MINERALS AND ROCKS

What Are Minerals And Rocks?

Minerals: Minerals are solid substances that are present in nature and can be made of one element or more elements combined together (chemical compounds).   

Rock: A rock is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition and the way in which it is formed. Rocks are usually grouped into three main groups: igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks and sedimentary rocks.  

About 98 percent of the total crust of the earth is composed of eight elements like oxygen(46.60), silicon(27.72), aluminum(8.13), iron(5), calcium(3.63), sodium(2.83), potassium(2.59)and magnesium(2.09), and the rest is constituted by titanium, hydrogen, phosphorous, man Ganesa, Sulphur, carbon, nickel and other elements(1.41).  

There are at least 2,000 minerals that have been named and identified in the earth crust; but almost all the commonly occurring ones are related to six major mineral groups that are known as major rock forming minerals.  

The basic source of all minerals is the hot magma in the interior of the earth. When magma cools, crystals of minerals appear and a systematic series of minerals are formed in sequence to solidify so as to form rocks.  

Minerals such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are organic substances found in solid, liquid and gaseous forms respectively.  

  

Physical Characteristics of Minerals  :  

Some important minerals in terms of their nature and physical characteristics are :  

i) External crystal form : Determined by internal arrangement of the molecules - cubes, octahedrons, hexagonal prisms, etc.  

ii) Cleavage : Tendency to break in given directions producing relatively plane surfaces.  

iii) Fracture : Internal molecular arrangement so complex there are no planes of molecules; the cry will break in an irregular manner, not along planes of cleavage.  

iv) Luster : Appearance of a material without regard to color; each mineral has a distinctive luster metallic, silky, glossy etc.  

v) Color : Some minerals have characteristic color determined by their molecular structure - malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite etc., and some minerals are colored by impurities.   

vi) Streak : Color of the ground powder of any mineral. It may be of the same color as the minerals may differ - malachite is green and gives green streak, fluorite is purple or green but gives a white streak.  

v) Transparency : Transparent light rays pass through so that objects can be seen plainly; Translucent-light rays pass through but will get diffused so that objects cannot be seen; Opaque light will not pass at all.  

vi) Structure : Particular arrangement of the individual crystals; fine, medium or coarse grained; fibrous separable, divergent, radiating.  

vii) Hardness : Relative resistance being scratched; ten minerals are selected to measure the degree of hardness from 1-10; Talc is the lowest, while diamond is highest.   

viii) Specific gravity :  The ratio between the weight of a given object and the weight of an unequal volume of water. 

Some Major Minerals And Their Characteristics  

i) Feldspar : Silicon and oxygen are common elements in all types of feldspar and sodium, potassium, calcium, aluminum etc. are found in specific feldspar variety. Half of the earth’s crust is composed of feldspar. It is used in ceramics and glass making.  

ii) Quartz : It is one of the most important components of sand and granite. It consists of silica. It is a hard mineral virtually insoluble in water. It is white or colorless and used in radio and radar. It is one of the most important components of granite.  

iii) Pyroxene : Pyroxene consists of calcium, aluminum, magnesium, iron and silica. Pyroxene forms 10 percent of the earth’s crust. It is commonly found in meteorites. It is in green or black color.  

iv) Amphibole : Aluminum, calcium, silica, iron, magnesium are the major elements of amphiboles. They form 7 percent of the earth’s crust. It is in green or black color and is used in asbestos industry. Hornblende is another form of amphiboles.  

v) Mica: It comprises of potassium, aluminum, magnesium, iron, silica etc. It forms 4 percent of the earth’s crust. It is commonly found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. It is used in electrical instruments.  

vi) Olivine: Magnesium, iron and silica are major elements of olivine. It is used in jewelry. It is usually a greenish crystal, often found in basaltic rocks. Besides these main minerals, other minerals like chlorite, calcite, magnetite, hematite, bauxite and barite are also present in some quantities in the rocks.  

  

Metallic Minerals 

These minerals contain metal content and can be subdivided into three types:  

a) Precious metals : gold, silver, platinum etc. 

b) Ferrous metals : iron and other metals often mixed with iron to form various kinds of steel. 

c) Non-ferrous metals : include metals like copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminum etc.  

 

Non-Metallic Minerals 

These minerals do not contain metal content. 

a) Sulphur, phosphates and nitrates are examples of non-metallic minerals. 

b) Cement is a mixture of non-metallic minerals. 

Rocks 

The earth’s crust is composed of rocks. A rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals. 

Rock may be hard or so and in varied colors. For example, granite is hard, soapstone is so. Gabbro is black and quartzite can be milky white.  

