Ch5 MINERALS AND ROCKS ( XI FUNDAMENTAL GEOGRAPHY)

• About 98 per cent of the total crust of the earth is composed of eight elements like
oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium and the
rest is constituted by titanium, hydrogen, phosphorous, manganese, sulphur, carbon,
nickel and other elements.
• A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic substance, having an orderly atomic
structure and a definite chemical composition and physical properties.
• A mineral is composed of two or more elements. But sometimes single element
minerals like sulphur, copper, silver, gold, graphite etc. are found.
• Though the number of elements making up the lithosphere is limited they are
combined in many different ways to make up many varieties of minerals. There are at
least 2,000 minerals that have been named and identified in the earth crust; but almost
all the commonly occurring ones are related to six major mineral groups that are
known as major rock forming minerals.
• The basic source of all minerals is the hot magma in the interior of the earth. When
magma cools, crystals of minerals appear and a systematic series of minerals are
formed in sequence to solidify so as to form rocks.
• Minerals such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are organic substances found in
solid, liquid and gaseous forms respectively.
• The Major Elements of the Earth’s Crust
1. Oxygen 46.60(%) 2. Silicon 27.72(%) 3. Aluminium 8.13 (%) 4. Iron 5.00(%)
5. Calcium 3.63(%) 6. Sodium 2.83 (%) 7. Potassium 2.59(%) 8. Mg 2.09(%)
9. Others 1.41(%)
A brief information about some important minerals in terms of their nature and physical
characteristics is given below :
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
(i) External crystal form — determined by internal arrangement of the molecules — cubes,
octahedrons, hexagonal prisms, etc.
(ii) Cleavage — tendency to break in given directions producing relatively plane surfaces —
result of internal arrangement of the molecules — may cleave in one or more directions and at
any angle to each other.
(iii) Fracture — internal molecular arrangement so complex there are no planes of molecules;
the crystal will break in an irregular manner, not along planes of cleavage.
(iv) Lustre — appearance of a material without regard to colour; each mineral has a distinctive
lustre like metallic, silky, glossy etc.
(v) Colour — some minerals have characteristic colour determined by their molecular structure
—malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite etc., and some minerals are coloured by impurities. For
example, because of impurities quartz may be white, green, red, yellow etc.
(vi) Streak — colour of the ground powder of any mineral. It may be of the same colour as the
mineral or may differ — malachite is green and gives green streak, fluorite is purple or
green but gives a white streak.
(vii) Transparency — transparent: light rays pass through so that objects can be seen plainly;
translucent — light rays pass through but will get diffused so that objects cannot be seen;
opaque — light will not pass at all.
(viii) Structure — particular arrangement of the individual crystals; fine, medium or coarse
grained; fibrous — separable, divergent, radiating.
(ix) Hardness — relative resistance being scratched; ten minerals are selected to measure the
degree of hardness from 1-10. They are: 1. talc; 2. gypsum; 3. calcite; 4. fluorite; 5. apatite; 6.
feldspar; 7. quartz; 8. topaz; 9. corundum; 10. diamond.
Compared to this for example, a fingernail is 2.5 and glass or knife blade is 5.5.
(x) Specific gravity — the ratio between the weight of a given object and the weight of an
equal volume of water; object weighed in air and then weighed in water and divide weight in air
by the difference of the two weights.
Metallic Minerals
These minerals contain metal content and can be sub-divided into three types:
(i) Precious metals : gold, silver, platinum etc.
(ii) Ferrous metals : iron and other metals often mixed with iron to form various kinds of steel.
(iii) Non-ferrous metals : include metals like copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminium etc.
Non-Metallic Minerals
These minerals do not contain metal content. Sulphur, phosphates and nitrates are examples of
non-metallic minerals. Cement is a mixture of non-metallic minerals.
ROCKS
• A rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals.
• Rock may be hard or soft and in varied colours. For example, granite is hard,
soapstone is soft. Gabbro is black and quartzite can be milky white.
• Rocks do not have definite composition of mineral constituents. Feldspar and quartz
are the most common minerals found in rocks.
• Petrology is science of rocks. A petrologist studies rocks in all their aspects viz.,
mineral composition, texture, structure, origin, occurrence, alteration and relationship
with other rocks.
• As there is a close relation between rocks and landforms, rocks and soils, a geographer
requires basic knowledge of rocks.
• There are many different kinds of rocks which are grouped under three families on the
basis of their mode of formation. They are:
(i) Igneous Rocks — solidified from magma and lava;
(ii) Sedimentary Rocks — the result of deposition of fragments of rocks by exogenous
processes;
(iii) Metamorphic Rocks — formed out of existing rocks undergoing recrystallisation
Igneous Rocks
• As igneous rocks form out of magma and lava from the interior of the earth, they are
known as primary rocks.
• The igneous rocks (Ignis – in Latin means ‘Fire’) are formed when magma cools and
solidifies. When magma in its upward movement cools and turns into solid form it is
called igneous rock.
 • The process of cooling and solidification can happen in the earth’s crust or on the
surface of the earth.
• Igneous rocks are classified based on texture. Texture depends upon size and
arrangement of grains or other physical conditions of the materials. If molten material
is cooled slowly at great depths, mineral grains may be very large.
Sudden cooling (at the surface) results in small and smooth grains.
Intermediate conditions of cooling would result in intermediate sizes of grains making
up igneous rocks. Granite, gabbro, pegmatite, basalt, volcanic breccia and tuff are some
of the examples of igneous rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
• The word ‘sedimentary’ is derived from the Latin word sedimentum, which means
settling.
• Rocks (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic) of the earth’s surface are exposed to
denudational agents, and are broken up into various sizes of fragments. Such
fragments are transported by different exogenous agencies and deposited.
• These deposits through compaction turn into rocks. This process is called lithification.
In many sedimentary rocks, the layers of deposits retain their characteristics even after
lithification. a number of layers of varying thickness in sedimentary rocks like
sandstone, shale etc.
• Depending upon the mode of formation, sedimentary rocks are classified into three
major groups:
(i) mechanically formed — sandstone, conglomerate, limestone, shale, loess etc. are
examples;
(ii) organically formed— geyserite, chalk, limestone, coal etc. are some examples;
(iii) chemically formed — chert, limestone, halite, potash etc. are some examples.
Metamorphic Rocks
• The word metamorphic means ‘change of form’. These rocks form under the action of
pressure, volume and temperature (PVT) changes.
• Metamorphism occurs when rocks are forced down to lower levels by tectonic
processes or when molten magma rising through the crust comes in contact with the
crustal rocks or the underlying rocks are subjected to great amounts of pressure by
overlying rocks. Metamorphism is a process by which already consolidated rocks
undergo recrystallisation and reorganisation of materials within original rocks.
• Mechanical disruption and reorganization of the original minerals within rocks due to
breaking and crushing without any appreciable chemical changes is called dynamic
metamorphism.
• The materials of rocks chemically alter and recrystallise due to thermal
metamorphism.
• There are two types of thermal metamorphism — contact metamorphism and
regional metamorphism.
• In contact metamorphism the rocks come in contact with hot intruding magma and
lava and the rock materials recrystallise under high temperatures. Quite often new
materials form out of magma or lava are added to the rocks.
 • In regional metamorphism, rocks undergo recrystallisation due to deformation
caused by tectonic shearing together with high temperature or pressure or both. In the
process of metamorphism in some rocks grains or minerals get arranged in layers or
lines. Such an arrangement of minerals or grains in metamorphic rocks is called
foliation or lineation.
• Sometimes minerals or materials of different groups are arranged into alternating thin
to thick layers appearing in light and dark shades. Such a structure in metamorphic
rocks is called banding and rocks displaying banding are called banded rocks. Types
of metamorphic rocks depend upon original rocks that were subjected to
metamorphism.
• Metamorphic rocks are classified into two major groups — foliated rocks and non-
foliated rocks. Gneissoid, granite, syenite, slate, schist, marble, quartzite etc. are
some examples of metamorphic rocks.

ROCK CYCLE
• Rocks do not remain in their original form for long but may undergo transformation.
• Rock cycle is a continuous process through which old rocks are transformed into new
ones.
• Igneous rocks are primary rocks and other rocks (sedimentary and metamorphic) form
from these primary rocks.
• Igneous rocks can be changed into metamorphic rocks. The fragments derived out of
igneous and metamorphic rocks form into sedimentary rocks.
• Sedimentary rocks themselves can turn into fragments and the fragments can be a
source for formation of sedimentary rocks.
• The crustal rocks (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary) once formed may be
carried down into the mantle (interior of the earth) through subduction process (parts
or whole of crustal plates going down under another plate in zones of plate
convergence) and the same melt down due to increase in temperature in the interior
and turn into molten magma, the original source for igneous rocks