– Marine biochemical limestones form as coral was part of a
reefs, coquina (broken shells), and chalk large coral
(microscopic organisms) reef during the
– Inorganic limestones include travertine and Permian
oolitic limestone period, which
has become
lithified into
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limestone 54

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Coquina Fossiliferous limestone

A variety of limestone called coquina forms from the cementation of shells

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and shell fragments that accumulated on the shallow sea floor near shore

Oolithic limestone Chemical sedimentary rocks

• Common chemical sedimentary rocks
• Dolostone
– Typically formed secondarily from limestone
- forms from limestone as the calcium in calcite is
partially replaced by magnesium, usually as water
solutions move through the limestone.
• Chert
– A hard, compact, fine-grained sedimentary rock
formed almost entirely of silica
An oölitic limestone formed by the cementation – forms from the accumulation of delicate, glass-
of oöids (small spheres). like shells of microscopic marine organisms
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Agate is a form of banded

Dolostone chert

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Chemical sedimentary rocks

• Common chemical sedimentary rocks
• Evaporites
– Evaporation triggers deposition of chemical
precipitates
– Examples include rock salt; gypsum (used
for drywall, aspirin, Vitamin C tablets; and
potash (used for fertilizer)
• Bonneville salt flats in western Utah is the
remnant of the enormous Pleistocene-age
Lake Bonneville which once occupied the
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Chemical sedimentary rocks

• Common chemical sedimentary rocks
• Coal
– it is composed of organic material
– Stages in coal formation (in order)
» 1. Plant material
» 2. Peat
» 3. Lignite
» 4. Bituminous

• 30% of the world’s salt supply is extracted from the ocean. It

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takes 10,000 gallons of sea water to produce 1 ton of salt

Stages Stages
of of
coal coal
formation
formation

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Classification of
Coal bed
sedimentary rocks
• Two major textures are used in the
classification of sedimentary rocks
• Clastic
– Discrete fragments and particles
– All detrital rocks have a clastic texture
• Nonclastic
– Pattern of interlocking crystals
Coal bed in the Black Warrior Coal Basin, Alabama. – May resemble an igneous rock

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Identification of sedimentary
rocks

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