4: Earth Materials - Minerals
- Page ID
- 33294
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Geologists view Earth as an operational system of interacting spheres. These spheres include the Geosphere (the solid body of the Earth), the Atmosphere (the gas envelope surrounding the Earth), the Hydrosphere (water in all its forms at and near the surface of the Earth), the Cryosphere (frozen water part of Earth), and the Biosphere (life on Earth in all its forms and interactions, including humankind).
Earth materials are the foundational building blocks of the Geosphere and are generally thought of as the minerals and rock that compose the solid Earth. However, soil and loose fragments of rocks and minerals that exist at the surface are also considered Earth materials, as are fossil fuels and water which exist as Earth materials in solid, liquid and gaseous states. Additionally, the envelope of gases that encircle the Earth is also considered Earth material. Therefore, Earth Materials encompass the entire Earth System where each of Earth’s spheres interact. This chapter examines the origin and properties of the minerals largely found in the outermost solid layer of Earth, the lithosphere.
Minerals serve as the building blocks of rocks. If rocks tell the different stories of Earth's history, then minerals act as the chapters of those stories. Geologists look at the various properties of these minerals to identify them. The specific minerals in a particular rock give clues as to the conditions under which the rock formed. Since some rocks form in many ways, these minerals differentiate which story that rock tells.