How minerals form

1
How minerals form
2
How minerals form

• In general, minerals can form in 3 ways organic
  processes, crystallization from materials
  dissolved in solutions, and crystallization from
  magma and lava cooling.

3
Things to know

• A geode is a rounded, hollow rock that is often
  lined with mineral crystals.
• Crystals form inside a geode when water
  containing dissolved minerals seeps into a crack
  or hollow in a rock.
• Crystallization is the process by which atoms are
  arranged to form a material with a crystal
  structure.

4
Minerals from Magma Lava

• Magma is molten material from inside Earth that
  hardens to form rock.
• Lava is magma that reaches the surface to form
  rock when it cools and hardens.
• Minerals form as hot magma cools inside Earth, or
  as lava hardens on the surface. When these
  liquids cool to a solid state, they form crystals.

The larger the crystals being formed the slower
the magma or lava cools.
5
Minerals from Solution

• A solution is a mixture in which one substance is
  dissolved in another.
• When elements and compounds that are dissolved
  in water leave a solution, crystallization
  occurs.
• Some minerals form when solutions evaporate. EX.
  Salt (halite) deposits found in the Southwest.