Earth Science

Minerals
- naturally occurring, usually inorganic, crystalline solid with a strictly defined chemical
composition and characteristic physical properties

- principal building blocks of rocks

crystalline solid - atoms occur in an orderly arrangement with distinct structure

amorphous solid - haphazardly arranged atoms

I. Properties of a Mineral

Crystal Habit - characteristic external shape of a crystal individual or crystal group (aggregate)

crystal - single grain of a mineral in which the structural planes of atoms extend in the same
direction throughout the grain

Luster - describes how light reflects from a fresh surface

- two broad classification: metallic and nonmetallic

Color - very unreliable property to use in identifying minerals

- impurities within a mineral may give rise to a variety of colors

Hardness - resistance of a mineral to scratching or abrasion

- minerals with higher hardness will scratch minerals of lower hardness (Moh’s scale)

Streak - color of the mineral when powdered

- a more reliable property than color

* Mineral with hardness greater than 6 can be said to have no streak.

Broken Surfaces of Minerals:

• Cleavage - inherent planar weakness in the mineral

- includes the cleavage direction and the expression of the angles between planes

cleavage plane - a plane of weakness in the atomic structure of the mineral

- parallel to atomic planes

• Fracture - irregular and nonplanar inherent weaknesses in the crystal structure

* A mineral with no plane of weakness will fracture.

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Density - mass per unit volume

- specific gravity: ratio of the weight of a mineral to the weight of an equal volume of water

Special Properties:

• Effervescence - a fizzing or bubbling that occurs when a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid
(HCl) is applied; often seen in carbonates

- useful in distinguishing calcite from other common rock-forming minerals

• Magnetism - attraction of the mineral to a magnet

- useful in distinguishing magnetite from other common rock-forming minerals

• Feel - Some minerals have a diagnostic feel.

• Fluorescence - short-waved radiation of the UV is absorbed and by the mineral and radiated
back as a longer-wave visible radiation

• Double Refraction - occurs when light entering a crystal is broken into two rays

• Smell - Some minerals, such as sulfur, possess a distinctive odor.

• Taste - Few minerals have a characteristic taste such as halite (salty) and sylvite (bitter).

Native elements - minerals of only one element

Silicates - most abundant minerals

- compose a large proportion of the rock-forming minerals

- basic structural unit: silica tetrahedron (SiO4)

Mineral Classes:

1. ending with -ates, -ites contain oxygen

2. ending with -ides do not contain oxygen

Igneous Rocks
- form by solidification of magma into volcanic rocks above or plutonic rocks below Earth’s
surface

- mostly silicates

I. Mineralogical and Chemical Composition of Igneous Rocks

Igneous rocks are subdivided into two groups: felsic (light-colored) and mafic (dark-colored)

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Mafic - high in iron and magnesium

* iron tends to darken the overall shade of the minerals and rocks containing it

Felsic - feldspar and high in silica (SiO2)

* lacks the iron that causes the discoloration

Magma composition suggests the chemical nature of Earth’s internal process and the
interactions of lithospheric plates that generate magma.

Magma Composition

Magma Type Ultramafic Mafic Intermediate Felsic

Silica Content <45% 45-53% 53-65% >65%

Mineral Content Mafic Mafic > Felsic Mafic = Felsic Mafic < Felsic

* Silica content in magma is closely related to the viscosity of the magma.

Viscosity - describes a fluid’s resistance to flow

Felsic magma = more viscous; Mafic magma = more fluid.

• When more felsic magma has a combination of high viscosity and high gas content, explosive
eruptions may result.

Plutonic rocks - intrusive rocks; cool very slowly underground allowing the crystals to become
large and well-formed

Volcanic rocks - extrusive rocks; cools quickly at the Earth’s surface that its crystals are invisible
to the unaided eye or that crystals do not grow at all

II. Igneous Textures

A. Phaneritic - coarse-grained texture; typical of plutonic rocks; visible crystals of the same size;
slow cooling of magma deep in the Earth

B. Pegmatitic - extreme igneous rocks formed during the final stage of a magma's
crystallization; minerals grow large until they become massive (size ranging to several metres)

C. Porphyritic - cooled at different rates; slow followed by rapid cooling; finer groundmass
crystals grow around the larger grains; more common in volcanic than plutonic rocks

