Rocks

To geologists, a rock is a natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that have been fused together into a solid lump. The minerals may or may not have been formed at the same time. What matters is that natural processes glued them all together.Rock material description normally includes: strength, colour, texture/fabric, material weathering/alteration and ROCK NAME. 2. Rock mass description normally includes: strength, colour, structure, mass weathering , ROCK NAME, discontinuities and additional geological information. Describe the color, density (how heavy it is, compared to its size), induration (how hard is it to break?), porosity (how many holes does it have) and permeability (how quickly does water penetrate into it) of the rock. Igneous rocks are formed from melted rock deep inside the Earth. Sedimentary rocks are formed from layers of sand, silt, dead plants, and animal skeletons. Metamorphic rocks formed from other rocks that are changed by heat and pressure underground. There are three main types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Each of these rocks are formed by physical changes—such as melting, cooling, eroding, compacting, or deforming—that are part of the rock cycle. Sedimentary rocks are formed from pieces of other existing rock or organic material. The texture of a rock is the size, shape, and arrangement of the grains (for sedimentary rocks) or crystals (for igneous and metamorphic rocks). Also of importance are the rock’s extent of homogeneity (i.e., uniformity of composition throughout) and the degree of isotropy.