Earth ScienceUnit 2 Study Guide KEY

Question/Topic / Answer
  1. The common name for Pyrite?
/ Fool’s Gold.
  1. What are the 5 characteristics of minerals?
/ Naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, crystalline structure, definite chemical composition.
  1. What are the types of Luster?
/ Luster can be Metallic (shiny metal) or Non-Metallic (anything that does not look like metal).
When looking at a mineral with a dull metal luster it is called Submetallic.
  1. Explain the MOHS Hardness Scale diagram, 1-10 in your notes and practice.
/ 1-10
1 softest, 10 hardest.
  1. What is most important about classifying rocks?
/ Where (environment) and how (process) it is formed.
  1. What is associated with Igneous Rocks?
/ Volcanic (pockets of magma or tectonic plates pulling apart).
  1. What are the most common Extrusive Igneous Rocks? Why?
/ Pumice, Obsidian, Basalt, Scoria. Cools quickly – so fine grain, glassy.
  1. What are common Intrusive Igneous Rocks? Why?
/ Granite, Diorite, Gabbro. Cools quickly – so course grain, visibly large crystals.
  1. What does the size of the grain tell you?
/ Texture – how quickly it cools. If it cool slowly, it has time to grow larger crystals. If it cools quickly, there are small or no crystals visible.
  1. How are sedimentary rocks classified?
/ By the process that forms the particles. Clastic (chucks of rock) and Non-clastic (chemical & organic/biological).
  1. What is a common organic sedimentary rock?
/ Limestone (with seashells)
  1. Why would a sedimentary rock include fossils?
/ Because the processes do not destroy them.
  1. Use your Rock Cycle Diagram. What are ALL the processes that form a sedimentary rock?
/ Weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction, cementation.
  1. Use your Rock Cycle Diagram. What are ALL the processes that form a igneous rock?
/ Melting, cooling, hardening
  1. Use your Rock Cycle Diagram. What are ALL the processes that form a metamorphic rock?
/ Heat, pressure
  1. What is the common name for halite? What kind of rock is it?
/ Rock salt. Non-clastic, Chemical Sedimentary Rock.
  1. What are some common clastic sedimentary rocks?
/ Conglomerate, Breccia, Sandstone, Shale
  1. What are some common non-clastic sedimentary rocks?
/ Limestone, rock salt, chert, chalk
  1. How are sedimentary rocks arranged?
/ In horizontal layers.
  1. What sedimentary rock can be found to be chemical and organic?
/ Limestone -- chemical (water evaporated) and organic/bio (with seashells and fossils).
  1. What are the Parent Rocks for these metamorphic rocks: quartzite, marble, gneiss, slate.
/ Sandstone quartzite
Limestone marble
Granite gneiss
Shale slate
  1. How are metamorphic rocks classified?
/ Foliated (colored bands, wavy layers, stripes) caused by re-crystalized minerals in confined pressure
Non-foliated (no bands, layers, stripes – all one color).
  1. Of the three types of Magma/Lava, which makes igneous rocks with the largest crystals?
/ Rhyolite
  1. Why do Metamorphic Rocks form with partial melting?
/ Because if there is total melting it would be an igneous rock.

Material from Unit 1: