Petrology, scientific study of rocks that deals with their 

composition, texture, and structure; and

geologic processes. It is concerned with all three major types of rocks—igneous, metamorphic, and
sedimentary. their occurrence and distribution; and their origin in relation to physicochemical conditions

CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS & DISTINCTION BETWEEN IGNEOUS, SEDIMENTARY AND METAMORPHIC

ROCKS.

 Igneous – Formed from magma

o The igneous form of rocks does not include any fossil deposits. If there are any chances
of fossil deep inside the crust, it erupts out of the Earth’s surface and gets destroyed
due to the sheer heat these rocks produce.
o Most igneous forms include more than one mineral deposit.
o They can be either glassy or coarse.
o These usually do not react with acids.
o The mineral deposits are available in the form of patches with different sizes.
 Sedimentary – Formed from layers of sand and mud
o Bedding is often the most obvious feature of a sedimentary rock and consists of lines
called bedding planes, which mark the boundaries of different layers of sediment. Most
sediments were deposited along a flat surface that was roughly parallel with the
depositional surface.
o Graded beds are common when a sediment is being deposited by a slow‐moving
current. 
o Desiccation cracks and ripple marks. Common structures preserved in sedimentary rocks
can be seen forming today along beaches and rivers. 
o  Fossils are the remains of plants or animals buried in sediments that were later lithified
into rock. 
 Metamorphic – Formed when existing rocks is subjected to heat and pressure
o Cataclastic metamorphism occurs along with the tectonic plate faults where the rocks
get rubbed with each other which results in the grain size reduction.
o Transformation of these rocks are classified as one which could not form non foliated
rock and is of low grade.
o Circulation of rock results in huge number of mineral water chemical reactions which
results in different kinds of precious metals and stones.
 OCCURRENCE

The Rock Cycle

The Rock Cycle is a group of changes.

Igneous rock can change into sedimentary
rock or into metamorphic rock. Sedimentary
rock can change into metamorphic rock or
into igneous rock. Metamorphic rock can
change into igneous or sedimentary rock.

Igneous rock forms when magma

cools and makes crystals. Magma is a hot
liquid made of melted minerals. The minerals
can form crystals when they cool. Igneous
rock can form underground, where the
magma cools slowly. Or, igneous rock can
form above ground, where the magma cools
quickly.

When it pours out on Earth's surface, magma is called lava. Yes, the same liquid rock matter that
you see coming out of volcanoes. On Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces. They
can also carry rock pieces to another place. Usually, the rock pieces, called sediments, drop from the
wind or water to make a layer. The layer can be buried under other layers of sediments. After a long
time the sediments can be cemented together to make sedimentary rock. In this way, igneous rock can
become sedimentary rock.
All rock can be heated. But where does the heat come from? Inside Earth there is heat from
pressure (push your hands together very hard and feel the heat). There is heat from friction (rub your
hands together and feel the heat). There is also heat from radioactive decay (the process that gives us
nuclear power plants that make electricity).

So, what does the heat do to the rock? It bakes the rock. Baked rock does not melt, but it does change. It
forms crystals. If it has crystals already, it forms larger crystals. Because this rock changes, it is called
metamorphic. Remember that a caterpillar changes to become a butterfly. That change is called
metamorphosis. Metamorphosis can occur in rock when they are heated to 300 to 700 degrees Celsius.
When Earth's tectonic plates move around, they produce heat. When they collide, they build mountains
and metamorphose (met-ah-MORE-foes) the rock. The rock cycle continues. Mountains made of
metamorphic rocks can be broken up and washed away by streams. New sediments from these
mountains can make new sedimentary rock. The rock cycle never stops.
 PROPERTIES

 Color - The most obvious property of a mineral, its

color, is unfortunately also the least diagnostic. In
the same way that a headache is a symptom for a
whole host of problems from the flu to a head
injury, many minerals share the same color. For
example, several minerals are green in color – olivine, epidote, and actinolite, just to name a
few. On the other extreme, one mineral can take on several different colors if there are
impurities in the chemical composition, such as quartz, which can be clear, smoky, pink, purple,
or yellow.

