EARTH MATERIALS

The earth's crust has four main components,

which are referred to as Earth's materials.
These materials include minerals, rocks, soil and
water.

An appreciation for the physicochemical

principles that govern the composition and
occurrence of these materials and how they
interact; and the ability to recognize the major
rock-forming minerals in the laboratory and in
the field, and to develop reasonable hypotheses
concerning their formation .
 SOIL
Soil is a mixture of decomposed
organic matter and broken down
rocks and minerals. The
decomposed organic matter is
mainly dead plant material. The
broken down rocks and minerals
are formed when larger rocks and
minerals are made into smaller
pieces due to erosion or
weathering.
 MINERALS
Minerals are the basic
components of rocks and most
common visible substances on
earth.
Minerals are:
1. Naturally occurring,
2. Inorganic,
3. Have known chemical
compositions
4. Have definite physical
properties.
5. Generally crystalline
structure.
 ROCKS
 Rocks are defined as naturally formed aggregates of minerals or mineral-
like substances. Rocks can be made up of one type of mineral, several
minerals, or no minerals at all. Limestone is a rock that is comprised of
the mineral calcite. Many crystals of calcite are cemented together to
form the limestone. Granite is a rock that is comprised of several
different minerals, including quartz, biotite, potassium feldspar, and
plagioclase feldspar. Coal is an example of a rock that isn't comprised of
any minerals, but instead is made of decomposed organic matter.
 Rocks are often classified by how they are formed. The three types of
rocks are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Sedimentary
rocks are formed by the accumulation of sediment that is deposited over
time. Igneous rocks are formed when molten magma cools and
solidifies. Metamorphic rocks are formed when an existing rock
changes due to heat, pressure, or some other physical force.
MINERALS: HOW TO IDENTIFY?
 Physical properties of minerals:
 CRYSTAL HABIT - the characteristic morphology of the
crystal
 CLEAVAGE or FRACTURE - the tendency of a mineral to
break along planes of weakness
 HARDNESS - measure of the ability of a mineral to resist
abrasion
 SPECIFIC GRAVITY - ratio of mass of a mineral to the
mass of an equal volume of water
 COLOR - to be considered but not relied upon for
identification
 STREAK - the color of the powdered mineral, e.g. when
scratched on a ceramic plate
 LUSTER - the appearance of a mineral in reflected light
 OPTICAL PROPERTIES - e.g. transparent, translucent,
opaque
 OTHER PROPERTIES - e.g. magnetism, reaction with acid,
taste, tenacity
MINERAL PROPERTIES, AND
IDENTIFICATION
MINERALS
 Minerals are the basic
components of rocks and
most common visible
substances on earth.
Minerals are:
1. Naturally occurring,
2. Inorganic,
3. Have known chemical
compositions
4. Have definite physical
properties.
5. Generally crystalline
structure.
MINERALOID
 A mineraloid is a naturally occurring
mineral-like substance that does not
demonstrate crystallinity. Mineraloids
possess chemical compositions that vary beyond
the generally accepted ranges for specific
minerals. For example, obsidian is an amorphous
glass and not a crystal
 Examples include glass, coal, opal
MINERAL PROPERTIES

Color
 Some minerals occur in only one shade.
 Most of the minerals occur in more than
one color and each color is given variety
name.

Milky quartz Rose quartz Amethyst quartz

STREAK
o Streak is the color of substance after it
has been ground to fine powder.
o The easiest way to do this is like
concrete, or a square of unglazed
porcelain (called streak plate).

Streak plate Streak of Hematite

LUSTER
 Luster is description of how the surface of a
substance interact with light.
 All minerals have either metallic luster or non
metallic luster.
 Other terms used for mineral luster include:
Adamantine (Diamond like)
Earthy (like concrete or dirt),
Greasy (like fat or grease),
Pearly, Silk (like silk
waxy (like candle), vitreous (like glass)
Resinous (like resin, chewing gum)
Adamantine luster Earthy or dull luster Greasy luster
(diamond cut) (Kaolinite) (Opal)

Metallic luster Pearly luster

(Pyrite) (Muscovite)
 Silk luster Vitreous luster
(satin spar) (quartz)

Waxy luster Resinous luster

(jadestein) (Amber)
HARDNESS
 Hardness is measure of resistance to
scratching or indentation.
 Mohs scale of hardness used by
geologists and engineers to predict
hardness of minerals.
 Harder substance will scratch a softer
 Scratch hardness may
be qualitatively estimated by visual
examination of the relative intensity
of surface scratches on a polished section.
The Mohs scale of
scratch hardness, universally employed in
the study of minerals in hand
specimen, is a simple quantification of this
property.

Microindentation hardness measurement measure using a static

indenter by lowereing it to the mineral surface under a known load
and the size of the resulting impression is determined.
The measurement of hardness on the microscopic scale has involved a
variety of instruments and types of indenter, the most common
indenters being the Vickers
MOHS SCALE OF HARDNESS
CLEAVAGE
 The Flat surface are called cleavage planes and
the uneven surfaces are called fracture
surfaces.
 The cleavage planes are sets of parallel surfaces
of weak chemical bonding (attraction) between
repeating parallel layers of atoms in crystal.
 Each different set of cleavage planes, referred
as cleavage direction.

Galena ,
3 cleavage direction
 STRIATIONS
 Striations are straight
“hairline” grooves on
the cleavage faces of
some minerals.

