Rocks, minerals, ores, fossils

NOTE: Images are just for illustration. What you have to learn is the text.
You have to know the terms set in bold letters.

Rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals.

Example: Granite mineralogy varies widely, but in general granites contain both plagioclase and alkali
feldspars (földpát) along with quartz. Other minerals which may also be present are muscovite and
biotite micas (csillám), pyroxene, amphiboles, etc.

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance that is formed through geological
processes and that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure,
and specific physical properties.

Mohs hardness scale:

1. Talc Mg3Si4O10(OH)2
2. Gypsum CaSO4·2H2O
3. Calcite CaCO3
4. Fluorite CaF2
5. Apatite Ca5(PO4)3(OH,Cl,F)
6. Orthoclase KAlSi3O8
7. Quartz SiO2
8. Topaz Al2SiO4(OH,F)2
9. Corundum Al2O3
10. Diamond C (pure carbon)

Hardness of some other items:

2.5 Fingernail
2.5–3 Gold, Silver
3 Copper penny
4-4.5 Platinum
4-5 Iron
5.5 Knife blade
6-7 Glass
6.5 Iron pyrite
7+ Hardened steel file

The largest group of minerals by far are the silicates (szilikát) (most rocks are ≥95% silicates), which
are composed largely of silicon (szilicium) and oxygen. Example: Quartz SiO2

An ore (érc) is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals; and
are economically important. Example: Bauxite Al2O3 for production of aluminium

The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of silicate rocks. In general rocks are of three
types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called
petrology, and petrology is an essential component of geology.

Rock formation:
1. Magma / Lava spilled out or solidified underground.

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 ock breakdown)
2. Weathering (rock
Physical weathering [aprózódás] is the class of processes that causes the disintegration of rocks
without chemical change.
Chemical weathering, [mállás] involves the direct effect of atmospheric chemicals or biologically
produced chemicals (also known as biological / organic weathering)) in the breakdown of rocks, soils
and minerals
>transportation (hordalék: load) -> Deposition-sedimentation
3. Erosion ->transportation sedimentation / + Metamorphism
(recrystallization)
Processes: Uplifting - Erosion – Accumulation – Uplifting - ...

Igneous rocks are formed when molten magma cools.

solidified fast) (EXTRUSIVE)) They cool and crystallized from magma which has
volcanic (fine grained –solidified
spilled out onto the surface at a volcano. At the surface, the magma is more familiarly known as
LAVA.
plutonic (coarse grained – slow solidification)
solidification (INTRUSIVE). This
his is the portion of the magma that
never makes it to the surface. For the plutonic rock to become exposed at the surface, it must be
tectonically uplifted and the overlying material must be removed by erosion.
Siliceous. /sJJlJJ Js/ Siliceous volcanic rocks typify continental regions. SiO2 content is one of the
things that differentiates continental and oceanic volcanic rocks. High SiO2 (Quartz) content.
Plutonic: GRANITE Volcanic: RHYOLITE Color: light

Granite

ots of magnesium and iron; about 50% (Low) SiO2 (Quartz) content. They typify
Mafic. /Jmæf Jk/ Lots
the oceanic regions, but can erupt on land too. Plutonic: GABBRO /Jgæb roJ//, volcanic: BASALT
/bJJsJlt/ Color: Black

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Basalt

Sedimentary rocks are formed by deposition of either clastic sediments,, organic matter, or chemical
precipitates (evaporites),), followed by compaction of the particulate matter
atter and cementation during
diagenesis / lithification. These form from material that has accumulated on the Earth's surface. The
general term for the process of accumulation is DEPOSITION.

Clastic rocks are composed of fragments,

fragments or clasts, of pre-existing rock.

Particle size or grain size

Liszt flour -> Búzadara Semolina /
s
m ə
li nə/ -> Rizs

Clay <0002 mm agyag

Silt 0.002 mm and 0.063 mm, kőzetliszt
Sand 0.06-2 mm The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and
conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical
non
coastal settings is silica (silicon
silicon dioxide, or SiO2=kova(flinch/flintstone),
), usually in the form of quartz.
-> Sea Mohs scale
Pebble 4-64 mm
Gravel 2-64 mm
Cobble 64-256
256 mm A particular size of rock, larger than gravel -> Cobblestone,, partially-rounded
partially rocks
used for road paving
Boulder In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size larger than 256 mm

Names after diagenesis:

Sandstone
Siltstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds
Hardened mud; a mix of silt and clay sized particles.
Shale - exhibits lamination / Fissility: refers to the property of rocks to split along planes of weakness
into thin sheets. Burgess shale

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Shale

Process: Mud-Mudstone-Shale (agyagpala)

Loess (pronounced /JloJ.Js/, /JlJs/, or /JlJs/) is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation
of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micron size range, and lesser and variable amounts of sand
and clay that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate. Formed during the ice age.

