GEOL 21062 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Igneous Petrology, Oceanic Crust, Clay Minerals
31 Jan 2020
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Document Summary
Mineral type, composition and shape define the rock type-> geology. Mineral chemistry defines the chemical composition of a rocks-> geochemistry. Mineral properties define the physical properties of rocks-> geophysical/rheology. Fusibility of minerals control the composition of a melt derived from a rock- Minerals react to changing p,t conditions-> metamorphic petrology. Ultimately minerals control e. g. the composition of seawater through weathering (cid:198) input in the ocean, sequestering of elements in the altered oceanic crust. On the other hand, interaction between ocean and oceanic crust (clay minerals) (cid:198) output (draw a simple diagram) So essentially minerals control everything, and without a solid understanding of minerals it is impossible to understand earth processes. The bad news is we know ~ 4000 different minerals, the good news is most rocks of the accessible earth are >95% made up by ~ two handfuls of minerals.