 Crystal Form - The external shape of a mineral crystal (or

its crystal form) is determined largely by its internal atomic
structure, which means that this property can be highly
diagnostic. Specifically, the form of a crystal is defined by
the angular relationships between crystal faces. Some
minerals, like halite (NaCl, or salt) and pyrite (FeS) have a
cubic form others like tourmaline are prismatic.
Some minerals, like azurite and malachite, which are both copper ores, don't form regular
crystals, and are amorphous.

 Hardness - The hardness of a mineral can be tested in

several ways. Most commonly, minerals are compared to
an object of known hardness using a scratch test – if a nail,
for example, can scratch a crystal, then the nail is harder
than that mineral. In the early 1800s, Friedrich Mohs, an
Austrian mineralogist, developed a relative
hardness scale based on the scratch test. He assigned
integer numbers to each mineral, where 1 is the softest
and 10 is the hardest. 

 Luster - The luster of a mineral is the way that

it reflects light. This may seem like a difficult distinction
to make, but picture the difference between the way
light reflects off a glass window and the way it reflects
off of a shiny chrome car bumper. A mineral that reflects
light the way glass does has a vitreous (or glassy) luster;
a mineral that reflects light like chrome has a metallic
luster. There are a variety of additional possibilities for
luster, including pearly, waxy, and resinous. Minerals
that are as brilliantly reflective as diamond have an adamantine luster. With a little practice,
 luster is as easily recognized as color and can be quite distinctive, particularly for minerals that
occur in multiple colors like quartz.

 Cleavage and Fracture -

Most minerals contain inherent weaknesses
within their atomic structures, a plane along
which the bond strength is lower than the
surrounding bonds. When hit with a hammer
or otherwise broken, a mineral will tend to
break along that plane of pre-existing weakness. This type of breakage is called cleavage, and
the quality of the cleavage varies with the strength of the bonds. Biotite, for example, has layers
of extremely weak hydrogen bonds that break very easily, thus biotite breaks along flat planes
and is considered to have perfect cleavage. Other minerals cleave along planar surfaces of
varying roughness – these are considered to have good to poor cleavage.

DISTRIBUTION

Deposits of minerals form when a medium that contains and transports mineral-
making ore releases and deposits the ore. Magma is one such medium that transports ores. When
magma or lava cools, the magma and ore carried within it crystallize to form tiny minerals in the newly-
created igneous rock. Minerals found in such rock might include feldspar or mica. Minerals can also be
transported and released from water sources, such as seawater, river water, or groundwater. Often,
chemical changes in the water might result in the release of different minerals such as salt or calcium
carbonate. Pressure and heat in the process of creating metamorphic rock can also result in the
formation or transformation of minerals.

Distribution of mineral deposits is related to the transportation and release process. When gold
minerals are released, typically they are so heavy that they are distributed to the bottom of riverbeds.
Other minerals, such as feldspar, hornblende, or quartz, may be lightweight and drift in waterways until
they are washed up on shores of riverbanks or coasts. Minerals in igneous rocks often form where
magma has cooled over time. In this case, the mineral grains will be larger underground, where magma
has not reached the Earth’s surface, and the cooling period is much longer.

The mineral extraction process begins with finding the location of mineral deposits. Remote
sensors that use satellite images and geochemical surveys are just two ways that minerals can be
located. Many minerals are then removed through mining or quarrying. However, liquid minerals, such
as oil or gas, may be extracted by pumping. Once extracted, minerals are refined in a variety of ways to
remove impurities. They are then processed in a way that humans can best use them.
 IGNEOUS ROCKS

