VISAYAS

STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF SOIL SCIENCE
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte 6521 A,Philippines

Soil Science 22
Laboratory Exercise No. 2
SOIL-FORMING ROCKS AND MINERALS

Name: Date conducted: 03-28- 2023

INTRODUCTION
Several distinct types of rocks were formed as the world was forming. A wide variety
of minerals can be found inside these rocks. Some of these minerals disintegrate as these
rocks crumble, forming soils in the process. Because soils are made of rocks, their chemical
and physical makeup is similar to that of rocks. These minerals are tiny, thus they
predominate in the soil's clay layer. The chemical characteristics of the soil and its fertility
are determined by the characterization of its minerals.
Rocks contain at least one mineral and sometimes more. Based on how they were
created, they are divided into three groups. They might be igneous, metamorphic, or
sedimentary. Very small rock fragments that have been mixed with water, air, and fragments
of decomposed plant and animal waste make up soil. Most soil parent materials were rocks at
some time in their history.  The minerals in rocks contribute to soil fertility and other soil
properties long after the original rock is gone. 
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid
chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal
structure that occurs naturally in pure form. Several different mineral kinds make up the
mineral component of soil. A primary mineral, such as pyrite, is extracted straight from rock.
These minerals break down into different types of clay minerals. All of these different types
of materials have different abilities to hold onto different nutrients and chemicals.
The makeup of the various minerals found in the soil changes as they weather. This
alters a soil's capacity to retain nutrients and water. Weathering comes in a variety of
chemical and physical forms. Chemical weathering happens when fundamental minerals and
rocks are broken down into soil through chemical processes (water is essential). This includes
oxidation, which is the cause of many of the soil's red hues. Rocks are broken apart by
physical weathering rather than chemical processes. One kind of weathering, for instance,
involves striking a rock with a hammer. In dry places, physical weathering is more common.

OBJECTIVES:
After the exercise the students was enable to know:
 The different kinds of rocks and minerals and;
 The properties of common soil-forming rocks and minerals.

METHODOLOGY
After the pre-laboratory discussion, the instructor show us the different kinds of
minerals and rocks. After examining the minerals and rocks, we are tasked to search for the
chemical composition of minerals, the color, structure,and texture of each minerals and rocks
that we observed. And for the acid test of sedimentary rocks. A drop of Hydrochloric acid
was being put in the sedimentary rocks and observed what was happened.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Mineral samples
Name Chemical Hardness Fracture/cleavage Color Streak
Composition
Gypsum CaSO4.H2O 2 One White White
perfect cleavage direction
and two less
distinct cleavage direction
s
Topaz Al2SiO-F2 8 Perfect cleavage and Colorless Colorless
subconchoidal to uneven
fracture
Amethyst SiO2 7 No cleavage and Violet Colorless
conchoidal fracture
Quartz SiO2 7 No cleavage and Variety of Colorless
conchoidal fracture colors
Calcite CaCO3 3 1,3- rhombohedral colorless or White
cleavage and conchoidal
fracture white
B. Igneous Rocks
Name Color Texure Principal Minerals
Gabbro Black or dark green It is visibly crystalline plagioclase and augite
and usually has a
granular texture
Andesite Dark grey fine-grained Biotite, quartz, magnetite,
and sphene
Scoria black or dark grey to Bubble like cavities plagioclase and pyroxene
deep reddish brown
Basalt Black to dark green and coarse-grained or plagioclase and pyroxene
brown phaneritic
Diorite Grey to dark grey with Granular dium-rich plagioclase
greenish cast with lesser amounts of
hornblende, biotite, and
pyroxene

C. Sedimentary rocks
Name Classification Observable Effervescence in HCl
(Yes/ No)
components
Shale Clastics laminated or fissile clastic No
Sandstone Clastics sand-sized mineral Yes
particles or rock
fragments
Marl Clastics  interlocking calcite Yes
crystals
Siltsone Clastics Patterns Yes
Mudstone Clastics Patterns Yes

D. Methamorphic Rocks
Name Structure Parent Rock
Marble Non-foliated calcite or dolomite
Slate Foliated shale or mudstone
Quartzile Non-foliated sandstone
Serpentinite Foliated meta-igneous
Schist Foliated Shale
 There are different kinds of minerals that are found around the earth, lucky enough
we've seen with our eye the some of those minerals. There are two types of minerals, the
primary mineral and the secondary mineral. Primary mineral includes: quartz,
feldspar,amphibole, micas, carbonate,and apatite. Secondary minerals includes: gypsum, iron
oxides and clay minerals.
Rocks are the parent material of most mineral soils. Rocks are classified into 3 types
based on origin: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. The common igneous rocks are:
granite, andesite, rhyolite, gabbro, and basalt. The common sedimentary rocks are:
sandstone, shale, and limestone. And lastly the metamorphic, there are five common
metamorphic rocks namely:gneiss, schists, slate, quartile and marble. Both igneous and
sedimentary rocks are commonly the parent rock of metamorphic rocks.
Moving on to the acid test. To most geologists, the term "acid test" means placing a
drop of dilute (5% to 10%) hydrochloric acid on a rock or mineral and watching for bubbles
of carbon dioxide gas to be released. The bubbling release of carbon dioxide gas can be so
weak that you need a hand lens to observe single bubbles slowly growing in the drop of
hydrochloric acid - or so vigorous that a flash of effervescence is produced. These variations
in effervescence vigor are a result of the type of carbonate minerals present, the amount of
carbonate present, the particle size of the carbonate, and the temperature of the acid. Its clear
that sedimentary rocks have the presence of carbonate minerals such as calcite and dolomite.

QUESTIONS
1. How does mineral composition affect the weatherability of rocks?
Several forms of rock are remarkably resistant to deterioration. Because it is difficult
for water to permeate igneous rocks, particularly intrusive igneous rocks like granite, they
weather slowly. Since they dissolve in weak acids, other forms of rock, including limestone,
are more susceptible to weathering.

2. Which do you think contains more nutrients, a soil formed from volcanic rocks or a soil
from a limestone rock? Explain.
The soil from volcanic [Link] volcanic ash and lava, which are both abundant
in certain essential nutrients like silicon, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium,
phosphorous, and many other trace elements, are used to create volcanic soil, it is extremely
fertile. This rich combination can act as a stimulant for plant growth
3. How would you explain the abundance of andesite and basalt in Leyte?
Leyte was formed from geologic uplift and faulting during the time of active
volcanism in the late Miocene and Quaternary period hence, andesitic, basaltic, and dacitic
lava flows and pyroclastics are the dominant rocks in central Leyte (Aurelio 1992, Asio 1996,
Jahn & Asio 2006).

CONCLUSSION
Mineral, Any naturally occurring homogeneous solid that has a definite (but not
fixed) chemical composition and a distinctive internal crystal structure. Minerals are usually
formed by inorganic processes. Synthetic equivalents of various minerals, such as emeralds
and diamonds, are manufactured for commercial purposes. Although most minerals are
chemical compounds, a small number (e.g., sulfur, copper, gold) are elements. Minerals
combine with each other to form rocks. For example, granite consists of the minerals
feldspar, quartz, mica, and amphibole in varying amounts. Rocks are generally, therefore, an
intergrowth of various minerals.

REFERENCES
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