TENACITY
 Tenacity is the manner in which a substance
resists breaking.
 Brittle (like glass), malleable (like clay),
flexible (like plastic comb), elastic (like elastic
band), splintery( like wood), sectile (can be
carved with a knife)
REACTION TO ACID
 Minerals whose chemical composition includes
carbonate knows as carbonate minerals.
 Dilute HCL (1-3%) applied on exposed surface
of mineral.
 Minerals contain carbonate will fizz
(effervesce).
 Mineral should powdered by scratching it by
pocket knife
MAGNETISM
 Magnetism can be tested by the help of magnet.
Magnetite, Hematite have magnetic properties.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY
 Specific gravity is ratio of the weight of a
substance to the weight of equal volume of
the water.
 Metallic minerals have higher specific
gravity.
MINERAL IDENTIFICATION

 Mineral identification is based on the

ability to describe mineral properties.

 First list the properties of minerals as you

can determine, using available tools.

 Then compare your data to charts of known

properties of various minerals.

 Complete minerals identification table.

SILICATE STRUCTURES
The relative abundance of
elements in the Earth's crust
determines what minerals will
form and what minerals will be
common. Because Oxygen and
Silicon are the most abundant
elements, silicate minerals are
the most common.
Since oxygen is the most abundant
element in the crust, oxygen will be
the major anion that coordinates the
other other cations.
The radius ratio of Si+4 to O-
2 requires that Si+4 be coordinated

by 4 O-2 ions in tetrahedral

coordination.
In order to neutralize the +4 charge on the Si cation,
one negative charge from each of the Oxygen ions will
reach the Si cation. Thus, each Oxygen will be left
with a net charge of -1, resulting in a SiO4-
4 tetrahedral group that can be bonded to other

cations. It is this SiO4-4 tetrahedron that forms the

basis of the silicate minerals.
SILICATE STRUCTURES
NesoSilicates SoroSilicates InoSilicates-Single Chain

Olivine

Cyclosilicates

Epidote

Pyroxene group
Phyllosilicates
InoSilicates-Double Chain
Beryl
Tectosilicates

Feldspar Mica group Amphibole group

Bowens Reaction Series
Norman Bowen (1887-1956) conducted decades of melting
experiments to support granite theory in the early 1900s. He found
that a basaltic meltdown slowly cooled, and minerals formed crystals
in a certain order. Back in the early 1900's, N. L. Bowen and others
at the Geophysical Laboratories in Washington D.C. began
experimental studies into the order of crystallization of the
common silicate minerals from a magma. The idealized progression
which they determined is still accepted as the general model for the
evolution of magmas during the cooling process.
Bowen’s reaction series is based on observations and experiments of
natural rocks, the crystallization sequence of typical basaltic magma
change as they cool. It is a sorting tool according to the temperature
at which they crystallize common magmatic silicate minerals.
Bowen’s Reaction Series describes temperatures at which different
common silicate minerals change from liquid to solid phase (or solid
to liquid). Petrologist
Bowen determined that specific minerals form at specific temperatures as a magma
cools. At the higher temperatures associated with mafic and intermediate magmas, the
general progression can be separated into two branches. The continuous branch
describes the evolution of the plagioclase feldspars as they evolve from being calcium-
rich to more sodium-rich. The discontinuous branch describes the formation of the
mafic minerals olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite mica.
MAGMATIC DIFFERENTIATION
The parental magma that Bowen The remaining melt would
envisioned was a "primitive" basalt with crystallize pyroxene,
high Fe and Mg contents and fairly low hornblende, and plagioclase
SiO2 contents. with intermediate Ca content
As it evolves and migrates upwards in (andesine), and might erupt
the earth's crust early on separate from a volcano and form
olivine and pyroxene (crystal mush), and andesite. Or, if the material
would thus create a peridotite (more remained buried, the crystal
mafic than basalt) rock. With Pyroxenes fraction would form a diorite
and feldspar and olivine form Basalt from which in turn a granitic
melt would rise.

This gradual change in

mineral composition during
differentiation is accompanied
by a change in color (mafic
rocks dark, felsic rocks light)
and density of the respective
rocks, and is the basis for most
of the accepted classification
schemes of igneous rocks.
BOWEN’S PRINCIPLES
 This reaction series implies that from a single “parental magma” all the
various kinds of igneous rocks can be derived by Magmatic Differentiation (see
below)
 As a melt cools, the minerals in the thermodynamic equilibrium with the melt
crystallize (the dissolution equals crystallization; if there is no equilibrium
either crystallization will dominate [supersaturation], or dissolution [under
saturated]).
 As the melt continues to cool and the minerals crystallize, it will change the
melt composition.
 Previously formed crystals will not be in equilibrium with this solution and will
be dissolved again to form new minerals. In other words: these crystals react
with the melt to form new crystals, hence the name reaction series.
 Common minerals of igneous rocks can be arranged in two series as a
continuous reaction sequence of feldspar and as a discontinuous reaction
sequence of ferromagnesian minerals (olivine, pyroxene, hornblende, and
biotite).
 This sequence of reactions implies that all various magmatic rocks can be
obtained by Magmatic Differentiation from a single “parent magma”.
 Generally speaking, higher temperature minerals have a higher proportion of
iron and magnesium and are therefore considered mafic. Low temperature
minerals are associated with the opposite end of the composite spectrum (low
in iron and magnesium, higher in silicon and oxygen) and considered to be
felsic. Some minerals are clearly mafic, some are clearly felsic, and some fall
between these two extremes.