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Chapter 2 - The School of Rocks

This document outlines objectives related to classifying and identifying rocks and minerals, describing their formation and importance. It discusses identifying igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks based on their physical and chemical properties. It also describes identifying common rock-forming minerals and economically important minerals. Additionally, it explains how ore minerals are found through mining processes, and extracted and processed for human use. Finally, it discusses ways to prevent or lessen environmental impacts from exploiting mineral resources, including reducing consumption, improving efficiency, substitution, recycling, regulations and cleaning up abandoned mines.

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Cecilia Q. Uy
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133 views54 pages

Chapter 2 - The School of Rocks

This document outlines objectives related to classifying and identifying rocks and minerals, describing their formation and importance. It discusses identifying igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks based on their physical and chemical properties. It also describes identifying common rock-forming minerals and economically important minerals. Additionally, it explains how ore minerals are found through mining processes, and extracted and processed for human use. Finally, it discusses ways to prevent or lessen environmental impacts from exploiting mineral resources, including reducing consumption, improving efficiency, substitution, recycling, regulations and cleaning up abandoned mines.

Uploaded by

Cecilia Q. Uy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Objectives:

Classify rocks into igneous, sedimentary,


metamorphic

Identify common rock- forming minerals using


their physical and chemical properties

Identify the minerals important to the society

Describe how ore minerals are found, mined


and processed as human use

Cite ways to prevent or lessen the environmental


impact that result from the exploitation,
extraction and use of mineral resources

- It is solid and it is the outermost


layer of our planet.
- It includes the crust and the upper
portion of the upper mantle.

- Is a naturally occurring aggregate of


minerals, and certain non-mineral
materials such as fossils and glass.

- Rocks are constantly being


transformed in a process called ROCK
CYCLE.

gneous rocks
- are formed through the

cooling and solidification of


magma or lava and may form in
three ways:

1. Below the surface, form slow


cooling magma, with a good
crystallization (coarse-grained):
Plutonic rocks or intrusive igneous
like as granite, diorite, syenite

2. On the surface form fast

cooling lava, without visible


crystals (fine-grained): volcanic
rocks or extrusive igneous like
basalt and andesite

3. 0n the surface, from the

consolidation of particles
erupted by explosive volcanic
activity: pyroclastic rocks like
ignimbrite, scoria, and pumice

edimentary Rocks
- are rocks form from material
that has accumulated of Earths
surface in a process called
deposition.

etamorphic Rocks
- Are form when a sedimentary or
igneous rock is exposed to high
pressure, high temperature, or
both, deep below Earths surface

Lithification- meaning transformed


into rocks
Foliation- rock layers split off easily
into flakes or slabs

Texture- refers to the size, shape,


and arrangement of mineral grains
and other constituents in a rock

Aphanitic- means that the grains


are too small to see or identify
Phaneritic- means that the grains
are big enough to see and identify

The mineral composition in rocks is


taken as the natural expression of
composition.
Since the three classes of rocks have
distinct textures, they also have distinct
mineral composition.

Minerals

Are composed of elements such as those found in


the periodic table.

General characteristics
Minerals

are naturally occurring chemical


compounds.

They

are inorganic. They are made of material


that has never been a living plant or animal.

They

are homogenous solids, so they are not in


their liquid or gaseous form.

Although

not fixed, each mineral has a definite


chemical composition, which can be described
by a chemical formula. Ex: Halite is always NaCl
and quartz is always SiO2.

Each

mineral has a regular structure, in which the


atoms are always arranged in the same pattern.

Some minerals are made up of only one element. Examples


are: gold (Au from the latin aurun), graphite (C or carbon),
diamond (C or carbon), and copper (Cu from the latin
cuprum)

Unique Property of
Mineral

Luster- refers to the quality and intensity of light


reflected from a minerals surface. It may be metallic
or nonmetallic. Examples of nonmetallic are:
Adamantine Vitreous Pearly-

glassy

has the sheen of a pearl

Resinous Dull-

brilliant, such as cut diamond

appearance of resin or tree sap silky; not reflective

not significantly reflective

Color in minerals is caused by the absorption, of lack


thereof, of visible light by the atomic bonds or electrons in
the minerals crystalline structure.

Streak- is the color of the powdered mineral. It is usually


much less variable than the minerals body color.

Hardness- is defined as minerals ability to resist scratching or


abrasion.

Cleavage-

is the tendency of a mineral to split, or


cleave, along planes of weakness.

Specific

gravity- is a measure of relative density.


Determined by comparing the mass of a material to
the mass of an equal volume of water.
Specific gravity = mass of mineral/mass equal of water
Or
Specific gravity = weight of mineral in air/weight in air
minus weight in water

Other properties of
minerals
Magnetism-

some minerals, such as magnetite,


are attracted to magnets.

