Minerals are typically formed when molten rock, or magma, cools, or by separating out of mineral-rich water, such as that in underground caverns. In general, mineral particles are small ...

There would be no bright and colorful fireworks without rocks and minerals. A firework is produced by launching a shell containing fuel and a color mix high into the air, where it explodes.

Some minerals in rocks and organic matter (e.g., wood, bones, and shells) can contain radioactive isotopes. The abundances of parent and daughter isotopes in a sample can be measured and used to ...

Primary minerals form at elevated temperatures from cooling magma during the original solidification of rock or during metamorphism, and they are usually derived from igneous and metamorphic rocks ...

The Jack Hills, in Western Australia, contain tiny traces of rock that are older than the hills themselves. The 50-mile-long (80 kilometers) ridge contains crystallized minerals called zircons ...

Petrology is the study of rocks - igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary - and the processes that form and transform them. Mineralogy is the study of the chemistry, crystal structure and physical ...

Amanda Kooser covers the quirky side of science and space ... are solid masses within a rock that form as water flows through sediment, dissolving minerals and reprecipitating them in a more ...