Mineral Characteristics
Organic or inorganic
What is inorganic?
Orthogonal, cubic, hexagonal prism
What is crystal habit?
How sediment turns into rock after compaction and cementation
What is lithification?
Original rock type
What is metamorphic?
What minerals tell us about the environment in which they formed
What are temperature and pressure?
State at room temperature
What is a solid?
Color left by rubbing the mineral across a ceramic plate
What is streak?
Something fossils can tell you about the formation environment of the rock
What is skeletal structure, physiology, behavior, etc?
What is igneous?
How far a rough mineral grain has traveled from its source
What is not far?
What is naturally occurring?
Resistance of the mineral to scratching
The hot, plastically-moving layer of the Earth where convection is thought to occur
What is the asthenosphere?
Chemical, clastic, or organic
What is sedimentary?
Three calm environments where sedimentary rocks tend to form
What is desert, lake, river, ocean, etc.?
Definite ________ composition
What is chemical?
Metallic, pearly, or dull - the way it reflects light
What is luster?
The type of metamorphism related to tectonic activity
What is regional?
Foliated or non-foliated
What is metamorphic?
Weathering by physical breaking of the rock, such as abrasion and ice-wedging
What is mechanical?
Organized __________ structure
What is crystal?
Reacts with hydrochloric acid
What is effervescence?
Material in the crust is not created or destroyed, only transformed or ___________
What is recycled?
Intrusive (phaneritic) or extrusive (aphanitic)
What is igneous?
Responsible for moving particles from high elevations to low elevations, like basins
What is gravity?