D. Aphanitic - fine-grained texture; typical of volcanic rocks; rapid cooling; crystals are too fine-
grained to be seen without a hand lens

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E. Hyaline - glassy texture with vitreous luster; lava cooled so quickly that minerals had no
opportunity to form; frequently forms from highly felsic lava — atoms are less mobile (viscous)

F. Vesicular - characterised by the presence of small cavities called vesicles — gas bubbles in
the liquid magma originally dissolved but came out of solution due to the pressure decrease
during eruption

• amygdaloidal texture - secondary minerals fill in the vesicles (filled area is called amygdule)
after the solidification of the original rock

G. Pyroclastic - more “powdery” texture of rocks formed from tephra, volcanic ash and larger
rock fragments, violently ejected from volcanoes during eruptions; more commonly
intermediate to felsic

III. Plutonic Igneous Rocks

- most commonly have coarse-grained or pegmatitic textures

a. Granite - most abundant plutonic igneous rock in continental crust

b. Diorite - absence of quartz helps distinguish diorite from granite

c. Gabbro - most abundant plutonic rock in oceanic crust

d. Peridotite - makes up most of the upper mantle

e. Pegmatite - forms as dike of fluid-rich magma

IV. Volcanic Igneous Rocks

a. Rhyolite

b. Andesite - most common lava flow rock in stratovolcanoes or composite cones

c. Basalt - abundant on the ocean floor beneath any sediment; major rock of shield volcanoes

d. Obsidian - volcanic glass with vitreous luster and no minerals

e. Pumice - solidified lava “foam”; composed of more vesicles than rock

f. Scoria

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V. Igneous Rock Masses

Extrusive Rock Masses - solidified molten lava

• Lava flows - extruded magma that has solidified in tongue shapes and as sheets

flood basalts - extensive, flat lava sheets framed from fluid lava

pahoehoe - fluid, ropy flows; aa - rough flows

• Lava dome - dome-shaped body formed by viscous lava

• Tuff - volcanic ash; layered deposit of pyroclastic deposits

lahar - volcanic mudflow

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Intrusive Rock Masses - plutons; intrusions

Two-dimensional intrusive masses (roughly planar, tabular, sheet-shaped):

• Dikes - roughly tabular rock masses that cut across layers

• Sills - fairly planar masses that intrude parallel to layers

• Laccoliths - bulging dome-shaped intrusions parallel to layers

Large intrusive masses (funnel-shaped, cylindrical):

• Stocks - intrusions of relatively small size; outcrop area less than 100 km2

• Batholiths - intrusions of large size; outcrop area greater than 100 km2; often a composite of
smaller plutons

Sedimentary Rocks
- form on the Earth’s surface by the lithification of sediment

Lithification - bring grains together by compaction and gluing them together by cementation

- gives geologists clues to the nature of past environments

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I. Types of Sediment

Clastic - loose material from rock and mineral particles

- forms when mechanical weathering breaks rocks and minerals into loose grains or
fragments called clasts and then eroded, transported and deposited

conglomerate - rounded grains breccia - angular grains with sharp corners

maturity = how far the rock has traveled

angular, coarser rock with sediments of varied sizes — immature

well-rounded, finer rock with sediments of similar size — mature

*Sediments with rock fragments and mafic minerals have not traveled far from their source.

common minerals in clastic rocks are silicates = clastic rocks are siliclastic

Chemical - from precipitation at the Earth’s surface

- forms when compounds precipitate from water

• crystalline texture - no space between grains where interlocking crystals fit together closely

• oolitic texture - chemically precipitated sand-sized spheres

Biochemical - organic; from organisms and their remains

• bioclastic texture - abundance of organism’s remains and few siliclastic grains

Fossils - natural remains or traces of life preserved at the time the rock lithified

A. Coarse-Grained Clastic Rocks

Breccia - mostly massive angular granule-to-boulder-sized clasts; immature

- likely to form in an environment where sediment has traveled only a very short distance
(rockslide or landslide)

Conglomerate - rounded shape suggests farther travel

B. Medium-Grained Clastic Rocks

Quartz sandstone - common along passive continental margins; sandstone with a high
percentage of quartz is mature.

