Rocks

Understanding Rock

• What exactly is rock?

–A solid mixture of crystals of one
or more minerals, that range in
all sizes from pebbles to
formations that are thousands
of kilometers long.
 The Value of Rock
• Rock is an important natural resource.
• Used by early humans to make tools such as
hammers, spears, knives, and scrapers.
• Used for centuries to make buildings, roads,
and monuments.
• Certain types of rocks have helped build
ancient and modern civilizations.
• Rock study has helped scientists to discover
the history of life on Earth.
 The Rock Cycle
• Rocks in the Earth’s crust are constantly
changing shape and composition.
• The way the rock forms determines the
type of rock that it is.
• The three main types of rocks are:
igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
TYPES OF ROCKS
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
 Types of Rocks
Igneous Rocks Metamorphic Rocks

Sedimentary Rocks
 Igneous Rocks
What are They?

• Fire Rocks
• Formed underground by trapped, cooled
magma
• Formed above ground when volcanoes
erupt and magma cools
IGNEOUS ROCKS
• Formed from molten
material including
volcanic lava, ash, or
bombs as well as
magma below Earth’s
surface
 Igneous Rocks
1. Crystalline - formed from cooled magma
2. Pyroclastic – made of consolidated
eruption products like volcanic ash
Crystalline – textures differ depending on how
fast and where the cooling took place.
a. Intrusive or plutonic – form large mineral
crystals that are visible without the aid of
microscope
-magma cools slowly and crystallizes completely
 Crystalline
a. Intrusive or plutonic – texture is called
“phaneritic” (greek word phaneros- visible)
(ex. granite, diorite, gabbro)
 Crystalline
a. Extrusive or volcanic – texture is called
“aphanitic” (greek word aphaneros-
invisible) cannot be distinguished without
the use of microscope - chilled quickly,
have little or no chance to grow (ex.
rhyolite, andesite, basalt)
 TYPES OF IGNEOUS ROCKS

GRANITE BASALT
Intrusive or plutonic rock Extrusive or volcanic
 Igneous Rocks
Extrusive – displayed by rocks that cool
rapidly that the mineral crystals do not
form, usually when lava is expelled
underwater. This results in rock that appear
glassy.
- Another is vesicular in texture, result of
gases escaping while the volcanic rock is
being formed
 Igneous Rocks
Extrusive – when a magma body intrudes
into a shallow depth near Earth’s surface
and begins to crystallize slowly. Then
subsequent volcanic activity extrudes the
partially crystallized magma onto the
surface, thereby speeding up the rate of
cooling. Such rocks, may show at least two
distinct crystal sizes, which results into
porphyritic texture
 Igneous Rocks
2. Pyroclastic – (pyro means “fire”) and Klastos
means “shattered”
- result of the lithification of erupted volcanic
material
Igneous rocks are mostly composed of minerals
found in Bowen’s reaction series, which shows the
order and assembly of minerals as they crystallize
when the temperature of magma decreases
(ex. Tuff formed from ash and pyroclastic flow
deposits ignimbrite)
 Igneous Rocks
Chemical composition
Great majority of igneous rocks are formed of
silicate materials (basic building block for
magmas, but minor occurrences of
carbonate-rich igneous rock are formed as
well.
This feature based on silica content is the
basis for subdividing them into the following
groups:
 Igneous Rocks
Felsic – (from feldspar and silica), having more
than 66%silica
Intermediate - with 55 % to 66 silica
Mafic – (from magnesium and ferrous iron),
45 to 55 % silica
Ultramafic – less than 45 % silica
 Igneous Rocks
It is composed of Felsic minerals (quartz, muscovite,
potassium, feldspar, and plagiocase) and
mafic minerals (biotite, amphibole, pyroxene, and olivine)
- The color index can be used to identify the composition of
most igneous rock
Light colors (white, light, gray, tan, and pink) indicate a
felsic composition (rich in silica)
Dark colors ( black and brown) indicate a mafic
composition or ultramafic composition (poor in silica, rich
in iron and magnesium)
Intermediate composition – have an intermediate color
(gray or consisting of equal parts of dark and light material.
 Types of Igneous Rocks
Scoria
Granite

Obsidian
Pumice
 Sedimentary Rocks
How They are Made

• Wind and water break down the earth

• Bits of earth settle in lakes and rivers
• Layers are formed and build up
• Pressure and time turn the layers to rock
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
• Made of layers that
have been pressed or
cemented together
• Pebbles, sand, silt, or
clay are sediments
• Shells and bones can
also be sediments
TYPES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

LIMESTONE
SHALE

COAL
 Types of Sedimentary Rocks
Sandstone Limestone

Gypsum Conglomerate

Shale
 Metamorphic Rocks
What are They?

• Rocks that have changed

• They were once igneous or sedimentary
• Pressure and heat changed the rocks
 METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Dominant agent is pressure
( mechanical deformation)
when dominant agent is heat
(crystallize)
• Igneous, sedimentary, and
even metamorphic rocks
can be changed into
different metamorphic
rocks
• process of metamorphism
with the recrystallization of
minerals in rocks due to
changes in pressure and
and temperature conditions
• defined by the texture and
minerals they contain
• can be contact and regional
in type
 METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Igneous, sedimentary, and even metamorphic
rocks can be changed into different
metamorphic rocks
• process of metamorphism with the
recrystallization of minerals in rocks due to
changes in pressure and and temperature
conditions
• defined by the texture and minerals they
contain
• can be contact and regional in type
FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Pressure as main factor: occurs in
areas that have gone considerable
amount of mechanical deformation
and chemical recrystallization during
orogenic event which are commonly
associated with mountain belts
• Creates foliated metamorphic rocks
( Ex. Slate, schist and gneiss – shale
as precursor rock)
• Occurs in regional/ large scale
• Gneiss – high-grade, imparts a
characteristic band appearance ,
most common in quartz and
feldspar
FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Realign themselves in parallel
planes, with the face of each
plane perpendicular to the main
direction of the compressive
force, which leads to a layered
texture

• Slate – lowest-grade, but

excellent rock cleavage which
allows it to be split into thin
slabs (pool tables, chalk board,
roof and floor tile)
NON- FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Heat and reactive fluids as main
factor: occurs when a pre-existing
rock gets in contact with magma
which is the source of heat and
magmatic fluids where
metamorphic alterations and
transformations occur around the
contact aureole of the intruding
magma and rock layers
• Creates non-foliated metamorphic
rocks ( Ex. hornfels)
• Marble –a crystallized rock that
forms from regional
metamorphism of limestone or
dolostone
Igneous rocks are subjected to
weathering producing small particles.
Erosion and deposition of weathered
igneous rocks cause the formation of
sedimentary rocks. Compaction and
cementation of sedimentary rocks leads
to the formation of metamorphic rocks
which will then melted in the earth
crust. These melted metamorphic rocks
form magma then release to the
surface of the earth, cooled and solidify
forming igneous rocks.
ROCK CYCLE
• The rock cycle is
a never-ending
process of rocks
forming,
weathering, and
changing into
other rocks
 ROCK CYCLE