Minerals
The building blocks of rocks.
What are minerals?
Igneous rock begins as this molten material.
What is magma?
Sedimentary rocks form through compaction and this process.
What is cementation?
“Morph” means this.
What is to change?
The main agent in chemical weathering.
What is water?
The hardest mineral on Earth, rated 10 on the Mohs scale.
What is diamond?
Igneous rock that cools slowly underground, forming large crystals.
What is intrusive (plutonic) igneous rock?
The type of sedimentary rock made of fragments of other rocks cemented together.
What is clastic rock?
The parent rock of marble.
What is limestone?
Mechanical weathering process where water freezes and expands in cracks.
What is frost wedging?
The property that describes how a mineral's surface reflects light.
What is luster?
Igneous rock that cools quickly on Earth's surface, forming small crystals.
What is extrusive (volcanic) igneous rock?
A sedimentary rock formed when minerals precipitate from a solution.
What is chemical rock?
Rock with visible bands of minerals is described as this.
What is foliated?
The acid formed when CO₂ dissolves in water, harmful to limestone.
What is carbonic acid?
In addition to cleavage, minerals break in this way.
What is fracture?
An example of exposed intrusive igneous rock found at Stone Mountain, Georgia.
What is granite?
A sedimentary rock formed from the remains of plants or animals.
What is organic rock?
Metamorphic rock that does not have visible layers due to intense heat.
What is non-foliated rock?
Processes that build Earth’s surface are called this.
What are constructive processes?
This optical property is the least reliable for identifying a mineral.
What is color?
This volcanic glass, often used for arrowheads, is an igneous rock.
What is obsidian?
Approximately what percentage of Earth's rock outcroppings are sedimentary?
What is 75 percent?
Two main agents that cause rocks to metamorphose.
What are heat and pressure?
Volcanoes, floods, and landslides can be listed under both constructive and destructive processes because they do what?
What is they destroy some land but also build new land by depositing material?