Rocks and minerals

Rocks and minerals are special compounds of substances forming the earth's crust. All solids in the universe and on planets of a similar type with the Earth are formed from rocks. Usually the phrase "rocks" is broader than the word "minerals", since the first consist of different types of minerals. All rocks can differ in their texture and structure.

Texture - a certain location of minerals relative to each other, their distribution in one way or another. For example, when no order is observed, this is called a massive structure. If archeologists say that they have unearthed a certain layer, it means that in this geographical zone the layered arrangement of rocks (rocks and minerals) is not mixed, but superimposed one on another.

In nature there are very beautiful miraculous places - these are underground caves, both large and small. So, their formation occurs in the bubbly rock - such voids leave behind the gases that are released from the ground. A slate rock? It looks like a fairy tale in the cut! This cut can be multi-colored, when the minerals acquire a flat shape and are stretched in one direction.

The classification of rocks by origin is based on three parameters:

1. Primary rocks - they are magmatic.

2. Secondary rocks - they are also sedimentary.

3. Metamorphic rocks - they can still be called modified.
Magmatic rocks and minerals are formed when the magma solidifies, which has come to the surface. Due to a certain number of conditions and constantly changing temperature and various environmental factors , rocks with different properties and structures are formed. Magmatic rocks are divided into spilled and deep. The latter possess greater strength and a dense crystalline structure. The most famous representatives of this species are basalt and granite.

Sedimentary rocks are formed under the influence of external factors, such as temperature changes, environmental influences - rain, snow, solar radiation and atmospheric gases. Sedimentary rocks are divided into organogenic, chemical and loose.
Metamorphic rocks and minerals are formed as a result of a change in the structure of the Earth's surface. This happens during earthquakes, shifts in the earth's crust. At the same time, different layers and types of rocks, both sedimentary and igneous, are mixed.
In Latin, the mineral ("mineral") means "ore". The composition of minerals is chemical elements that are formed during complex different physicochemical processes. Minerals are natural crystalline substances. But the shape of the crystal is not all minerals.

The classification of minerals by origin relies on their main division into primary and secondary. The primary ones are those that were formed during the crystallization of magma. Such minerals include mica, quartz and sulfur. Secondary minerals are formed under natural conditions under the influence of various external factors. It can be a precipitate of a salt of aqueous solutions during the weathering and destruction of primary minerals or the remains of vital activity of various living organisms. Such minerals include ordinary salt, silvinum and gypsum.

According to the chemical composition, minerals can be native (gold, diamond, platinum, copper), sulphide (copper ore, mercury ore, lead), halide (potassium salt and rock), oxidized (formed by exposure to oxygen: hematite, quartz, iron ore) , Carbonate (malachite, marble), sulfate (including gypsum), phosphate (apatite), silicate (chrysolite, talc, mica).