Geosphere's Layers
Solid rocks that make up the continents.
The most common rock that makes up the Continental Crust
What is Continental Crust? and What is granite?
a substance produced through an inorganic process in the crust of the Earth
What is a mineral?
isn't the best way to tell one mineral from another as one type of mineral can come in several different types of these
What is color?
rocks formed through the cooling and solidification of magma.
What are Igneous or magmatic rocks?
rocks formed through transformation of an existing rock thanks to increasing temperature and pressure (without melting).
What are metamorphic rocks?
Partially molten rocks (1000C to 4000C), mostly semi-solid
What is the Mantle?
Fe S2
What is pyrite?
describes how well a mineral reflects light. Examples: glassy, metallic, brilliant and dull
rocks formed through accumulation of minerals (sediments) in layers and precipitation of minerals in layers.
What are Sedimentary rocks?
rock formed when cooling quickly on the surface of the geosphere. No crystals
Goes from 2900 km to the centre of the Earth (6350 km), made of iron + nickels
What is the core?
the study of minerals
What is mineralogy?
is the color of the mineral in powdered form (a way to determine this is to rub the mineral across a rough hard surface like a tile).
What is streak?
2 types of biochemical rocks that are a special type of chemical sedimentary rock produced by remains of organisms.
What are coal and petroleum?
two types of sedimentary rocks
What are Clastic and Chemical sedimentary rocks?
The movement of the inner and outer core
what is responsible for the magnetic field?
Quartz, Orthose and Biotite belong to this family
What is Silicates?
describes how a mineral breaks up into pieces. Some minerals break up into small cubes while others may break up into thin sheets.
What is cleavage?
What is Limestone?
Formed by halides precipitation
What are Evaporites?
The limit between the crust and the mantle.
The limit between the mantle and the core.
What is the Mohorovičić discontinuity? What is the Gutenberg discontinuity?
atoms organized in a certain and repeated pattern
What is crystalline structure?
describes how easy it is to scratch the surface of a mineral. Scientists often use the Moh's scale to describe this. Using the Moh's scale, a "1" is the softest mineral and a "10" is the hardest (diamond has a hardness of 10 because it is the hardest of all the minerals)
What is hardness?
composition depends on the size of grains (clast), this rock is compacted from clays (fine grain)
What are shales?
common metamorphic rocks
What are Quartzite and marble?