GED 151: BASIC GEOLOGY

COURSE OUTLINE
• Introduction to the science of geology
• The Earth (structure, composition), Geologic Time
Scale & History of Geology.
• Plate Tectonics & Continental Drift
• Minerals and their identification.
• The three great groups of rocks: Igneous,
Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks.
• Surface processes: weathering and soils; erosion and
deposition.
• Geology of Ghana: an introduction.
 GEODe (Geologic Explorations on Disk)
• Introduction • External Processes
– A view of the earth – Hydrologic cycle
– Earth’s layered – Running water
structure – Groundwater
– Feature of the – Glaciers
continents – Deserts
– Floor of the ocean – Coastal Processes
• Earth Materials • Internal Processes
– Minerals – Plate tectonics
– Rock cycle – Crustal deformation
– Igneous rocks – Earthquakes
– Sedimentary rocks – Igneous activity
– Metamorphic rocks
 Minerals and their identification
➢Definition of a Rock
➢Definition of a Mineral
➢Mineral properties and identification
➢Formation of Minerals
 Definition of a rock
• A substance that is an aggregate of one or
more minerals that is naturally formed and is
consolidated or cohesive.
• The rock named granite is composed of the
minerals quartz, mica, and feldspar.
Granite
 Definition of a Mineral
➢A solid substance that is a homogeneous
naturally occurring inorganic element or
compound that has a characteristic chemical
composition, and has distinctive crystal form and
physical properties.
➢A mineral may be a single element such as
copper (Cu) or gold (Au).
➢Approximately 3000 minerals have been
identified and described.
 Qualification
• Solid: cannot be liquid or gas;
• Homogeneous: homogeneous materials are the same even
when part is broken off;
• Naturally occurring: this distinguishes synthetic minerals
from true minerals;
• Definite chemical composition: can be expressed by a
chemical formula;
• Characteristic crystalline structure: orderly
arrangement of atoms.
 Mineraloid

• A substance that is not chemically crystalline

(amorphous) but meets the other criteria of a
mineral.
• It does not display crystallinity and hence,
does not have an ordered atomic structure
– Opal
– Agate
– Obsidian
 Examples
Granite: it made up of
mineral aggregates,
no specific
composition and it
does not also have a
characteristic crystal
structure. Granite is
rock.
 Examples
• Gold is a mineral
• Synthetic diamonds are not minerals. Reason: they are
manufactured, not naturally occurring.
• Quartz is a mineral.
• Animal bone: is it a mineral? (No, it is organic)
• Ice - Is naturally formed, is solid, does have a definite
chemical composition that can be expressed by the
formula H2O, and does have a definite crystalline
structure when solid. Thus, ice is a mineral. Liquid
water is not since it is not solid.
 Examples
• Coal is not a mineral, why?
– Coal is mostly carbon but it contains many different chemical
compounds varying in composition from sample to sample. Hence
coal has no specific or definite composition. It does not also have a
characteristic crystal structure. Coal is rock.
➢Steel is not a mineral because it is not naturally
occurring.
❖Halite (salt) - Is naturally formed, is solid, does have a
definite chemical composition that can be expressed
by the formula NaCl, and does have a definite
crystalline structure. Thus halite is a mineral.
 Elemental composition of the crust
All minerals are made up of elements. There are a number of chemical
elements known to man. Eight (8) account for 99.5% by weight of the
earth’s crust.
❑Oxygen 46.60%
❑Silicon 27.72%
❑Aluminum 8.13%
❑Iron 5.00%
❑Calcium 3.63%
❑Sodium 2.83%
❑Potassium 2.59%
❑Magnesium 2.05%
 Minerals
– Quartz (SiO2)
– Pyrite (FeS2)
– Calcite (CaC03)
 Native Elements
• A mineral consisting of a single chemical
element.
– Gold (Au)
– Silver (Ag)
– Copper (Cu)
– Lead (Pb)
 Distinguishing minerals
➢Use physical properties
❖Colour
❖Streak
❖Luster
❖Hardness
❖Specific gravity
❖Crystal habit
❖Fracture and cleavage
➢Other special properties
❖Magnetism, reactivity etc
 Colour
✓The colour of a mineral can be one of its most obvious
attributes and generally results from a mineral’s
chemical composition and impurities.
✓Unfortunately, even though colour is the easiest
physical property to determine, it is not always the
most useful in helping to characterize a particular
mineral.
✓The problem is best illustrated with minerals such as
fluorite (CaF2) and quartz (Si02) which both display
many different colours or magnetite and hematite.
 Identification by Colour
• Quartz can be white, brown, smoky, purple,
rose, colourless (clear)
• Feldspar is usually white or pink
• Garnet is usually red or brown
➢Some minerals do have only a single colour that
can be diagnostic, as for instance the yellow
colour of sulfur
 Mineral Identification by Streak
• To determine a mineral’s streak you scratch it across
the surface of a porcelain plate.
– The colour of the powder that remains on the plate is the minerals
streak colour.
➢The streak and colour of some minerals are the same.
For others, the streak may be quite different from the
colour.
➢Streak of a mineral is fairly constant in colour and as
such considered as a very important criterion for
identification.
 Streak
• Graphite, Pyrite, Magnetite - Black
• Galena - Grey
• Limonite - brown
• Hematite - Red-brown
 Streak
• Minerals may be divided into groups according to their streak
characteristics.
– White or pale coloured minerals yielding a white streak e.g.
feldspar and calcite.
– Black or strongly coloured minerals yielding white streak e.g.
Augites and Hornblende.
• Black or strongly coloured minerals yielding a streak of the
same colour e.g. graphite.
• Black or strongly coloured minerals yielding a streak of different
colour e.g. Hematite (black or brown) gives a red streak and
limonite (black or brown) gives a yellow streak.
 Mineral identification by luster
• Luster is the manner in which the
surface of a substance reflects
light
– Non Metallic
• vitreous--------obsidian
• earthy-----------talc
• resinous--------garnet
• pearly-----------opal
• greasy-----------graphite
– Metallic
• pyrite, galena, silver, gold,
copper
 Terms for describing lustre characteristics

