Minerals and Rocks
A naturally occurring, inorganic solid that forms on or beneath Earth's surface.
What is a mineral?
The process that breaks down rock and other substances at Earth's surface.
What is weathering?
Loose, weathered material on Earth's surface in which plants can grow.
What is soil?
Organisms that break down the remains of dead organisms into smaller pieces and digest them with chemicals.
What is are decomposers?
Weathering depends on the type of rock and this factor.
What is climate?
A solid made up of particles that line up in a pattern that repeats over and over again.
What is a crystal?
The transportation of sediment by wind, water, ice, or gravity.
What is erosion?
The solid layer of rock beneath the soil.
What is bedrock?
The loose layer of dead plant leaves and stems on the surface of the soil.
What is litter?
The five traits of a mineral.
What is:
naturally occurring crystal shape
inorganic definite chemical composition
solid
A series of processes on and beneath Earth's surface that slowly changes rocks from one kind to another.
What is the rock cycle?
The principle that states that the same processes that operate today operated in the past.
What is uniformitarianism?
The dark-colored decayed organic material in soil that forms as plant and animal remains decay.
What is humus?
Three types of soil decomposers.
What are fungi, bacteria, and worms?
Three uses or minerals.
What are:
gemstones building materials (quartz)
metals (iron, copper, silver)
Food
Medicines
A type of rock that forms from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface.
What is an igneous rock?
The type of weathering in which rocks are physically broken into smaller pieces.
What is mechanical weathering?
A measure of how well soil supports plant growth.
What is fertility?
Type of decomposer that grow on and digest plant remains.
What are fungi?
Two uses of rocks.
What are:
building materials
industrial processes
A type of rock that forms when particles from other rocks or the remain of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together.
What is sedimentary rock?
The grinding away of rock by rock particles carried by water, ice, wind or gravity.
What is abrasion?
Soil that is made up of about equal parts of clay, sand and silt.
What is loam?
Microscopic decomposers that cause decay.
What is bacteria?
Five causes of chemical weathering.
What are:
water living organisms
oxygen acid rain
carbon dioxide
Small, solid pieces of material that come from rocks or living things.
What is sediment?
The process that splits rock when water seeps into cracks then freezes and expands.
What is ice wedging?
A layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above or below it.
What is a soil horizon?
Organisms that mix humus with other materials in the soil. These animals add nitrogen to the soil when they produce waste.
What are earthworms and burrowing animals?
Two factors that affect the rate of weathering.
What are:
Type of rock
Climate
Rock that forms when a rock is changed by heat, pressure, or chemical reactions.
What is metamorphic rock?
The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes and changes the makeup of rock.
What is chemical weathering?
The A horizon that is crumbly brown soil and is a mixture of humus, clay and other minerals.
What is topsoil?
A resource that is not replaced in a useful time frame.
What is a nonrenewal resource?
The process that combines iron with oxygen in the presence of water. Creates rust.
What is oxidation?
The B horizon that consists of clay and other particles washed down from the A horizon but little humus.
What is subsoil?
A rock that contains a metal or other useful mineral that can be mined and sold at a profit.
What is ore?
When a material is full of tiny, connected air spaces that allow water to seep through it.
What is permeable?
The layer of soil that contains only partly weathered rock.
What is C horizon?
A process in which an ore is mixed with other substances and then melted to separate the useful metal from other elements the ore contains.
What is smelting?
A substance that reacts strongly with some metals and changes blue litmus paper red.
What is acidic?
A substance that feels slippery and changes red litmus paper blue.
What is basic (alkaline)?