Lab 4: Igneous Rocks
Lab Structure
| Recommended additional work | None |
| Required materials | Mineral ID kit, Rock Kits 1 and 2, pencil |
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lab, you should be able to:
- Describe the range of chemical compositions of magmas.
- Discuss the processes that take place during the cooling and crystallization of magma, and the typical order of mineral crystallization according to Bowen’s Reaction Series.
- Explain how phaneritic, porphyritic, and vesicular rock textures form.
- Apply the criteria for igneous rock classification based on mineral proportions.
- Use observations of mineralogy and texture to identify and name igneous rocks.
Key Terms
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A rock is a consolidated mixture of minerals. By consolidated, we mean hard and strong; real rocks don’t fall apart in your hands! A mixture of minerals implies the presence of more than one mineral grain, but not necessarily more than one type of mineral. A rock can be composed of only one type of mineral (e.g., limestone is commonly made up of only calcite), but most rocks are composed of several different minerals. A rock can also include non-minerals, such as fossils or the organic matter within a coal bed or in some types of mudstone.
Rocks are grouped into three main categories based on how they form:
- Igneous: formed from the cooling and crystallization of magma (molten rock)
- Sedimentary: formed when weathered fragments of other rocks are buried, compressed, and cemented together, or when minerals precipitate directly from solution
- Metamorphic: formed by alteration (due to heat, pressure, and/or chemical action) of a pre-existing igneous or sedimentary rock
For the next few weeks, you will learn about each of these categories of rock in the lab, beginning with igneous rocks in Lab 4. You will practice identifying minerals and textures, and you will use your observations to classify samples of rocks. Finally, by Lab 6, you will use the processes of the rock cycle to link all three categories of rocks together.