Loess

Breccia (pronounced /JbrJtJiJ/ or /JbrJJiJ/) is a rock composed of broken (angular) fragments

of minerals or hard rock (=clast) cemented together by a fine-grained matrix.

Breccia

Conglomerate (kJŋJJlJmJrJt/) is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained

matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of
rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts.

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Conglomerate

Biogenous sedimentary rocks form from organic matter – these are biologic-derived
derived grains.
grains

Carbonates (-CO3):
Limestone (coral reef / submarine sedimentary environment) May have many fossils.
fossils (Shells of
mussles, clam, oysters, or bones, teeth etc.)
Fehér: sekélytengeri, szellőző; Fekete bitumenes: oxigénhiányos.

Dolomite (Gellért-hegy) Dolomite (/JdJlJmaJt/) is the name of a sedimentary carbonate rock and a
mineral, both composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg(CO3)2 found in crystals.

derived grains)
Hydrogenous (seawater-derived grains
Evaporites—gypsum and halite /Jhæl aJt/ precipitate from salt water as it evaporates. Halite =
common table salt: NaCl (sodium
sodium chloride)

Salt hills in Parajd

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 Manganese nodules an element that precipitates out of seawater very slowly at the bottom of the
ocean. (nodule=gumó=/=noodle)

Metamorphic (altered) rocks are formed by subjecting any rock type (including previously formed
metamorphic rock) to different temperature and pressure conditions than those in which the
original rock was formed. These temperatures and pressures are always higher than those at the
Earth's surface.
Limestone-> Marble

Metamorphic rocks (gneiss)

Coal formation
In Carboniferous period, a warmer climate allowed for abundant plant life that pulled carbon out of the
atmosphere as it grew through photosynthesis. The warmer climate also produced a lot of lakes and lagoons.
Over time, plants died and were encapsulated in sediments that were compressed into coal, a most abundant
fossil fuel source.

Bog - Peat - lignite /JlJg naJt/ (=brown coal) -> sub-bituminous /baJJtu mJ
m nJs/ coal ->
bituminous coal (steam coal) –> anthracite /Jæn θrJJsaJt/ -> graphite ->- diamond

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Bog - Peat - lignite -> sub-bituminous
bituminous coal -> steam coal–> anthracite -> graphite -> diamond

Graphite pencil hardness: H: Hard B: Black Hardness is controlled by adding clay

ey residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other

Charcoal is the dark grey
volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances (Faszén)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash,
low low-sulfur
bituminous coal. (Koksz)

Aquatic Environments (depth zones) of geological processes /

Marine /mJJrin/ a general term relating to the sea or ocean

The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a
lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers.
Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom or near to the shore is in the pelagic /p33læd3 3k/
zone (open sea)
The intertidal zone (seashore) is the area that is exposed to the air at low tide and underwater at high
tide (the area between tide marks).
The littoral zone refers to that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore.
shore

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Coastal sediment transport takes place in near-shore
near environments due
ue to the motions of waves and
currents.

Fluvial /Jflu vi Jl/ refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and
landforms created by them = river sediments
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream.
stream
When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps,, the term glaciofluvial or
fluvioglacial is used

Lacustrine /lJJkJs trJn/: lake sediments

Alluvium: deposits transported downslope by water. It is loose, unconsolidated (not cemented

together into a solid rock), soil or sediments,, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form
in a non-marine setting. When this loose alluvial material is deposited or cemented
cemente into a lithological
unit, or lithified,, it would be called an alluvial deposit.

Glacial JJleJsJJl, Sediments associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps.. As glaciers move over
their beds, they entrain and move material of all sizes.

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Glacial landforms

Mass wasting, also known as slope movement or mass movement, is the geomorphic process by which
soil, regolith, and rock move downslope under the force of gravity. Magyarországon: Derázió. Azok a
felszínformáló folyamatok, amelyek a nehézségi erő hatására, szállítóközeg nélkül mennek végbe lejtős
felszínen (+ felületi lejtőleöblítés). Lejtőmarás. Areal (not linear) denudation of slopes, gravitational and
for frost-related slope movements like creeping and sliding (eróziós völgy: vízmosások, árkok, alján patak;
deráziós völgy: nincsenek vízmosások, árkok, alján nincs patak)

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Where the mass movement has a well-defined zone or plane of sliding, it is called a landslide.
(csuszamlás). Slump: A slipping of coherent rock material along the curved surface of a decline
(roational landslide). (suvadás)
A fall, including rockfall, is where regolith cascades down a slope, but is not of sufficient volume or
viscosity to behave as a flow. (omlás)
Downhill creep is a long term process. (kúszás)

Colluvium is the name for loose bodies of sediment that have been deposited or built up at the bottom
of a low-grade slope or against a barrier on that slope, transported by gravity. Hillslope sediment
transport

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 Colluvium

Aeolian /iJ-o7 li Jn/ (or Eolian or Æolian)) processes pertain to the activity of the winds.

