Earth's Spheres
Minerals
Rocks
Earth's Layers
Potpourri
100
List as many objects as you can that belong to the hydrosphere.
Ocean, river, stream, lake, pond, clouds, water vapor, rain, glaciers, groundwater, etc.
100
True or False: Coal is a mineral.
False: It contains organic material. It is not a mineral but it is a metamorphic rock.
100
What is the name for a sedimentary rock made from silt-sized grains of sediment?
Siltstone
100
What is the shallowest of Earth's chemical layers?
Crust
100
Which rock property describes how much void space there is between mineral grains as a fraction of the whole?
Porosity
200
Rocks and magma both belong to which sphere?
Geosphere
200
Minerals that break easily along planes of weakness are said to exhibit what property?
Cleavage
200
What process is involved in turning igneous or sedimentary rock into metamorphic rock?
Recrystallization (via the addition of heat and/or pressure)
200
What is the densest layer of the Earth?
Double points if you also identify the two most common elements in this layer.
Inner Core
Iron and Nickel (Fe & Ni)
200
How are density and specific gravity for minerals related?
Density = Mass / Volume
Specific Gravity = Mineral Density / Density of Water
300
Photosynthesis and respiration are examples of interactions between which spheres?
Atmosphere and Biosphere
300
True or False: Solid dihydrogen monoxide is a mineral
True: Solid H2O is ice - it is Solid, Inorganic, Naturally Occurring, and has a Crystalline structure.
300
List as many metamorphic rocks as you can.
Coal, Slate, Phyllite, Schist, Gneiss, Quartzite, Marble, Blueschist, Greenschist, Eclogite, Granulite, etc.
300
What is the largest layer of the Earth by volume?
Mantle
300
Identify this mafic, extrusive, aphanitic rock:
Basalt
400
The solid parts of organisms that decay become part of which sphere?
Geosphere
400
What common mineral has a hardness of 7, a hexagonal crystal structure, and a chemical formula of SiO2?
Quartz
400
How does increased transport distance tend to affect sorting and rounding?
Increased transport distance increases sorting and rounding
400
What are the two key reasons scientists infer the outer core is liquid?
1) Earth's Magnetic Field
2) S-wave shadow (s-waves don't travel through liquids)
400
What is the S.I. unit for pressure?
pascal (Pa)
500
Name an object that belong to more than one sphere (and the associated spheres).
Clouds (Atmosphere + Hydrosphere)
Water Vapor (Atmosphere + Hydrosphere)
Glaciers (Hydrosphere + Geosphere)
etc.
500
A mineral is scratched by diamond but not by topaz. What is the approximate hardness?
9
500
Identify this felsic, intrusive, phaneritic rock:
Granite
500
How is fluid density related to pressure?
P = ⍴ x g x z
As fluid density increases, the pressure increases.
500
Which rock property describes how easily a fluid flows through a rock?
Double Points - What is the unit for this property?
Permeability
darcy (D)