CHAPTER 5 : MINERELS AND ROCKS

About 98 percent of total crust consists of only 8 elements. They are usually combined with each
other. A mineral is composed of 2 or more elements. Sometimes single element minerals are found.
2000 minerals that have been named and identified.

Physical characters.

1. External crystal form : internal arrangement of molecules.

2. Cleavage : tendency to break in given directions to create plane surface.
3. Fracture : Break in irregular manner. Not a plane surface.
4. Lustre : Appearance without regard to color. (metallic, silky, glossy.)
5. Streak : color of the ground powder of any mineral. (Flurite.)
6. Transparency , Translucent, opaque
7. Hardness : talc to diamond.

Metallic minerals :

1. Precious metals : silver,gold

2. Ferrous metals : iron containing
3. Non Ferrous metals : copper, lead, zinc.

Non metallic minerals: Sulphur, Phosphates, nitrates. Cement.

Rocks : aggregate one or more minerals. Feldspar and quartz are most common in rocks. Petrology is
science of rocks . Three types of rocks .

Igneous Rocks : Form out of magma and lava from the interior of the earth. Primary rocks. Ignis – Latin
means of fire. Great depths rocks are very large. Igneous rocks on the curst are small in size. Examples :
Granite, Basalt, volcanic breccias.

Sedimentary Rocks : sedimentary means setting ( latin word “sedimentum” ). Rocks are broken into
some fragments. Fragments are deposited as Sedimentary rocks. This is called Lithification. Depending
upon the mode of the formation three types of sedimentary rocks.

Metamorphic rocks: that means change of form . Metamorphism is a process by which already
consolidated rocks undergo recrystallisation and reorganization of material. Two types of
metamorphism : Dynamic metamorphism. Thermal metamorphism. Two types of thermal
metamorphism. Contact metamorphism . Regional metamorphism.

Arrangements of minerals or grains in metamorphic rocks is called foliation. Foliated and Non foliated
rocks. Examples of metamorphic rocks: Granite, syenite, slate, schist, marble, quartzite.

Rock Cycle: Rocks do not remain in their original form for long but may undergo transformation. In this
way old rocks transformed into new ones.