Bioturbation is the displacement and mixing of sediment particles (i.e. sediment reworking) by benthic
fauna (animals) or flora (plants).
(plants)

Basic Geological Processes

Erosion is the process of weathering and transport of solids
If not transported: in situ (only
( weathering)

Denudation is the long-term

term sum of processes that cause the wearing away of the earth’s surface
leading to a reduction in elevation and relief
reli of landforms and landscapes. (Lepusztulás,
(Lepusztulás letarolás)

Deflation wind erosion (kifújás)

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Deflation landforms

Abrasion is the mechanical scraping of a rock surface by friction between rocks and moving particles
during their transport by wind, glacier, waves, gravity, running water or erosion.

Abrasion landforms

Accumulation (opposite of erosion or denudation) (felhalmozódás)

Deposition is the geological process by which material is added to a landform or land mass. (lerakás)
Sedimentation is the deposition of particles carried by a fluid flow. (leülepedés)

Deposit, sediment, debris Üledék (leülepszik ülep=fenék), hordalék (elhordódik), törmelék (csak törik)

In geology, the terms basement and crystalline basement are used to define the rocks below a
sedimentary platform or cover, or more generally any rock below sedimentary rocks or sedimentary
basins that are metamorphic or igneous in origin. (szálban álló / alaphegység / kristályos talapzat)
Bedrock: rock without weathering

Shield (pajzs, ősföld): A shield in any craton is the area of exposed crystalline crust while the other part
of a craton is a “platform” where the crystalline crust or basement is overlaid by younger sedimentary
cover. Cratons can be described as shields, in which the basement rock crops out at the surface, and
platforms, in which the basement is overlain by sediments and sedimentary rock.

Tönkhegység, a lepusztult hegység felismerhető maradványa. Rumpfgebirge (maradványhegy) (Ural,

Harz) flattened mountains (ált. variszkuszi v. régebbi)

Piedmont=Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a

mountain range.
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A pediment is a gently inclined erosional surface carved into bedrock. It is thinly covered with fluvial
gravel that has developed at the foot of mountains. Hegylábfelszín. Pediplain, broad, relatively flat rock
surface formed by the joining of several pediments.
Debris Apron törmelékszoknya;
Alluvial fans are aggrading deposits of alluvium deposited by a stream issuing from a canyon onto a
surface or valley floor. An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped (delta shaped) deposit formed where a fast
flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A
convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada,
or compound alluvial fan (hordalékkúp, hordalékkúp-síkság)

Alluvial fan and bajada

Submarine (abyssal) fan, accumulation of land-derived sediment on the deep seafloor; Abyssal Fans,
also known as deep-sea fans, underwater deltas, and submarine fans, are underwater structures that look
like deltas formed at the end of many large rivers, such as the Nile or Mississippi Rivers. Abyssal (or
submarine) fans are formed due to turbidites.

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Plains
Planation surface, any low-relief plain cutting across varied rocks and structures. Among the most
common landscapes on Earth, planation surfaces include pediments, pediplains, etchplains, and
peneplains. Tönkfelszín: J elegyengetett felszín. Elegyengetett felszín: különböző éghajlati területeken
eltérő felszínalakító folyamatok által kialakított J denudációs vagy J akkumlációs felszín.
A peneplain is a low-relief plain representing the final stage of fluvial erosion during times of extended
tectonic stability.
A floodplain is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its
channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high
discharge

Mountain types
Fault-Block Mountains (röghg)

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The German Harz mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountains in California are fault-block mountains
(Dtúli kzh). he earth's crust push some materials up (uplifted) and pull others down (subsidence:
forming a graben) along fault lines (cracks). The crust is forced apart. These types of mountains are
commonly steep on one side with a slope at the other. Large areas of bedrock are widely broken up
by faults creating large vertical displacements of continental crust. The uplifted blocks are called
block mountains or horsts (sasbérc). The intervening dropped blocks are termed graben (árok):
these can be small or form extensive rift valley systems. (Mór Graben: frequent earthquakes)
röghegység: J gyűrthegységből vagy J vulkáni hegységből képződik többszöri kiemelkedés,
lepusztulás, tönkösödés (J tönkfelszín) során (pl. Ural, Skandináv-hegység).

