Minerals: Basics
This is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and crystal structure.
What is a mineral?
The color of a mineral in powdered form.
What is streak?
This natural, solid mixture of minerals or grains makes up Earth’s crust.
What is a rock?
Molten rock inside Earth.
What is magma?
Rock material that forms when rocks break down into smaller pieces.
What is sediment?
This term means a mineral is NOT made from living things.
What is inorganic?
This scale ranks minerals from 1–10 by hardness.
What is the Mohs hardness scale?
These are the fragments that make up rocks.
What are grains?
Igneous rocks that form from lava cooling quickly at the surface.
What are extrusive rocks?
When minerals dissolved in water crystallize, forming rock salt or gypsum.
What are chemical sedimentary rocks?
These are elements that exist in nature in pure form, such as gold or silver.
What are native elements?
Breaking along smooth, flat surfaces.
What is cleavage?
The two main characteristics geologists use to classify rocks.
What are texture and composition?
Igneous rocks that cool slowly underground, forming large crystals.
What are intrusive rocks?
These sedimentary rocks form from remains of plants and animals.
What are biochemical rocks?
This property describes how a mineral reflects light (metallic or nonmetallic).
What is luster?
A mineral that glows under UV light exhibits this special property.
What is fluorescence?
The three main types of rocks.
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic?
Light-colored igneous rocks usually contain a lot of this mineral.
What is quartz?
Metamorphic rocks with parallel, flattened layers.
What are foliated rocks?
Repeating patterns of atoms or ions give minerals this characteristic structure.
What is a crystal?
The mass of an object divided by its volume.
What is density?
This cycle describes how rocks are constantly changing from one type to another.
What is the rock cycle?
This controls how large crystals grow in igneous rocks.
What is the cooling rate?
Metamorphism that occurs when magma heats surrounding rock.
What is contact metamorphism?