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Republic of the Philippines

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
Echague, Isabela
By: Engr. Melanie D. Aquino
Geology for Civil Engineers
(Modules in CE 222)

ENGR. MELANIE D. AQUINO

Second Semester, SY 2020 - 2021

Republic of the Philippines

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
Echague, Isabela
Chapter 2: Minerals and Rocks

Overview/Introduction

This chapter discusses the properties of minerals, silicate minerals, non-silicate

minerals, nature of rocks, and the different kinds of rocks.

Learning Outcome/Objective

At the end of this chapter, the students shall be able to:

1. Understand the nature of rocks;
2. Relate the three main types of rocks; and
3. Appreciate the importance of each type of rock and its relevance to engineering aspect.

Learning Content/Topic

ROCKS
A. The Nature of Rocks
Rocks are aggregates of one or more mineral. The nature and properties of a rock are
determined by the minerals in it (particularly those essential minerals which individually make
up more than 95% of its volume) and by the manner in which the minerals are arranged
relative to each other (that is, the texture of the rock).

Three main types of rocks:

Igneous Rocks – are formed from magma, which has well below the surface, has ascended
towards the surface, and has crystalized as solid rock either on the surface or deep within the
Earth’s crust as its temperature fell.

Sedimentary Rocks - are formed by the accumulation and compaction of (a) fragments from
pre-existing rocks which have been disintegrated by erosion (b) organic debris such as shell
fragments or dead plants; or (c) material dissolved in surface waters (rivers, oceans, etc.) or
ground water which is precipitated in conditions of oversaturation.

Metamorphic Rocks - are formed from pre-existing rocks of any type, which have been
subjected to increases of temperature (T) or pressure (P) or both, such that the rocks
undergo change.

B. Igneous Rocks
MINERALOGY OF IGNEOUS ROCKS
Many different types of mineral occur in igneous rocks, but only about eight are normally
present as essential constituents of a rock (see the Table).
A partial classification by grouping igneous rocks according to their mineral compositions,
and hence percentage of silica, is shown in Figure below:

The boundaries between the four main groups of igneous rock are arbitrary divisions of what
are really gradational changes in composition, but they are drawn in such a way that the
presence or absence of certain minerals such as quartz and olivine allows a rock to be put at
the acidic or basic ends of the scale (See Table below: minerals present in the four main
groups of igneous rock).

TEXTURES OF IGNEOUS ROCKS

In fine-grained rocks, crystals are on average less than 1 mm across, in medium-grained
rocks they are between 1 and 3 mm across, and in coarse-grained rocks they are over 3 mm
across.

Extrusive igneous rocks have formed (as lavas) by rapid cooling of magma at the surface,
and are fine grained. Hypabyssal igneous rocks form minor intrusions which have solidified
 below the surface, and have cooled more slowly than extrusive rocks because of the thermal
insulation of the surrounding country rocks. Plutonic igneous rocks have formed by the
slow cooling of great volumes of magma, typically at depths of a few kilometers, within the
Earth. Classification of normal igneous rocks is tabulated in the Table below:

Porphyritic texture exists where larger and smaller crystals are both present in the same
rock. Vesicular and amygdaloidal textures occur most commonly in extrusive rocks.
Ophitic texture is produced when plagioclase feldspar and augite crystalize at the same
time to produce a felted arrangement of interlocking crystals. Pegmatitic texture is produced
where the concentration of water and other fluxes in the late-stage residue of a magma
lowers the temperature of crystallization of the minerals forming in it, allowing an individual
crystal to achieve a size well beyond what is meant by ‘coarse grained’.

Typical engineering properties of igneous rocks are given in Table below, but it must be
realized that investigation of any of the rocks given in the table could reveal values outside
the limits shown, especially as regards the capacity for water absorption.

C. Igneous Structures and Forms

EXTRUSIVE ROCKS
Extrusive rocks are formed when molten rock (magma) reaches the surface, along either
wide vertical fissures or pipe-like openings in the Earth’s crust. Fissure openings may vary
from a fraction of a kilometer to several kilometers in length.

The ash and dust ejected from central-vent volcanoes consist of small blobs of lava blown
apart by expanding volcanic gases as the magma neared the surface, and which chilled as
they flew through the air. The collective term for this ejected material is pyroclastic rock.
The dust and fine ash may settle on land or in water to form tuffs, which may or may not
show bedding. Tuffs are fine-grained, porous, crumbly (friable) rocks. Sometimes the
volcanic ash has been welded together by heat from the eruption, and welded tuffs are
formed. The coarser ash travels a short distance from the volcanic vent, and may fall back
into it. After consolidation it is called agglomerate.

