Earth Materials

Earth Materials
• Earth has naturally occurring materials of
which many are necessary for existence.

• Earth materials include minerals and

rocks.

• All these materials give information

about the history of Earth and of life.
• What are minerals?
• Physical properties of minerals
• Chemical Properties of Minerals
• Classification of Rocks
• The rock cycle
• The geologic Processes on Earth
 Minerals
MINERALS
 Minerals
• A mineral is a naturally occurring, solid
crystalline substance, generally inorganic,
with a specific chemical composition
• Minerals are the “building blocks” of
rock

• Common example of
mineral is salt.
Physical Properties of Minerals
 Used to easily identify minerals
 Color
 Streak
 Hardness
 Cleavage and fracture
 Crystalline structure
 Transparency or diaphaneity
 Magnetism
 Tenacity
 Luster
 Odor
 Specific Gravity
Physical Properties of Minerals
1. Color
•Least useful property in identifying
minerals.
•Why?
All of these are varieties of quartz!
2. Streak
• The color of a minerals in powder form.
• “streak test”
3. Hardness
•The ability of a mineral to resist being
scratched.
•“Scratch test”
Moh’s Hardness Scale
Soft

Hard
4. Fracture/ Cleavage
Fracture Cleavage
• Mineral breaks • The tendency of
unevenly or a Mineral to
irregularly break evenly
along its weakest
plane.
4. Fracture/ Cleavage
5. Crystalline Structure
•Some minerals tend to form crystals that
aid in the identification of the mineral.
6. Transparency or Diaphaneity
•It indicates the extent of light that can pass
through the mineral
7. Magnetism
•It indicates the ability of a mineral to attract or repel
other minerals.

8. Tenacity
•It is the level of resistance or reaction of minerals to
stress .
•It can tell if a mineral is brittle, malleable, etc.
9. Luster
•It determine how brilliant or dull the
mineral is.
•Reaction of mineral to light.
10. Specific Gravity
•The ratio of the density of the mineral to the
density of water (1 g/cm3)

•If a mineral has a specific gravity of 5 that

means it is 5 times as dense as water.
11. Odor
•Odor is a distinct smell that is usually
released from a chemical reaction when
subjected to heat, water, air or friction
Chemical Properties of
Minerals
1. Silicate Class
• Minerals that contain a combination of silicon
and oxygen.
• Largest and most abundant group
containing silicon and oxygen.
2. Carbonate Class
• Mostly found deposited in marine environments.
• Formed from the shells of dead plankton and
other marine organisms.
3. Sulphate Class
• Forms in areas with high evaporation rates and
where salty waters slowly evaporate.
4. Halide Class
• Halide minerals are salts. They form when salt
water evaporates. This mineral class includes
more than just table salt.
5. Oxide Class
• The Oxide Class of minerals is a rather diverse
class.
6. Sulphide Class
• The sulfide minerals are a class of minerals
containing sulfide or persulfide as the major
anion.
• Some sulfide minerals are economically
important as metal ores.
7. Phosphate Class
• Contains minerals with phosphorus.
• Important biological mineral found in the teeth
and bones of many animals
8. Native Element Class
• Native element minerals are
those elements that occur in nature in
uncombined form with a
distinct mineral structure.
• The elemental class includes metals and
intermetallic elements, naturally occurring
alloys, semi-metals and non-metals.
Rocks
• Rocks are natural substances consisting of
aggregate minerals that clumped together with
other natural processes.

Monomineralic Polymineralic
• 1 Mineral • More than 1 Mineral

• There are three basic types of rocks:

igneous, sedimentary, and
metamorphic rocks.
1. Igneous rocks
- Latin word “ignis” meaning “fire”
- Rocks that form from the cooling and
solidification of magma or lava.

Intrusive Extrusive
• Cools below the earths • Cools at the Earths surface
surface. (quickly!)
• Have large crystals • Have small crystals or no
because of slow cooling. crystal at all because of fast
cooling.
• Smooth or Vesicular- gas
pockets
 The longer the rock takes to cool, the larger
the crystals!
• Cools slow …..Large crystals
• Cools fast …….small crystals
• Cools immediately……NO Crystals (glass)
2. Sedimentary Rocks
- root word sediments which means
“remaining particles”
- rocks that form from the compaction and
cementation of sediments.
1. Clastics
• Rocks that form when sediments (sand, silt
etc.) are lithified.
Processes
• Compacting and cementing
• Vary due to grain size
2. Non-Clastics
A. Organics (bioclastics)
• Formed from the compaction and cementation
of organic matter.

Examples: Coal, limestone

B. Chemical (crystalline)
• Formed from the evaporation or precipitation of
sea water.

Examples: rock salt

3. Metamorphic rocks
- “meta” means change and “morph” means form
- Rocks that form from exposure to intense heat
and/or pressure.
•DO NOT MELT!
Metamorphic rocks become…
1. Harder
2. More dense
3. Banded or foliated
4. Distorted
bituminous anthracite
coal coal

Sandstone Quartzite
pressure
(sedimentary (metamorphic
rock) rock)

pressure
 Identifying Characteristics of
Rocks
Igneous Sedimentary
• Intergrown crystals • Cemented fragments
• Glassy texture (sediments)
• Fossils
• Organic material

Metamorphic
•Banding
•Foliated
The Rock Cycle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkHp_nn
U9DY
Geologic Processes on Earth
• The dynamism of Earth is attributed to its
never-ending geologic processes driven
by internal and forces.

– Exogenous processes
– Endogenous processes
 Exogenous processes
1. Weathering
Weathering is the breaking down or dissolving
of rocks and minerals on Earths surface.
Physical weathering
Chemical weathering
 Exogenous processes
2. Erosion
Erosion is the wearing away of the land
by water, wind or ice.
 Exogenous processes
3. Mass wasting
Mass wasting is the movement of rock
and soil down slope under the influence of
gravity. Rock falls, slumps, and debris flows
are all examples of mass wasting.
• Debris flow
• Mudflow
• Slump
 Exogenous processes
4. Sedimentation
It is the accumulation of materials such
as soil, rock fragments, and soil particles
settling on the ground.
 Endogenous processes
1. Magmatism
Magmatism is the emplacement of
magma within and at the surface of the outer
layers of a terrestrial planet, which solidifies
as igneous rocks.
 Endogenous processes
2. Volcanism (Plutonism)
Volcanism is the phenomenon of
eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the
surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet
or moon, where lava, pyroclastics and
volcanic gases erupt through a break in the
surface called a vent.
 Endogenous processes
3. Metamorphism
Metamorphism is the change of minerals or
geologic texture (distinct arrangement of minerals)
in pre-existing rocks (protoliths), without the
protolith melting into liquid magma (a solid-state
change).
The change occurs primarily due to heat, pressure,
and the introduction of chemically active fluids.
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iaXljs
MItY