*Quartz - resistant to physical and chemical weathering; lasts a long time at the Earth’s surface

Arkose - sandstone that contains abundant feldspar; moderately immature

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Graywacke - “dirty” or impure sandstone characterised by angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and
rock sediments; immature

- common along active continental margins where transport distances tend to be short

Fossiliferous sandstone - contains abundant fossils, deposited in shallow marine environment

C. Fine-Grained Clastic Rocks

Shale - soft, fine-grained clastic rocks made of clay and silt compacted together; fissile (may split
into stabs)

Mudstone - same texture with shale hut does not split into layers;

*both shale and mudstone may contain well-preserved fossils and form in quiet
environments such as lakes, lagoons, estuaries, and the deep sea

Siltsone - fine-grained clastic rock consisting of microscopic silt-sized particles

V. Carbonates

- sedimentary rocks containing carbonate materials such as calcite or dolomite

- limestone (i.e. chalk)

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VI. Fossil Fuels

- energy resources preserved in rock

- organic materials from photosynthesis of ancient organisms preserved in rocks

- coal (i.e. anthracite - hard coal)

VII. Evaporites

- rocks formed by evaporation

- rock salt

Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphism

- forms metamorphic rocks and changes both the minerals and the texture of the rock

photolith - parent rock

- takes place entirely underground caused by the heat and high pressure from the earth’s interior

* temperatures in the earth increase about 25 degrees Celsius for every kilometer of depth

* pressure increases about 3 kilobars (kb) for every 10 kilometer depth

• tectonic activity subjects the rocks to substantial increases in temperature and pressure

• upper limit of metamorphism is melting

Metamorphic Grade - approximate measure of the amount or degree of metamorphism

A. low grade metamorphism - low temperature and low pressure

B. medium grade metamorphism - medium temperature and medium pressure

C. high grade metamorphism - high temperature and high pressure

* Pressure is of less importance than temperature.

Confining pressure - caused by the weight of overlying mass of rock art depth, squeezing the
rock in all directions

- reduces the volume, causing the rock to have higher density

Differential pressure - squeezing of the rock is not equal in every direction

- flattens or stretches rocks, resulting in the formation of parallel arrangement

of minerals called foliation

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Regional Metamorphism - produced by mountain building and plate tectonic processes acting
over large regions deep within Earth’s crust

Subduction zone metamorphism - occurs in subduction zones at convergent plate boundaries

- high pressure but low temperature

Orogenic metamorphism - results from mountain building during plate collisions

- high pressure and high temperature

Contact Metamorphism - produced by heat from an intrusion; a variety of thermal metamorphism

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THE ROCK CYCLE

Volcanism
Volcano - may be built entirely of lava flows, entirely of pyroclastic deposits, or a mixture of both

• volcanic vent - opening where volcanic eruptions occur

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Shield volcano - made of basaltic lava flows and very little ash

- very massive and gently sloping at an angle of about 10 degrees

Cinder cone - small volcano made up entirely of pyroclastic material, ash, and cinders

Stratovolcano - composite volcano; made of intermediate to felsic interlayered pyroclastic

deposits and lava flows

- characterised by steep slopes; typically smaller in volume than shield volcanoes

Caldera - large round depression formed after a major eruption when rocks above collapse into
the emptied magma chamber

ring dike - form where some remaining magma push upward into the ring of cracks around
the caldera rim

Geologic Time Scale

- a system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time

- a method of relating the

timing and relationship
between events that occurred
in the geologic record

Eons - largest intervals of

geologic time; hundreds of
millions of years in duration

Eras - significant events in

Earth’s history are used to
determine the boundaries of
eras

Periods - basic unit of the

geologic time scale where a
single type of rock system—a
stratigraphic unit—is formed

Different periods are

recognized on the basis of:

(a) changes in composition of

fossils and (b) occurrence of
major geological events (e.g.
episodes of mountain
building or major changes in level of seas).

