Topic 1 - Minerals
What is Mohs hardness scale?
A scale ranging from 1-10 that compares the hardness of 10 minerals and can be used as a comparison for other minerals durability and scratchability.
What are the 3 rock families?
Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary.
What are the 3 types of weathering?
Mechanical, chemical, biological
How many layers are in the Earth?
5
What is humus?
The dark coloured part of soil that is rich in nutrients, such as potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen.
What is the difference between elements and compounds?
What is the difference between rocks and minerals?
Minerals are made of elements or compounds. Rocks are made of one or more minerals.
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks into sediments. Erosion is the transportation of the sediments.
What are the layers of the Earth?
Crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, inner core, outer core.
What is the name of the supercontinent from 200 million years ago?
Pangea.
What does a geologist do?
A geologist is a scientist who studies and classifies Earth's rocks and minerals, studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth, as well as the processes that have shaped it.
What is the difference between intrusive and extrusive rock?
Intrusive rock is igneous rock formed when magma cools and solidifies below Earth's surface. Extrusive rock is igneous rock formed when lave cools and solidified above Earth's surface.
What is abrasion?
When wind, blows across dry ground, it picks up loses sediment (clay, silt, and sand) which then strike rock and wear it down.
Which layers of Earth are in solid state of matter?
Crust, upper mantle, core.
What is frost wedging?
When water fills the cracks in rocks during the day, then the water freezes and expands at night, pushing the cracks wider apart. Eventually, the rock breaks apart.
How many crystal systems are there?
6
What is cementation?
Minerals dissolve as water soaks into the rock, forming a natural cement that sticks the larger pieces of sediment together.
What is sedimentation?
The process of eroded material being deposited and built up.
What is the theory of continental drift?
A theory about Earth's structure where the continents have slowly changed their positions over millions of years.
The inner core is a solid ball of ______.
Iron.
The building blocks of minerals.
What are the mineral identifications?
Colour - what colour the mineral appears to be
Lustre - how light reflects off it
Streak - how the mineral reacts when scratched across a surface
Cleavage - breaking along a smooth edge
Fracture - breaking with jagged/rough edge
What are the agents of erosion?
Glaciers, gravity, wind, and water
What evidence supports the theory of continental drift?
Continents are shaped like puzzle pieces and fit together, biological evidence of plant and animal fossils, similar rocks were found on opposite sides of oceans, coal beds were found in cold climates but require tropical climates to form.
What is stratification?
When sediments become closely packed in layers and cemented together to form sedimentary rock.