INTRUSIVE ROCKS
Minor (hypabyssal) intrusions are relatively small igneous structures formed from magma
which has penetrated to the uppermost few kilometers of the Earth’s crust, but has not
reached the surface to be poured out as lava. They are often found in association with
volcanic rocks. The body of mixed igneous rock, roughly circular in plan and anything from
about 100 m to a few kilometers across is called a volcanic plug. It has near-vertical
margins and extends down to the magma reservoir from which it came. This might lie below
the crust, but more commonly the plug extends only to a major intrusion, originally at a depth
of 5–10 km below the surface. The common hypabyssal intrusions are sheet-like in form,
with widths usually between 1 and 70 m. A concordant hypabyssal intrusion injected along
the layering in the country rocks is called a sill. A discordant hypabyssal intrusion cutting
steeply across the layering is called a dyke.

Most sills are sub-horizontal and most dykes are near-vertical, so the terms are often used
loosely with this relative orientation in mind. An intrusion consisting of several segments,
mostly concordant but at different levels in the column of strata and linked by discordant
segments is called a transgressive sill.

In the field or at an engineering site, certain differences between sills and lava flows may
enable an engineer to determine which igneous f form he is dealing with. The main field
differences between lava flows and sills.
 Plutonic sheet intrusions are of basic composition in bulk, with a gradation from ultrabasic
near the base to a small amount of acid rock at the top. The second type of major plutonic
intrusion is a great body of granodiorite and granite called a batholith. Batholiths are
always formed from acid magma, and are characteristic of late igneous activity in mobile
belts (see Section 4.6.1), where mountain building is taking place.

Heat from the crystallizing magma affects a zone of country rocks surrounding the intrusion.
This zone is called a thermal aureole. The size of a thermal aureole will vary, depending
upon the size of the igneous intrusion producing it and the amount of water available from the
intrusion and the country rocks.

D. Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks are formed from the solid debris and the dissolved mineral matter
produced by the mechanical and chemical breakdown of pre-existing rocks, or in some cases
from the skeletal material of dead plants and animals. The processes involved in the
disintegration of rocks by weathering and erosion, and the transport of these products to the
place where they are deposited.

The nature of a sedimentary rock, and its position in a scheme of rock classification, are
partly dependent on these original conditions of transport and deposition. Thus it may be
described according to the type of environment in which it accumulated: as a continental
deposit if it were laid down on land or in a lake by rivers, ice or wind; as an intermediate
deposit if it were laid down in an estuary or delta; or as a marine deposit if it were laid down
on a seashore, in the shallow waters of the continental shelves, or in the abyssal areas of the
deep oceans.

4 Major Groups of Sedimentary Rocks

(a) terrigenous sedimentary rocks (sometimes referred to as clastic or detrital rocks),
which are formed from minerals or rock fragments derived from the breakdown of preexisting
rocks;
(b) chemical sedimentary rocks, which are formed from the precipitation of salts dissolved
in water;
(c) organic sedimentary rocks, which are formed from the skeletal remains of plants and
animals and include coal and oil;
(d) limestones and dolomites, which are sedimentary rocks consisting of more than 50%
carbonate, and can include chemical, clastic and biological material.

MINERALOGY OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

The composition of a given rock will depend on the source from which the waste material
came, on the resistance, chemical and mechanical, of each component during transport, and
on the distance travelled. The main constituents of terrigenous sedimentary rocks are
fragments from pre-existing rocks and minerals. Some minerals in sedimentary rocks may be
formed in the area of deposition.

Limestones may possess mineral constituents that include clastic particles, chemically
precipitated material and organic remains (shells, corals, etc.). Diagenesis is the name given
to processes that alter the character of a sedimentary rock after it has been deposited, either
by interactions between constituent minerals or by reactions between constituent minerals
and pore fluids or other liquids circulating through the sedimentary material. Diagenesis is a
low-temperature process, which can occur when the sediment is still in contact with the sea
or lake water after its deposition, and also later when direct contact with the original water
has been removed. The process continues until the constituents and pore fluids are in
chemical equilibrium.

Sedimentary rock grains may be bonded together by cement, which consists of any
naturally deposited mineral matter as described earlier. Commonly found cements in
sedimentary rocks include calcite and silica, as well as haematite, which give the rock a
red color. The nature of the cement may be of importance to the engineer since it
affects a rock’s properties.

TEXTURES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Chemical sedimentary rocks generally have a crystalline texture. Some, however, are formed
of fragments, and their textures are dependent on the sizes, shapes and arrangement of
these fragments.

The size of grains is an important textural feature of a terrigenous rock, as an indication of

distance between its source and depositional areas, as well as an easily observed property
which may be used to distinguish and classify the rock. The coarsest particles are deposited
nearest to the source area, and most of the finest particles are carried in suspension to
greater distances before they settle.

