Download How Minerals Form? - Madison County School District

How Minerals Form?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfO8pmaXMg
From a solution
From Magma & Lava
Minerals from Magma
Minerals form as hot magma cools inside
the crust- or as lava hardens on the
surface.
When these liquids cool to a solid state,
they form crystals.
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1300/igneous_images.html
Size Differences
Cooling Rate
Amount of Gas in Magma
Chemical Composition
Depth
Mineral crystals vary greatly in size. T
he photo above shows an extremely
thin slice of dunite, an igneous rock,
as viewed with a special microscope
Magma deep below the
surface
Cools over thousands of years
Forms large crystals
Grow by adding atoms in a regular
pattern
Geodes are formed as
gas bubbles in the ma
gma cool and harden.
Magma close to the
surface
MUCH faster
Smaller Crystals
LAVA
Diamonds
Extremely high temperatures and pressures under earth.
Brought towards the surface by explosion.
Explosions form narrow pipes called kimberlites where the diamonds can
be mined.
Minerals from Solutions
Solution: a mixture where
one substance is dissolved
into another.
Elements and compounds
are dissolved in water and
leave a solution form
crystals.
Underground and above
ground bodies of water
Mixture
Solution
Evaporation
Water form the solution
evaporates leaving the
mineral behind.
Ancient oceans
evaporating leave
minerals beind
“Salt fields”
Hot Water Solutions
Magma heats ground water and
the elements/compounds
dissolve into the water.
The solution cools and the
elements/compounds leave the
crystalize.
Often form veins.
Gold veins in between rocks.
The solution of hot water will
flow through the crack in
between rock and form
crystals.