Taste-

some minerals have a characteristic taste.


For example, halite tastes like salt.

Feel-

some minerals, such as talc, feel soapy or greasy.

Presence

of striations- some minerals, such as pyrite,


have closely spaced fine grooves on their crystal
faces.

Acid-reaction

some minerals that contain carbonate


(CO3) will react with diluted hydrochloric acid (HCL),
forming carbon dioxide bubbles. Calcite (CaCO3) will
react with HCL

Common
Minerals and
Their Uses

Aggregates (sand, gravel, and


crushed stone)

Aluminum

Antimony

Asbestos

Basalt

Barium

Beryllium

Boron

Cadmium

Cement
Clays

Fluorite
Copper

Gold

Granite

Graphite

Halite (salt)

Mercury

Sandstones

Silver

Talc

Tin

Zinc

Dr. Carlo Arcilla


Specializes in Igneous
Petrology and Geochemistry
Hazard assessments in the
Philippines
Help develop hazard
prediction
Cleanup efforts of various
local hazardous spills

Mineralogy
- Is the study of minerals, their crystalline and
chemical structures and their properties such as
melting points

Mineralogist
- A person who studies minerals, which
technically all naturally occurring
solid substances

Most mineralogist study minerals of economic


value.
They determine their physical and chemical
properties, how to efficiently retrieve them from
ores, and how to process them.

Studies rocks, gems, and minerals, including their


chemical and crystalline structures.
Those working for mining companies often work on
enhancing the processing of minerals from ores.

Help improve recovery of desirable minerals and


concentrate their quality.

The metal and earth materials they process are used in


scientific equipment that monitors the environment.

The vast majority of mineralogists teaches and conducts


research at universities

Some mineralogists work at national laboratories

Others work for private mining companies.

Mineralogists must sometimes follow safety protocols when


working with potentially harmful chemicals.

Considered to be the founder of Mineralogy


The first to systematically classify minerals
during 1771-1800 by their obvious external/
physical properties

Udachnaya Diamond
Was discovered at the Udachnaya Diamond
Mine in Russia in December 15, 2014.
A 30 mm rock
Larry Taylor, a geologist from the University of
Tennessee, said that the rock contains 30000
perfect octahedrons, which seemed like they
formed instantly.
The rock found had clear crystals which were
0.04 inch tall and shaped like octahedral.

Udachnaya
Diamond

Larry Taylor

Essential Minerals

Divided up into major mineral (macro minerals)


such as
Sodium
Chloride
Potassium
Calcium

and trace minerals (micro minerals)such as


iron
zinc
Iodine
copper

DESCRIBE HOW ORE


MINERALS ARE FOUND
MINED & PROCESSED FOR
HUMAN USE

An ore is a type of rock that contains sufficient minerals


with important elements including metals that can be
economically extracted from the rock. The ores are
extracted from the earth through mining; they are then
refined (often via smelting) to extract the valuable
element, or elements.

The grade or concentration of an ore mineral, or metal, as


well as its form of occurrence, will directly affect the costs
associated with mining the ore. The cost of extraction must
thus be weighed against the metal value contained in the
rock to determine what ore can be processed and what ore
is of too low a grade to be worth mining. Ore bodies are
formed by a variety of geological processes. The process of
ore formation is called ore genesis.

Gold ore examples

Mining and mineral processing


Now that we know where the minerals that mankind uses can be
found, we can look at how he accesses the minerals. We have seen
that often the minerals are not found just lying around waiting to be
picked up, but rather are embedded in rocks and combined with
other elements.
As man learnt more and made new discoveries, the techniques used
to extract the ores improved and the amount of mineral that could
be extracted increased greatly. Large tunnels started to be cut into
the Earth to access minerals buried deep underground. New
processing methods meant new kinds of metals could be mined.

The main stages in mining are: exploration, extraction, refining,


manufacturing and marketing. We will take a brief look at
exploration, extraction and refining.

The
mining
process

The mining process

The mining process

The mining process

WAYS TO PREVENT OR LESSEN THE


ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THAT RESULT FROM
THE EXPLOITATION, EXTRACTION AND USE OF
MINERAL RESOURCES
1. Reducing the consumption of minerals

2. The efficiency of manufacturing processes can be


increased to reduce the amount of new minerals required
3. Substitution of other materials and processes with more
environmentally friendly materials and processes
4. Using recycled materials instead of mined materials

5. Improving environmental performance at


mines

6. Legislation and regulations to reduce


environmental impacts can be enacted and
enforced
7. Cleaning up abandoned mine sites
8. Economic measures

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