click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Science Vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Streak | a long, thin line or mark of a different substance or color from its surroundings |
Compound | composed of two or more parts, elements, or ingredients |
Cleavage | how some minerals break along flat planes when exposed to stress |
Hardness | The quality or condition of being hard; the relative resistance of a mineral to scratching, as measured by the Mohs scale |
Luster | a gentle sheen or soft glow, especially that of a partly reflective surface |
Ore | a naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted |
Rock | the solid mineral material forming part of the surface of the earth and other similar planets, exposed on the surface or underlying the soil or oceans |
Mineral | a solid inorganic substance of natural occurrence |
Weathering | any of the chemical or mechanical processes by which rocks exposed to the weather undergo chemical decomposition and physical disintegration |
Texture | the visual and especially tactile quality of a surface |
Strata | a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers one upon another |
Extrusive Igneous Rock | relating to or denoting rock that has been extruded at the earth's surface as lava or other volcanic deposits |
Intrusive Igneous Rock | igneous rocks that form from crystallized magma beneath the earth's surface |
Crystal | a piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces |
Crystal Formation | a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions |
Fracture | the cracking or breaking of a hard object or material |
Silicate | a salt in which the anion contains both silicon and oxygen |
Sedimentary Rock | rock that has formed through the deposition and solidification of sediment, especially sediment transported by water (rivers, lakes, and oceans), ice ( glaciers ), and wind sedimentary rocks are often deposited in layers, and frequently contain fossils |
Igneous Rock | rocks formed by the cooling and solidifying of molten materials |
Metamorphic Rock | rock that was once one form of rock but has changed to another under the influence of heat, pressure, or some other agent without passing through a liquid phase |
Rock Cycle | an idealized cycle of processes undergone by rocks in the earth's crust, involving igneous intrusion, uplift, erosion, transportation, deposition as sedimentary rock, metamorphism, remelting, and further igneous intrusion |
Quarry | an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc |
Fossil | the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock |
Sediments | any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid |
Magma | hot fluid or semifluid material below or within the earth's crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed by cooling |
Lava | hot molten or semifluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure |
Bedrock | solid rock underlying loose deposits such as soil or alluvium |
Topsoil | the top layer of soil |
Humus | the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms |
Subsoil | the soil lying immediately under the surface soil |
Soil Horizon | a layer generally parallel to the soil crust, whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath |
Soil Profile | a vertical section of the soil that is exposed by a soil pit |
Natural Resource | materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain |
Loam | a fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus |
Soil | the upper layer of earth in which plants grow, a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay, and rock particles |
Moh's Scale | a scale of hardness used in classifying minerals. It runs from 1 to 10 using a series of reference minerals, and a position on the scale depends on the ability to scratch minerals rated lower |
Fossil Fuel | a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms |
Renewable Resource | a substance of economic value that can be replaced or replenished in the same or less amount of time as it takes to draw the supply down |
Nonrenewable Resource | a resource of economic value that cannot be readily replaced by natural means on a level equal to its consumption |
Conservation | preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife |
Uplift | the vertical elevation of the Earth's surface in response to natural causes |
Deposition | the process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves fragments of rock and soil |
Density | a measure of the quantity of some physical property (usually mass) per unit length, area, or volume (usually volume) |
Composition | the nature of something's ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is made up |
Organic | made of fossils |
Clastic | composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock |
Chemical | form by precipitation of minerals from water |