Geography 111 - Principles of Geology
Week 2 - September 10 & 12
Assigned reading for this week: chapter 2 in Skinner and Porter
Topic: Chemical bonds and properties of the rock-forming minerals
Review questions:
What characteristics must a chemical compound have in order to be considered
a mineral, and what is the relationship between minerals and rocks?
How are the internal structure of the atom and the roles of electrons,
protons, and neutrons related to the main types of chemical bonds that
form among atoms? What are the differences between ionic, covalent, metallic,
and van der Waals bonds?
What are the primary states of matter and how do crystal structures
form? What are polymorphs? How are the physical properties of minerals,
such as cleavage, hardness, color, and specific gravity, related to crystal
structure and composition?
What are the eight most common elements in the continental crust, and
which two make up more than 70% of the total mass?
What is the silica tetrahedron and what role does it play in the formation
of the silicate minerals?
What are the major structural varieties among the silicate minerals?
How does composition, and particularly the relative abundance of silicon
compared to other cations, vary from one structural group to another?
What are some of the other important groups of minerals in the earth's
crust (e.g. carbonates, phosphates, sulfates, oxides, halides) and how
do they form?
What is ion substitution and what role does it play in the formation
of minerals?