Processes of Rock and Soil Formation

  Minerals are substances found in nature.  Minerals are solid.  Minerals are inorganic.  Minerals are made of atoms.  Some minerals are made of only one kind of mineral.  Most are made of different types of atoms  There are more than 3,500 different kinds of minerals on Earth. Minerals

  Hardness: Moh’s hardness scale: 1 to 10  Streak: The colored line a mineral makes on a plate.  Cleavage and fracture: How a mineral breaks.  Luster: The amount of light refraction  Crystal Shape: Atoms arrange in specific patterns depending on the mineral  Fluoresence: Glow in black light  Magnetism: A force withing some minerals  Color: Color is not the best identifying property Mineral Properties

  Rocks are made of minerals.  Sheets of rock lie beneath Earth’s soil and water.  This part of the Earth we call the crust.  Most of the rocks we see are pieces that have broken off Earth’s crust. Rocks

  Igneous rocks are made deep inside Earth.  These rocks are made from magma.  Magma is melted rock deep inside Earth.  When magma cools, it becomes solid rock.  Sometimes magma flows out of holes in Earth’s crust called volcanoes.  When lava cools it hardens into rocks.  Some cools slowly and some cools quickly. Igneous Rocks

 Types of Igneous Rocks Obsidian Scoria Granite Basalt Pillow BasaltPumice

  Sedimentary rocks form on Earth’s surface of just beneath it.  They are made of small pieces called sediments.  Sediments can be mud, sand, stones, shells or bone.  When sediments harden together, they become sedimentary rock. Sedimentary Rocks

 Types of Sedimentary Rock Shale Coquina Conglomerate Breccia Chert Bauxite

  Metamorphic rocks are made out of other kinds of rock.  Heating and squeezing change the minerals inside the rock and they become metamorphic.  Rocks are pushed and squeezed inside Earth.  Sometimes the tectonic plates push against one another forcing the rocks to be squeezed together. Metamorphic Rock

 Metamorphic rocks Marble Garnet Slate Rose Quartz Gneiss

  Rocks are part of a cycle, or pattern, that happens again and again.  The rock cycle changes old rocks into new ones.  Water, wind and ice change rocks.  Heat changes rocks.  Movement can push rocks inside Earth. Rock Cycle

 Forces within the Cycle

  Erosion is response to changes in rock over time.  Rocks can be eroded by water, wind and ice. EROSION

  Weathering is the process that decomposes or breaks down exposed rock.  One type is chemical  Another type is mechanical Weathering

  Bridges and arches form when rocks have been weathered and eroded. Weathering Formations

  Fossils are the hardened remains of plants and animals.  Fossils are also the traces and remain of plants and animals that lived more than 10,000 years ago. Fossils

  Preserved remainsCarbon Films  Mineral replacementMolds & casts Fossil Types

  Fossils are plant and animal remains that have been naturally preserved.  Most remains disappear over time.  Fossils that remain usually get buried and the remains are protected.  They are hidden from animals and are safe from water and wind. Preserved Fossils

  Deposition is when sediments that are carried are deposited.  It is because of deposition that many fossils are preserved. Deposition

  This is a way of finding the relative order of past events without determining their absolute age.  Fossils are often used to correlate on stratigraphic column with another. Relative Age

 Folding and Faulting Folding occurs when rock is compressed as it is along colliding plate boundaries Faulting occurs when enormous stresses Build up and push intact rock layers beyond their limit. These normally happen as a result of an earthquake

 Energy traveling inside of Earth’s Interior Much of what we know about Earth’s interior comes from seismic waves Body waves travel through Earth’s interior in all directions. Scientist have inferred that primary waves travel through solids and liquids, but secondary waves will only travel through solids.

  An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of Earth suddenly slip past each other.  Where they slip is called the fault.  The location directly above it on the surface of the Earth is called the epicenter. Earthquakes

  The Earth has its own internal heat source that provides energy for our dynamic planet.  A volcano is a vent in Earth’s crust through which lava, steam and ashes are expelled. Volcanoes

  Geothermal energy is produced within the Earth’s core.  Very high temperatures are continually produced inside the Earth by the slow decay of radioactive particles.  Magma comes close to Earth’s surface by the edges of the plates where volcanoes occur.  Geothermal energy is a renewable source produced deep within the Earth. Volcanoes and Energy