Rocks do not have definite composition of mineral constituents. Feldspar and quartz are the more common minerals found in rocks.  

Petrology - It is science of rocks. A petrologist studies rocks in all their aspects viz., mineral composition, texture, structure, origin occurrence, alteration and relationship with other rocks.   

There are many different kinds of rocks which are grouped under three families on the basis of their mode of formation.  

Types Of Rocks  

1. Igneous Rocks - solidified from magma and lava;  

2. Sedimentary Rocks - the result of deposition of fragments of rocks by exogenous processes and   

3. Metamorphic Rocks - formed out of existing rocks undergoing recrystallisation. 

1). Igneous Rocks  

As igneous rocks form out of magma and lava from the interior of the earth, they are known as primary rocks. The igneous rocks (Ignis means ‘Fire’) are formed when magma cools and solidifies. The process of cooling and solidification can happen in the earth’s crust or on the surface of the earth.  

Igneous rocks are classified based on texture which depends upon size and arrangement of grains or other physical conditions of the materials.   

If molten material is cooled slowly at great depths, mineral grains may be very large. Sudden cooling (at the surface) results in small and smooth grains. Intermediate conditions of cooling would result in intermediate sizes of grains making up igneous rocks. Granite, gabbro, pegmatite, basalt, volcanic breccia and tuff are some of the examples of igneous rocks. 

Granite, gabbro, pegmatite, basalt, volcanic breccia and tuff are some of the examples of igneous rocks.

2). Sedimentary Rocks  

The word sedimentary means settling. Rocks (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic) of the earth’s surface are exposed to denudational agents, and are broken up into various sizes of fragments. Such fragments are transported by different exogenous agencies and deposited. These deposits through compaction turn into rocks. This process is called lithification.   

In many sedimentary rocks, the layers of deposits retain their characteristics even after lithification. Hence, we see a number of layers of varying thickness in sedimentary rocks like sandstone, shale etc.  

Depending upon the mode of formation, sedimentary rocks are classified into three major groups :   

I). Mechanically formed - sandstone, conglomerate, limestone, shale, loess etc. are examples;   

II). Organically formed - geyserite chalk, limestone, coal etc. are some examples;   

III). Chemically formed - chert, limestone, halite, potash etc. are some examples.  

3). Metamorphic Rocks  

1. The word metamorphic means ‘change of form’. These rocks form under the action of pressure, volume and temperature (PVT) changes. Metamorphism occurs when rocks are forced down to lower levels by tectonic processes or when molten magma rising through the crust comes in contact with the crustal rocks or the underlying rocks are subjected to great amounts of pressure by overlying rocks.  

2. Metamorphism is a process by which already consolidated rocks undergo recrystallisation and reorganization of materials within original rocks. Mechanical disruption and reorganization of the original minerals within rocks due to breaking a crushing without any appreciable chemical changes is called dynamic metamorphism.  

The materials of rocks chemically alter and recrystallize due to thermal metamorphism.  There are two types of thermal metamorphism. They are:  

i) Contact metamorphism : The rocks come in contact with hot intruding magma and lava and the rock materials recrystallize under high temperatures. Quite often new materials form out of magma or lava are added to the rocks.  

ii) Regional metamorphism : Rocks undergo recrystallisation due to deformation caused by tectonic shearing together with high temperature or pressure or both.  

In the process of metamorphism in some rocks grains or minerals get arranged in layers or lines Such an arrangement of minerals or grains in metamorphic rocks is called foliation or lineation. Sometimes minerals or materials of different groups are arranged into alternating thin to thick layers appearing in light and dark shades. Such a structure in metamorphic rocks is called banding and rocks displaying banding are called banded rocks.   

Types of metamorphic rocks depend upon original rocks that were subjected to metamorphism. Metamorphic rocks are classified into two major groups — foliated rocks and nonfoliate rocks. Gneissic, granite, syenite, slate, schist, marble, quartzite etc. are some examples of metamorphic rocks.  

Rock Cycle

Rocks do not remain in their original form for long but may undergo transformation. Rock cycle is a continuous process through which old rocks are transformed into new ones.  

Igneous rocks are primary rocks and other rocks (sedimentary and metamorphic) from these primary rocks. Igneous rocks can be changed into metamorphic rocks.  

The fragments derived out of igneous and metamorphic rocks form into sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks themselves can turn into fragments and the fragments can be a source for formation of sedimentary rocks.  

The crustal rocks (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary) once formed may be carried down into the mantle (interior of the earth) through subduction process (parts or whole of crustal plate going down under another plate in zones of plate convergence) and the same melt down due to increase in temperature in the interior and turn into molten magma, the original source for igneous rocks.

Share

& Comment

Tweet