The degree of roundness of grains is related to the amount of abrasion suffered during
transport, and hence to distance travelled from their source before deposition. Roundness is
related to the sharpness or curvature of edges and corners of grains. It is also dependent on
the size and hardness of the grains and the violence of impact of one against another. A
property associated with roundness of grains is sphericity, which defines the degree to
which a particle or grain approaches the shape of a sphere.

The relative homogeneity of a rock is expressed as its degree of sorting, a well sorted rock
consisting of similarly sized particles. In contrast, a poorly sorted rock has a wide range of
particle sizes (that is, grades). It should be noted that, in engineering practice, a soil
such as gravel, containing a wide range of sizes (grades), is said to be well graded,
and that ‘well graded’ is opposite in meaning to ‘well sorted’.

In the Unified Classif ication System (UCS) used by engineers, soils are classified by the
predominant particle size and organic content into gravels (G), sands (S), silts (M), clays (C),
organic soils (O) and peats (Pt). Coarse-grained soils (G+S) are subdivided by grading, and
fine-grained -clay soils by liquid limit, LL, and plasticity index. The table below gives a more
detailed account of mechanical composition scales; coarse and fine aggregates are included
for comparison.
 Mechanical composition scales for sands and gravels.

Clastic sedimentary rock classification based on grain size.

The occurrence of sedimentary structures indicates some variation in composition or texture

of sedimentary rock layers in response to changes in the environmental conditions in which
the particular sediment was laid down. Two of the most common sedimentary structures
graded bedding and cross bedding, are associated with sorting. In graded bedding,
sediment containing a wide range of grain sizes is sorted vertically such that there is a
continuous gradation from coarse particles at the bottom of the sedimentary layer to fine
grains at the top. Cross bedding is most commonly found in sandstones and feldspathic
 sandstones (or arkoses), which have been laid down in shallow water or deposited as dunes
by the action of wind.

The engineering properties of some sedimentary rocks are given in the table below. (Note,
however, that the data in the table should serve only as a rough guide, and the natural rock
involved in any engineering scheme should always be tested.) The porosity, water absorption
and uniaxial compressive strength of many sedimentary rocks are highly variable, depending
upon how well the rock has been compacted or the grains cemented together.

Engineering properties of some unweathered sedimentary rocks.

E. Metamorphic Rocks
If a rock is subjected to increased temperature or pressure, or both, to such a degree that it is
altered by recrystallization, then a new rock with a new texture and possibly a new mineral
composition is produced. Rocks formed in this way belong to the third major category of
rocks, the metamorphic rocks. The process of change is referred to as metamorphism of
the original rock. In dynamic metamorphism, increased stress is the dominant agent, extra
heat being relatively unimportant. It is characteristic of narrow belts of movement, where the
rocks on one side are being displaced relative to those on the other.

In thermal metamorphism, increased temperature is the dominant agent producing change,

and the degree of recrystallization of the original rocks bears a simple relation to it. It is
characteristic of the country rocks that lie at the margins of any large igneous intrusions and
have been baked and altered by the hot magma.

In large masses of granite, the changes extend outwards from the granite for distances of the
order of 2 km. This zone of metamorphism is called the thermal aureole of the granite
mass, and the type of new minerals formed at any part within it depends on the temperature
attained and the distance from the granite.

Temperature, load and directed pressure are important agents of regional metamorphism,
which invariably affects wide areas rather than being related to an individual igneous mass or
one zone of movement.

The degree of metamorphism is related to the conditions of temperature and pressure

under which the new metamorphic rock has formed, and may be assessed by the
appearance of certain new minerals. These index minerals, each of which indicates a
particular temperature and pressure at the time it formed, are used to define the
metamorphic grade of the rock in which they occur.

Relationship between metamorphic grade, index minerals and parental rock types.

At extreme grades of regional metamorphism, partial melting of a rock may occur to give a
metamorphic rock of variable texture in which bands of crystalline quartz and feldspar occur.
These have been derived from melted material, leaving a finer grained matrix which is
relatively rich in mica. The rock is called a migmatite. The layering formed by alternating
bands of different texture is referred to as metamorphic banding or foliation.

Textural Classification of Metamorphic Rocks.

Engineering Properties of Some Common Metamorphic Rocks.

Teaching and Learning Activities

Based from the information given above re: 3 main types of rocks make a summary table of the
characteristics of each rock. Differentiate the three based on their usage.

Flexible Teaching Learning Modality (FTLM) adapted

Google Classroom, Module, Exercises

Assessment Task

Quiz (TBA)

Reference/s:
McLean, A.C. and Gribble, C.D. Geology for Engineers. Second Edition. Taylor & Francis e-
Library. 2005. ISBN 0-203-36215-2.