Igneous Rocks
How are igneous rocks classified?
Texture and color
What controls the type of eruption?
Gas content and viscosity
What is mechanical weathering? Name an example
Physical breakdown to reduce size of rock
Examples: frost wedging, fracturing, biological
What are the most common elements in Earth's crust?
Oxygen and silicon
What is a cation?
What controls a rocks texture and color?
Texture is controlled by rate of cooling. Color is controlled by temperature of crystallization?
What is viscosity?
Fluids resistance to flow
What is chemical weathering? Name an example
Chemical reactions that reduce the size of a rock
Examples: hydrolysis, oxidation, dissolution, biological
What is the silicon tetrahedron?
SiO4
What is an atomic number?
Number of protons in an element
What is a phaneritic texture?
Coarse crystals
Which magma has a higher viscosity, felsic or mafic?
Felsic
What is a clastic rock?
Made up of rock fragments
How are minerals classified?
According to anion/anion molecule (examples include silicates, carbonates, oxides, etc)
What is a pluton?
Magma that crystallizes completely underground
What type of rocks are the first to crystallize on Bowens reaction series? (mafic or felsic)
Mafic
Which magma has a lower tendency to trap gases and why?
Mafic, the lower viscosity makes it harder to trap gases
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering: breakdown of material
Erosion: transport of weathered material
What is hardness?
A mineral's resistance to being scratched
What is a sill?
Horizontal intrusive rock
What is the difference between felsic and mafic rocks?
Felsic contains more feldspar and silica. Mafic contains for magnesium and iron.
How does magma become felsic?
Fractional crystallization and contamination from continental crust
How are sedimentary rocks created?
A source rock gets weathered then eroded. The sediment is deposited then lithification takes place to create a sedimentary rock.
What is the five part definition of a mineral?
Solid, crystalline, forms in nature, inorganic, specific mineral composition
What is Bowens reaction series used for?
Order of crystallization in a magma