Lab 7 Rocks and Minerals

Background Information and Worksheet

In this lab you will learn about rocks and minerals. Minerals are the building
blocks of rocks, and rocks are the building blocks of the Earth's crust. This lab
will introduce you to some of the major rock-forming minerals, and to the three
major groups of rocks - igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.
BASIC DEFINITIONS
Minerals
Minerals are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Naturally occurring
Inorganic
Solids
Minerals have a definite chemical composition
Minerals have an orderly internal crystal structure

Minerals are the building blocks of rocks. Each mineral has different physical and
chemical properties which allow it to be identified. Physical properties you will
use to identify the minerals include color, hardness, luster, cleavage, magnetism,
reaction to acid, etc.
Rocks
An aggregate of one or more minerals. Rocks are the building blocks of the
Earth's crust. The Earth's continental crust is dominated by granite, and the
oceanic crust is dominated by basalt. Both of these are igneous rocks.
There are three basic categories of rocks:

Igneous (or crystallized from hot lava or magma) - ex. granite,

basalt
Sedimentary (or fragments laid down by water or wind) - ex.
sandstone, shale, limestone
Metamorphic (or rocks changed by heat and or pressure) - ex.
gneiss, schist, slalte, marble

Physical Properties of Minerals

1. Color - The color of the mineral as it appears in reflected light to

the naked eye.
2. Luster - The character of the light reflected from the mineral. A
mineral may have a metallic luster (in other words, you would call it
a metal), or a non-metallic luster. Non-metallic lusters may be
described in more detail as:
3. Hardness - The resistanceof a mineral to scratching. Hardness is
measured on a scale of 1-10 called Mohs Hardness Scale. In lab,
we express hardness in comparison to common objects (fingernail,
copper penny, nail, glass).
4. Cleavage - the tendency of a mineral to break along flat surfaces
related to planes of weakness in its crystal structure. Minerals can
be identified by the number of cleavage planes they exhibit, and the
angles between them. For example, some minerals tend to cleave
or break into flat sheets (the micas: muscovite and biotite), other
break into cubes (halite), or into rhombs (calcite and dolomite).
Other minerals have different types of cleavage.
5. Reaction to acid - The carbonate minerals react with dilute
hydrochloric acid (HCl) by fizzing, producing bubbles of carbon
dioxide gas (the same type of harmless gas bubbles that are found
in carbonated beverages). Calcite fizzes readily in hydrochloric
acid. Dolomite will fizz if it is first scratched and powdered. You may
use a nail or steel needle probe to scratch the specimen to try this
test.
Note that it is NOT necessary for online students to use the
acid. If you wish to know whether a particular sample would
fizz in acid, you may e-mail the instructor to find out whether
or not it will fizz.
IDENTIFYING MINERALS
Use the table below to identify the properties of eight minerals.
Mineral

Color

Hardness

Luster

Cleavage

Quatrz

Colorless,
gray,
white

Harder than
glass

Glassy,
shiny

No
cleavage,
fractures
at
random

Feldspar

White,
pink,

Harder than
glass

Nonmetallic

Has
cleavage,

Reaction
to acid
None

None

gray,
green

breaks
along
fixed
planes

Olivine

Olive
green

Harder than
glass

Glassy

No
cleavage,
fractures
at
random

None

Muscovite

Silvery

Can be
scratched
by
fingernail

Nonmetallic

Has
cleavage,
Splits
into flat
sheets

None

Biotite

Brown,
black

Harder than Nonfingeernails, metallic

can be
scratched
by a penny.

Has
cleavage,
breaks
along
fixed
planes

None

Pyroxene

Green,
black

Less than
finger nail

Nonpmetallic

Has
clevage

None

Calcite

White

Harder than
finger nail

Nonmetallic

Has
cleavage

None

Halite

White

Harder than

Non-

Has

None

finger nail

metallic

cleavage

IGNEOUS ROCKS
Igneous rocks are "fire-formed". They crystallized from hot, molten lava or
magma as it cooled. Magma is hot, molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth.
Lava is hot, molten rock which has flowed out onto the surface of the Earth.
Magma may cool within the earth's crust to form igneous rocks. But lava cools
much more quickly because it is on the Earth's surface where temperatures are
much lower than they are at depth.
Cooling rates influence the texture of the igneous rock:

Quick cooling = fine grains

Slow cooling = coarse grains

Igneous rocks are classified or named based on their texture and their
composition. A variety of textures are present in igneous rocks. For this lab, we
will only consider a few: fine-grained (aphanitic), coarse-grained (phaneritic),
glassy, and vesicular.
Use the table below to identify the properties of three igneous rocks.
Rock

Color

Hardness

Luster

Cleavage

Obsidian

Black

Less than
penny

Glassy

None

Pumis

Light
color,
white to
gray

Spongelike. Can
be easily
scratched

Glassy or None
dull

Reaction
to acid
None

None

Vesicular basalt

Light
gray

Harder
than nail

Dull

None

none

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Sedimentary rocks are made from sediment. Sediment is loose particulate
material (clay, sand, gravel, etc.)
Sediment becomes sedimentary rock through lithification, which involves:
1. Compaction
2. Cementation
3. Recrystallization (of carbonate sediment)
Use the table below to identify the properties of three sedimentary rocks
Rock

Color

Texture

Luster

Conglomerate

All
colors
and
shades

Rounded
None
grain size
greater
than 2 mm

Breccia

All
colors
and

Angular
grain

Cleavage
None

Glassy or None
dull

Reaction
to acid
None

None

shades

Shale

Light
gray

Harder
than nail

Dull

None

Fizzes
with acid

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Metamorphism causes changes in the texture and mineralogy of other rocks.
Texture
The processes of compaction and recrystallization change the texture of rocks
during metamorphism.
1. Compaction
o The grains move closer together.
o The rock becomes more dense.
o Porosity is reduced.
o Example: clay to shale to slate
2. Recrystallization
Growth of new crystals. No changes in overall chemistry. New crystals
grow from the minerals already present.
A preferred orientation of minerals commonly develops under applied
pressure. Platy or sheet-like minerals such as muscovite and biotite
become oriented perpendicular to the direction of force. This preferred
orientation is called foliation.
Use the table below to identify the properties of three metamorphic rocks

Rock

Color

Texture

Luster

Cleavage

Slate

Black and
gray

Fine grain
texture

dull

None

Reaction
to acid
None

Gneiss

Alternating
layers of
dark and
light
minerals

Fine grain
texture

Nonmetallic

None

None

Marble

Different
colors

Hardened
limestone

glossy

None

Fizzes
with acid

Now complete the attached worksheet and upload it.