1. How minerals form

2. How minerals form
In general, minerals can form in 3 ways: organic processes, crystallization from materials dissolved in solutions, and crystallization from magma and lava cooling.

3. Things to know:
A geode is a rounded, hollow rock that is often lined with mineral crystals.
Crystals form inside a geode when water containing dissolved minerals seeps into a crack or hollow in a rock.
Crystallization is the process by which atoms are arranged to form a material with a crystal structure.

4. Minerals from Magma & Lava
Magma is molten material from inside Earth that hardens to form rock.
Lava is magma that reaches the surface to form rock when it cools and hardens.
Minerals form as hot magma cools inside Earth, or as lava hardens on the surface. When these liquids cool to a solid state, they form crystals.
The larger the crystals being formed the slower the magma or lava cools.

5. Minerals from Solution
A solution is a mixture in which one substance is dissolved in another.
When elements and compounds that are dissolved in water leave a solution, crystallization occurs.
Some minerals form when solutions evaporate. EX. Salt (halite) deposits found in the Southwest.