The Rock Cycle Flashcards
What is a rock?
Rocks are made up of substances called minerals
What are minerals?
Minerals are naturally occurring chemical compounds – usually of crystalline form.
Where are rocks formed?
All rocks are formed in the Earth’s lithosphere
What is the earths lithosphere?
The lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell, which includes the Earth’s crust and the top part of its mantle.
Where does magma flow?
The lithosphere.
How are volcanoes formed?
Large quantities of magma break through the surface.
What are a few ways rocks can be formed?
Weathering of other rocks causing layers of sediments which get buried and overtime changed based on temperature and pressure. Some rocks form from the remains of living things.
What’s in a rock?
Elements found naturally in their uncombined form are also minerals. These elements, called native elements, include diamonds (pure carbon) and gold.
What are the most minerals in rocks?
Compounds with one or more metal elements together with the element’s oxygen and silicon
What are ways we can tell how rocks are formed?
The colours, shapes and textures of the minerals in rocks.
What is a crystal?
A solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions.
What does the way crystal grow when a mineral is formed depend on?
The speed of the cooling process of the molten material from which they form and how much space is available.
How can you identify minerals?
Colour
Lustre
Crystal shape/size
Hardness
Streak
What is the lustre of a mineral?
The lustre of a mineral describes the way that it reflects light.
How can the hardness of a mineral be determined?
The hardness of a mineral can be determined by trying to scratch one mineral with another. (The harder mineral leaves a scratch on the softer mineral.)
