Mineral Properties
The term for how light reflects from a mineral's surface
What is luster?
List the three types of rocks
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic?
These rocks often show mineral alignment
What are metamorphic rocks?
Rocks that form from molten material outside of the Earth are this type
What are extrusive igneous?
All rock layers are laterally continuous and may be broken up or displaced by later events, such as a canyon forming
What is the Law of Lateral Continuity?
This is what the Mohs Scale measures
What is mineral hardness?
Weathering breaks down rocks into these pieces
What are sediments?
These rocks cool too fast for crystals to form
What are extrusive igneous rocks?
As shown on page 14, this rock type is found at Earth's surface most commonly
What is sedimentary?
When rock layers are deposited, the top layer is the youngest
What is the Law of Superposition?
This type of mineral breakage is uneven or irregular
What is fracture?
These two processes turn sediment into sedimentary rock
What are compaction & cementation?
These rocks form when magma cools slowly (so they often contain large crystals)
What are intrusive igneous rocks?
This mineral has a hardness of 10 on Mohs Hardness Scale
What is a diamond?
What is the Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships?
This is the property we determined by rubbing the mineral across a white ceramic plate
What is streak?
What two forces (together called metamorphism) form metamorphic rocks?
What are heat & pressure?
This kind of rock can contain fossils
What is sedimentary?
If a mineral can be scratched with a copper penny, it has this level of hardness (or softer)
What is 3.5?
This word refers to fragments found inside a rock that are older than the rock itself
What are inclusions?
List three characteristics that all minerals share
What are solid state, being inorganic, and naturally occurring?
When an igneous intrusion's heat causes the surrounding rock to change
What is contact metamorphism?
Felsic igneous rocks contain high levels of these elements
What are silica (SiO2), potassium (K), and sodium (Na)?
This non-metallic mineral is softer than glass, has no cleavage, leaves a red-brown streak, and has a hardness of 5 to 6.5
What is hematite?
This law explains why some layers can be flat above an eroded stack of tilted/diagonal layers of rocks
What is the Law of Original Horizontality?