AS Minerals

Question 1

Mineral

Answer 1

a naturally occurring chemical substance having a definite composition and crystalline substance.

Question 2

Rock

Answer 2

an aggregate or mixture of one or more minerals.

Question 3

Sublimation

Answer 3

the transition of a substance directly from the gas phase to the solid phase, or the reverse, without passing through the intermediate liquid phase.

Question 4

Lustre

Answer 4

the surface appearance of a mineral, as it interacts with light.

Question 5

Crystal

Answer 5

a solid with the plane faces formed when atoms are arranged in a structurally ordered pattern.

Question 6

Glass

Answer 6

an amorphous solid with no crystalline structure.

Question 7

Grain boundary

Answer 7

the line of contact between mineral crystals in a rock.

Question 8

Cations

Answer 8

atoms that have lost electrons leaving them with a net positive charge.

Question 9

Anions

Answer 9

atoms that have gained electrons leaving them with a net negative charge.

Question 10

Covalent bond

Answer 10

formed by the sharing of a pair of electrons by two atoms.

Question 11

Tetrahedron

Answer 11

a solid contained by four triangular plane faces.

Question 12

Solid solution

Answer 12

describes two end member crystals with defined compositions, within which one or more types of atoms may be substituted for the original atoms in the solid state, without changing the structure and allowing varied compositions between the end members.

Question 13

Bridging oxygen

Answer 13

an oxygen atom shared by two SiO4 tetrahedra in a crystal structure.

Question 14

Polymers

Answer 14

consist of repeating chains of smaller molecules.

Question 15

Diagenesis

Answer 15

includes all processes that occur in sediments at low temperature and pressure at or near the Earth’s surface.

Question 16

Metamorphism

Answer 16

the changing of the rocks in the Earth’s crust by heat and/or pressure and/or volatile content. It is isochemical and occurs in the solid state.

Question 17

Igneous rock

Answer 17

a rock that has crystallised from magma.

Question 18

Metamorphic rock

Answer 18

is formed by the recrystallisation of other rocks in the solid state due to pressure, temperature of both.

Question 19

Partial melting

Answer 19

occurs when only a portion of rock in the lower crust or upper mantle is melted.

Question 20

Recrystallisation

Answer 20

is the solid state process that changes minerals into new crystalline metamorphic minerals.

Question 21

Crystallisation

Answer 21

occurs during the cooling of magma or lava so that solid mineral crystals form.

Question 22

Burial

Answer 22

occurs when sediment is covered by younger layers of sediment.

Question 23

Sedimentary rock

Answer 23

a rock composed of fragments that have been deposited, compacted and cemented.

Question 24

Clast

Answer 24

a fragment of broken rock produced by mechanical weathering and erosion.

Question 25

Magma accumulation

Answer 25

is magma collecting within a magma chamber.

Question 26

Intrusions

Answer 26

composed of igneous rock formed below the Earth’s surface, where magma is forced into pre-existing rocks.

Question 27

Extrusion

Answer 27

the emission of magma onto the Earth’s surface where it forms a lava flow.

Question 28

Foliation

Answer 28

is a texture in metamorphic rocks formed by the preferred alignment of flat/tabular minerals.

Question 29

Deposition

Answer 29

the laying down of sediment that occurs when a transporting agent loses energy.

Question 30

Weathering

Answer 30

the breakdown of rocks in situ.

Question 31

Erosion

Answer 31

the removal of weathered material, usually by the physical action of transported fragments.

Question 32

Transport

Answer 32

the means by which weathered material is moved from one place to another by water, wind, ice or gravity.

Question 33

Uplift

Answer 33

the return of buried rocks to the Earth’s surface by tectonic forces.