Dome Mountains (Diapirism)

Magma rises through the earth's crust when forming a dome mountain but instead of erupting like a
volcano, the Magana turns into rock as it cools. The newly formed rock forces the rock above it
upward to create a curved, dome-shaped landform. Erosion forms extra peaks, known as dome
mountains. The surface is uplifted but not along fault lines.

Fold Mountains (gyűrt hg)

Fold mountains are created from a head-on collision of two plates. The edges of the plates are crushed
in the impact, causing many folds to appear. Upward folds are called anticlines, while downward
folds are known as synclines. This type of mountain is the most common worldwide. Fold mountains
also make up the largest mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, the Alps, the Carpathians and the
Rockies.
Orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic plate collisions and results in mountain ranges or a more
modest uplift over a large region.

Volcanic Mountains
Volcanic mountains in the world include Mount St. Helens and Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
These mountains begin when magma erupts through the earth's crust onto the surface. As the lava --
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 the name for magma above the earth's crust -- cools down, it forms a layer of rock. In turn, layers of
lava and rock can stack up to create a volcanic mountain.

Shield Volcanoes
A shield volcano is characterized by gentle slopes, and are composed almost entirely of relatively thin
lava flows built up over a central vent.
Most shields were formed by low viscosity basaltic magma that flows easily down slope away form the
summit vent.
Very little pyroclastic material is found within a shield volcano, except near the eruptive vents, where
small amounts of pyroclastic material accumulate as a result of fire fountaining events.
Shield volcanoes thus form by relatively non-explosive eruptions of low viscosity basaltic magma. May
have large calderas.

Shiled volcano

Stratovolcanoes (also called Composite Volcanoes)

Have steeper slopes than shield volcanoes. The steep slope near the summit is due partly to thick,
short viscous lava flows that do not travel far down slope from the vent.
Stratovolcanoes show inter-layering of lava flows and pyroclastic material, which is why they are
sometimes called composite volcanoes.
Lavas and pyroclastics are usually andesitic to rhyolitic in composition.
Due to the higher viscosity of magmas erupted from these volcanoes, they are usually more explosive
than shield volcanoes.
Stratovolcanoes sometimes have a crater at the summit that is formed by explosive ejection of material
from a central vent. Sometimes the craters have been filled in by lava flows or lava domes,
sometimes they are filled with glacial ice, and less commonly they are filled with water.

Stratovolcano

Craters and Calderas

Craters are circular depressions, usually less than 1 km in diameter, that form as a result of explosions
that emit gases and tephra.
Calderas are much larger depressions, circular to elliptical in shape, with diameters ranging from 1 km
to 50 km. Calderas form as a result of collapse of a volcanic structure. The collapse results from
evacuation of the underlying magma chamber.

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Caldera formation

Geysers Hot Springs

Hot springs or thermal springs are areas where hot water comes to the surface of the Earth. Cool
groundwater moves downward and is heated by a body of magma or hot rock. A hot spring results if
this hot water can find its way back to the surface, usually along fault zones.
A geyser results if the hot spring has a plumbing system that allows for the accumulation of steam
from the boiling water. When the steam pressure builds so that it is higher than the pressure of the
overlying water in the system, the steam will move rapidly toward the surface, causing the eruption
of the overlying water. Some geysers, like Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park, erupt at regular
intervals.

Geyser

WHEN IS A VOLCANO CONSIDERED ACTIVE, DORMANT, OR EXTINCT?

A volcano is generally considered active if it has erupted in historic time.
Volcanoes that have not erupted in historic times, but which exhibit clear evidence of eruption in the
past 10,000 years are probably best considered "dormant," since they have the potential to erupt
again.
Whether or not inactive volcanoes are considered truly extinct, or just dormant, depends partly on the
average repose interval between eruptions.

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote
past.

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Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils are geological records of biological activity: trackways (fossil
trackway) , Imprint fossils, footprint, leaf imprint, borings hullámfodrok, lépés-, pihenés- és
csúszásnyomok, esőcsepp nyomfossziliák

Trilobites (pronounced /JtraJlJbaJt/, meaning "three lobes") are a fossil group of extinct marine
arthropods that form the class Trilobita.

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the
class Cephalopoda. These molluscs are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e. octopuses, squid,
and cuttlefish) than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living Nautilus species.

Ammonite

Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower
surfaces. Most species of brachiopod went extinct during the P–T extinction over 250 million years
ago, but many survive today.

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 Brachiopods

Nummulite /JnJm yJJlaJt / is a large lenticular fossil,, characterized by its numerous coils,
subdivided by septa into chambers. A type of foraminifera. A giant single cell organism.
The name "Nummulites"" is a diminutive form of the Latin nummulus meaning "little coin", a
reference to their shape. / Szt László pénz

Nummulites

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