What are the 7 major types of geologic materials?
The seven major types are minerals, sediments, igneous rock, sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, fluids, and gases. Type one, minerals, are naturally occurring chemical compounds such as quartz, salt (halite), and emerald; and native elements such as gold, diamond (carbon), and sulfur. Type two, sediments, are loose materials that are deposited at Earth’s surface such as soil, sand, and mud. Type three to five are the common rock types:sedimentary formed by consolidation of sediment such as mud to shale; igneous formed by the solidification of magma (molten rock) underground as in the formation of granite, or at the surface in the solidification of lava to form basalt; and metamorphic by alteration under heat and pressure to transform already existing rock into a new rock such as slate formed from shale. Types six and seven are fluids; liquids such as water and petroleum, and gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide in air.
