California Geology -2

California’s Economic ResourcesIndustrial, Metallic, and nonmetallic minerals which are VERY important

to California’s economy.

California’s economy

• California’s major mineral resources include sand, gravel, crushed stone, building stone, gold, silver, iron, evaporite minerals, and clay.

• Evaporite minerals – an evaporite is a mineral formed as a solution containing dissolved salts which can evaporate thus increasing the concentration of salts in the solution.

Minerals

• What does Mineral resource mean?

A natural resource that includes minerals, rocks, and sediment.

Industrial

• Sand and gravel are California’s most valuable industrial mineral.

Industrial minerals

• Sand and gravel are used to build roads and used in construction.

• Most sand and gravel is mined from alluvial deposits from stream flows out of mountain canyons.

• Another important mineral is crushed stone used for making cement.

• Much of the granite quarried in CA is from the Sierra Nevada batholith.

Metallic minerals• Gold, silver, and iron are the major metallic

minerals mined in CA. Gold and Silver often occur in quartz veins in igneous and metamorphic rock formed during mountain building.

• Iron is often found in the Mojave Desert region. Deposits of iron formed in areas where magma heated rock and water beneath the surface. As the water heats, minerals are absorbed, and the iron mineral solution then cooled, the iron minerals were deposited in fractures in the rock.

gold

Non metallic minerals• The 3 most abundant minerals and most

significant to CA are – Borates– Gypsum– Clay

Borates• Borates form when water rich in the element

boron blows into desert lakes and evaporates. The boron left behind combines with oxygen to form borates (mostly found in Southern CA)

• Borates are used in fiberglass, detergents, glass, ceramics, and insulation.

Gypsum

• A compound of calcium, sulfur, and oxygen forms when water evaporates usually found around sulfur-rich waters such as hot springs and caves.

• Gypsum is usually mined and used in wallboard, plaster, and cement.

Clay

• Clay minerals are a group of silicates that contain water.

• Mostly used in cosmetics, food additives, and building products such as bricks.

Gemstones

• Gemstones are formed when mineral-rich solutions crystallize deep underground.

• Tourmaline, garnet, agate, and jade are found in CA.

• State gemstone is called benitoite and is deep blue.

Tourmaline

Garnet

Agate

Jade

Benitoite- CA state Gemstone