Rocks and Minerals

Rock

A naturally occurring solid mixture of one or more minerals or organic matter

Rock Cycle

sequence of events in which rocks are formed, destroyed, altered, and reformed by geological processes (a process where one rock type changes into another).

Minerals

Inorganic crystalline substances found naturally in the earth.

Sedimentary Rock

A type of rock that forms when particles from other rocks or the remains of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together

Igneous rock

A type of rock that forms from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface.

Metamorphic Rock

A type of rock that forms from an existing rock that is changed by heat, pressure, or chemical reactions

Intrusive Rock

Igneous rock that forms when magma hardens beneath Earth's surface.

Extrusive Rock

Igneous rock that forms from lava on Earth's surface

Mohs Hardness Scale

a scale ranking ten minerals from softest to hardest; used in testing the hardness of minerals

Luster

the way a mineral reflects light from its surface

Streak

The color of the powder left when a mineral is rubbed against a hard rough surface

Weathering

The process by which natural forces break down rocks and minerals.

Erosion

The process by which wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another

Sediment

Solid materials such as rock fragments, plant and animal remains, or minerals that are carried by water, wind, ice, gravity, or some other natural force and settle in a new location (bottom of a body of water or at the foot of hills and mountains)

Deposition

process in which sediment is laid down in new locations

Magma

Molten rock beneath the planet's surface.

Lava

Molten rock that reaches a planet's surface through a volcano or other opening in the crust

Cleavage

physical property of some minerals that causes them to break along smooth, flat surfaces

compaction

the process by which sediments are pressed together under their own weight

cementation

The process by which dissolved minerals crystalize and glue particles of sediment together into one mass.

Five mineral properties

naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, with a definite chemical composition, orderly arrangement of atoms to form crystals