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Composition lava glass lava froth from sticky lava lava froth from fluid lava high-silica lava medium-silica lava low-silica lava large grains of feldspar, quartz, pyroxene or olovine feldspar and quartz with minor mica, amphibole or pyroxene feldspar with minor mica, amphibole or pyroxene
Plagioclase and quartz with dark minerals
Rock Type
Obsidian Pumice Scoria Felsite Andesite Basalt Porphyry Granite Syenite Tonalite Diorite Gabbro Peridotite Pyroxenite Dunite Pegmatite
between felsite and basalt has no quartz large grains in finegrained matrix wide range of color and grain size like granite but without quartz
Little or no alkali feldspar
little or no quartz
low-calcium plagioclase and dark minerals high-calcium plagioclase and dark minerals olivine with amphibole and/or pyroxene mostly pyroxene with olivine and amphibole at least 90% olivine typically granitic
Rock Type
Soapstone Slate Argillite Phyllite Mylonite
Other white to brown usually very coarse gray or dark and "dirty"
Rock Type
Sandstone Arkose
mixed sediment with rock grains and clay mixed rocks and sediment
Wacke /Graywacke
Conglomerate
hard or soft soft hard hard soft soft soft soft soft very soft very soft
mixed
sharp pieces in finer sediment matrix feels gritty on teeth no fizzing with acid splits in layers black; burns with tarry smoke
Fizzes with acid No fizzing with acid unless powder
Breccia
fine fine fine fine fine coarse or fine coarse coarse coarse
Siltstone Chert Shale Coal Limestone Dolomite rock Coquina Rock Salt Rock Gypsum
fossil shells
halite gypsum
These three tables will help you identify almost any rock type you're likely to find. Read How to Look at a Rock for help with your observations. First, decide whether your rock is igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. This is not that hard!
Igneous rocks are tough, frozen melts with little texture or layering; mostly black, white and/or gray minerals; may look like granite or like lava. Sedimentary rocks are hardened sediment with sandy or clayey layers (strata); mostly brown to gray; may have fossils and water or wind marks. Metamorphic rocks are tough, with straight or curved layers (foliation) of light and dark minerals; various colors; often glittery with mica.
Grain Size: "Coarse" grains are visible to the naked eye, and the minerals can usually be identified using a magnifier; "fine" grains are smaller and usually cannot be identified with a magnifier.
Hardness: Hardness (as measured with the( Mohs scale)) actually refers to minerals rather than rocks, so a rock may be crumbly yet consist of hard minerals. But in simple terms, "hard" rock scratches glass and steel, usually signifying the minerals quartz or feldspar (Mohs hardness 6-7 and up); "soft" rock does not scratch a steel knife but scratches fingernails (Mohs 3-5.5); "very soft" rock does not scratch fingernails (Mohs 1-2). Igneous rocks are always hard. Metamorphic rocks are generally hard.