 Basalt - Basalt is a dark-colored, fine-grained, igneous rock composed mainly

of plagioclase and pyroxene minerals. It most commonly forms as an extrusive rock, such as
a lava flow, but can also form in small intrusive bodies, such as an igneous dike or a thin sill. It
has a composition similar to gabbro. The difference between basalt and gabbro is that basalt is a
fine-grained rock while gabbro is a coarse-grained rock.
 Granite - Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica,
amphiboles, and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, gray,
or white color with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock.
 Diorite - Diorite is the name used for a group of coarse-grained igneous rocks with a composition
between that of granite and basalt. It usually occurs as large intrusions, dikes, and sills within
continental crust. These often form above a convergent plate boundary where an oceanic plate
subducts beneath a continental plate.
 Gabbro - Gabbro is a coarse-grained, dark-colored, intrusive igneous rock. It is usually black or
dark green in color and composed mainly of the mineral’s plagioclase and augite. It is the most
abundant rock in the deep oceanic crust. Gabbro has a variety of uses in the construction
industry. It is used for everything from crushed stone base materials at construction sites to
polished stone counter tops and floor tiles.
 Pegmatite - Pegmatites are extreme igneous rocks that form during the final stage of a magma’s
crystallization. They are extreme because they contain exceptionally large crystals and they
sometimes contain minerals that are rarely found in other types of rocks. Most pegmatites have
a composition that is similar to granite with abundant quartz, feldspar, and mica. These are
sometimes called "granite pegmatites" to indicate their mineralogical composition. However,
compositions such as "gabbro pegmatite," "syenite pegmatite," and any other plutonic rock
name combined with "pegmatite" are possible.
 Pumice - Pumice is a light-colored, extremely porous igneous rock that forms during explosive
volcanic eruptions. It is used as aggregate in lightweight concrete, as landscaping aggregate, and
as an abrasive in a variety of industrial and consumer products. Many specimens have a high
enough porosity that they can float on water until they slowly become waterlogged.
 Rhyolite - Rhyolite is an extrusive igneous rock with a very high silica content. It is usually pink or
gray in color with grains so small that they are difficult to observe without a  hand lens. Rhyolite
is made up of quartz, plagioclase, and sanidine, with minor amounts of hornblende and biotite.
Trapped gases often produce vugs in the rock. These often contain crystals, opal, or glassy
material.
 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

 Sandstone - Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock made up mainly of sand-size (1/16-to-2-

millimeter diameter) weathering debris. Environments where large amounts of sand can
accumulate include beaches, deserts, flood plains, and deltas. The specimen shown above is
about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Limestone - Limestone is a rock that is composed primarily of calcium carbonate. It can form
organically from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal, and fecal debris. It can also form
chemically from the precipitation of calcium carbonate from lake or ocean water. Limestone is
used in many ways. Some of the most common are: production of cement, crushed stone, and
acid neutralization. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Breccia - Breccia is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of large (over two-millimeter
diameter) angular fragments. The spaces between the large fragments can be filled with a
matrix of smaller particles or a mineral cement which binds the rock together. The specimen
shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Conglomerate - Conglomerate is a clastic sedimentary rock that contains large (greater than two
millimeters in diameter) rounded particles. The space between the pebbles is generally filled
with smaller particles and/or a chemical cement that binds the rock together. The specimen
shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Shale - Shale is a clastic sedimentary rock that is made up of clay-size (less than 1/256 millimeter
in diameter) weathering debris. It typically breaks into thin flat pieces. The specimen shown
above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS

 Gneiss - Gneiss is a foliated metamorphic rock that has a banded appearance and is made up of
granular mineral grains. It typically contains abundant quartz or feldspar minerals. The specimen
shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Marble - Marble is a non-foliated metamorphic rock that is produced from the metamorphism
of limestone or dolostone. It is composed primarily of calcium carbonate. The specimen shown
above is about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Schist - Schist is a metamorphic rock with well-developed foliation. It often contains significant
amounts of mica which allow the rock to split into thin pieces. It is a rock of intermediate
metamorphic grade between phyllite and gneiss. The specimen shown above is a "chlorite
schist" because it contains a significant amount of chlorite. It is about two inches (five
centimeters) across.
 Slate - Slate is a foliated metamorphic rock that is formed through the metamorphism of shale.
It is a low-grade metamorphic rock that splits into thin pieces. The specimen shown above is
about two inches (five centimeters) across.
 Quartzite - Quartzite is a non-foliated metamorphic rock that is produced by the metamorphism
of sandstone. It is composed primarily of quartz. The specimen above is about two inches (five
centimeters) across.