ANTHROP 3CA3 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Clay Minerals, Illite, Mica
11 Apr 2018
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How historically rich?: pottery is a well-preserved material culture that can be empirically analyzed. Minerals: fixed entities of more or less fixed composition which form crystalline grains (combination of elements, oxides and other compounds) in a rock or sediment. Most common rocks are silicates (sio2) (feldspars, quartz, clay minerals and micas) Classifying minerals: hardness/streak, specific gravity (how it compares with the density of water), colour, luster, crystal form, cleavage. The acid (light)(high sio2): basic (dark) (less sio2) continuum. Rock forming minerals also categorized by families: feldspars, micas, amphiboles, pyroxenes and olivines. How to define clays: by their size: fine grained, usually smaller than 2 microns in size (wentworth claims 4 microns). By how they form (weathered from igneous rock by mechanical, chemical, and biochemical agents) With chemical weather and in the presence of h2o and free. H ions, all the abundant minerals in igneous rocks will form clays. Measuring plasticity: three major forces: 1. compressive force, 2.