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Epochs

- only for the most recent portion of the geologic time scale because older rocks have been
buried deeply, intensely deformed and severely modified by long-term earth processes

Plate Tectonics
- Theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere is divided into separate
plates, each of which moves as a unit over the asthenosphere relative to the other plates

lithosphere - consist of the crust and upper mantle; 100 km

asthenosphere - soft, weak layer that deforms readily allowing the lithosphere to move
across the surface

Divergent Plate Boundary - occurs where plates move away from each other and magma,
molten rock, forms and solidifies between the two plates that moved away

- spreading centers; constructive

- breaks up or rifts apart continents

- creates oceanic crusts, mid-oceanic ridges, and rift valleys

- most current divergent plate boundaries are in the oceans

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• magnetic stripes on the seafloor - As rocks form, they capture a remnant of the magnetic field
called paleomagnetism.

land: series of rocks pile up with alternating magnetism

seafloor: alternating reversal of magnetic stripes in the oceanic crust

*The earth’s liquid outer core generates the magnetic field.

Repeated discontinuities in the divergent plate boundary may result to transform faults.

Convergent Plate Boundary - exist where plates move toward each other

destructive

• subduction - a slab of lithosphere descends downward into the asthenosphere

A. ocean-ocean - denser (usually older) oceanic plate subjects beneath the less dense

- creates volcanoes, volcanic island arcs and trenches

B. ocean-continent - as oceanic plate subjects, magma rises forming volcanoes contained within
ranges

- creates continental volcanic arcs

C. continent-continent - continental collisions; neither plate is subducted

- thickens continental crust, creates mountains, and builds continents

mountain ranges

Transform Plate Boundary - strike-slip; occurs where plates slide past each other

oceanic transform faults - fracture zones that occur as dislocations in oceanic divergent
plate boundaries

continental transform faults

Stratigraphic Laws
Principle of Original Horizontality

• Sedimentary layers are deposited horizontally.

Principle of Stratigraphic Superposition

• Oldest rocks are at the bottom of the sequence and the youngest rocks are on top since
sedimentary rock layers are deposited in sequence one on top of the other.

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Principle of Inclusions

• The rock containing inclusions is younger than the inclusions it contain.

Principle of Cross-cutting Relationships

• Intrusions are younger than the rocks they intrude.

Principle of Fossil Succession

• The presence of a particular fossil species indicates that the rock containing the fossil was
formed at a time between the evolution and extinction of that species.

Atmosphere and Climate

Weather - describes the frequent changes in temperature, pressure, clouds, precipitation, wind,
and humidity for an area

Climate - average weather pattern in a particular place over an extensive span of time

I. Earth-Sun Relationship

- 23.5 degree angle of the Earth’s axis of rotation

- responsible for seasonal changes

- changes the amount of heat delivered to the surfaces in different places

summer solstice - longest day

winter solstice - shortest day

vernal and autumnal equinox - day and night are the same length

II. Wind and Coriolis Effect

wind - horizontal component of the movement of air

• As air heats, it expands, causing it to have lower density; thus, creating less pressure.

• As air cools, it contracts, causing it to have higher density. Denser air creates more pressure
due to the force of gravity.

Air moves from regions of high atmospheric pressure with cool, sinking air to regions of low
atmospheric pressure with warm, rising air.

convection - process of air rising and sinking because of difference in density due to heating and
cooling

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Coriolis effect - apparent deflection in the movement of wind from high to low pressure

- results from Earth’s rotation causing moving objects to turn relative to the Earth’s surface

• easterlies - from higher altitude; westerlies - from lower altitudes

marine influence - Proximity to oceans and seas influences the climate because water has high
heat capacity. This means water requires a lot of energy to warm it up and it gives off a lot of
energy when it cools.

sea breeze - wind blows from the sea toward the land; land warms faster than the sea

land breeze - wind blows from the land toward the ocean; land cools faster than the sea

III. Milankovitch Cycles

- cyclical changes in the geometry of Earth/Sun system

- resulting from gravitational effects of celestial bodies

Eccentricity - measure of how much the orbit varies from a perfect circle

- cycle of about 100,000 years

- more elliptical = enhance or subdue seasonal variation

- more circular = effects are less pronounced; causes more yearly total influx of solar energy

Precession - change in the direction of the Earth’s axis

- changes the timing of the seasons relative to when Earth is closest to sun

Obliquity - Earth’s axis tilt

- fluctuates on cycle of 41,000 years

- tilt controls the seasons; hence, obliquity causes changes in seasonal contrast

Perihelion - Earth is closest to the sun

Aphelion - Earth is farthest to the sun

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