Term Description Example

Adamantine When a mineral has lustre like Diamond
diamonds
Vitreous When a mineral has lustre like a Quartz
broken glass
Resinous When a mineral has lustre like Opal
grease
Pearly When a mineral has lustre like
pearls
Metallic When a mineral has lustre like Pyrite
metal
Dull When a mineral has no lustre
 Identification by Hardness
1. Talc
2. Gypsum (can be scratched by a fingernail)
3. Calcite (can be scratched by a copper penny)
4. Fluorite
5. Apatite (can be scratched by a knife blade)
6. Feldspar ( will scratch glass)
7. Quartz
8. Topaz
9. Corundum
10. Diamond
Some commonly available reference materials are also shown on the diagram, including a
typical fingernail (2.5)4, a piece of copper wire (3.5), a knife blade or piece of window glass
(5.5), a hardened steel file (6.5), and a porcelain streak plate (7). These are tools that a
geologist can use to measure the hardness of unknown minerals: if you have a mineral that
you can’t scratch with your fingernail, but you can scratch with a copper wire, then its
hardness is between 2.5 and 3.5. The minerals themselves can be used to test other minerals.
 Cleavage
➢This is the tendency for a mineral to break or split
easily along closely spaced parallel planes.
➢They tend to split in certain regular directions and yield
smooth plane surfaces. This plane smooth surface is
called cleavage surface (plane).
• They tend to break along certain planes because the
bonding between atoms is weaker there.
➢The directions of the planes depend on the
arrangement of the atoms in the mineral and are
parallel to definite crystal faces.
 Cleavage
• Flat surfaces along which
crystalline substances
characteristically break due to
weaknesses in the crystalline
structures.
– Feldspar has 2 cleavage
directions at 90 degrees to
each other.
– Mica has platy cleavage.
– Halite has cubic cleavage.
– Calcite has rhombohedral
cleavage.
 Quality of mineral cleavage

Term Example
Perfect Mica
Good Chlorite
Distinct Graphite
Imperfect Apatite
Mica – Platy Cleavage
3-Directional (Rhombohedral)
4-directional
 Identification by Fracture

• The nature of a broken surface of a mineral is

known as fracture. This break is irregular and
independent of cleavage.
• Non planar non-parallel, surfaces along which
substances break due to the lack of cleavage.
 Terms for describing fractures
Term Description Example
Conchoidal when
breaks
the mineral
with a curved Quartz
surface

Even when the break is

-
nearly flat
Uneven when the break is Apatite
irregular and rough

Fibrous Asbestos
 Identification by Specific Gravity
• The ratio of weight of a substance compared to an equal
volume of water at 4°C - weight per size.
• The specific gravity of a mineral depends on the weight and
spacing of its atoms.
(high – medium – low)
– Ice 0.9 low
– Quartz 2.65 low
– Galena 7.5 medium
– Gold 19.0 very high
 Crystal Habit
• Minerals occur as crystals having bodies of geometric shape
bounded by faces arranged in a regular manner and related
to the internal atomic structure.
• Crystal faces are defined in reference to the crystallographic
axis which are normally 3 or 4 in number intercepting at a
common origin.
• According to the type of symmetry based on the arrangement
of the faces, crystals can be grouped under seven systems.
 Crystal Habit
System Name Illustration Axes
a3

CUBIC a1
a2 3 equal axes at right angles to one another

HEXAGONAL and c 4 axes; three equal and horizontal, and

a3
spaced at equal intervals; one vertical axis
TRIGONAL a1 a2

c
TETRAGONAL 3 axes at right angles; two equal and
a1
a2 horizontal, one vertical axis longer or shorter
than the others
c
ORTHORHOMBIC b
3 axes at right angles, all unequal
a

MONOCLINIC
c
3 unequal axes; the vertical axis (c) and one
b b
a
horizontal axis (b) at right angles, the third
axis (a)
c
b

TRICLINIC b a 3 unequal axes, no two at right angles

a
 Identification by Magnetism
• Magnetite - highly magnetic

• Pyrrhotite - slightly magnetic when

scratched and powdered
 MINERALS

ROCK FORMING MINERALS