Use of minerals

Minerals

Bauxite (Al(OH)3nH20)

Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2)

Gold (Au)

Use of minerals

Quartz (SiO2)

Gypsum (CaSO4)

Sulfur (S)

Galena (PbS)

Calcite (CaCO3)

Fluorite (CaF2)

Silver (Ag)

Glass; Watch component

Plaster; Taho?
Sulfa drugs, Foot powder
Lead plating (x-rays)
Cement
Flux in steel making
Photographic film

Graphite (C)

Diamond (C)

Chromite (FeCr204)

Ruby

Beverage cans
Electrical Wires
Jewelry; Cell phone
Circuitry
Lead Pencil
Dentists drill
Chrome plating
Lasers

Use of minerals
Practically every manufactured
product is derived from a mineral!

Definition of a mineral
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Naturally occurring
Inorganic
Solid
Ordered internal structure
Definite chemical composition (may vary
only very slightly)

Naturally occurring
Should not be
synthesized
Synthetic diamond
Ceramics
synthesized by
chemists and
engineers

Inorganic
Should not have been
produced by an
organism
Skeletons of
animals
Shells of molluscs
Whewellite (kidney
stones)

Solid
Liquids are not
allowed
Mercury (Hg)
Ice is a mineral but
liquid water is not

Ordered internal structure

Atoms comprising the
mineral are arranged
in an ordered fashion

Glass does not have

any ordered structure

Definite chemical composition

Can bring about the
different varieties in
color of a mineral

Definite chemical composition

Can vary only slightly
e.g. Olivine
Fe2SiO4
Mg2SiO4

The ions Fe+2 and

Mg+2 can substitute
each other at specific
lattice points

Minerals
In the strict sense should satisfy the 5 parts
of the definition
If some are not satisfied then they are called
mineraloids

Basic structure of atom

Types of bonds
Primary bonding forces

Ionic
Covalent
Metallic

Secondary bonding
forces
Van der Waals
Hydrogen bonding

Ionic bond
Electrons are transferred to form a bond

Physical properties

Covalent bonding

each mineral is characterized by

a unique set of physical
properties

Electrons are shared to form a bond

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.

Crystal form
Luster
Color
Streak

Hardness
Cleavage
Fracture
Specific Gravity
Others

Crystal form
External expression of
a mineral that reflects
the ordered internal
structure of a mineral

Cubic
Octahedron
Rhombic
Hexagonal
Dodecahedron

Luster
The appearance or
quality of light
reflected from the
surface of a mineral

Adamantine
Glassy
Pearly
Greasy
Metallic

Color
A phenomenon of
light by which
otherwise identical
objects may be
differentiated

The color of a mineral

in powdered form
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red

Red
Blue
Green
Yellow

Hardness
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Talc
Gypsum
Calcite
Fluorite
Apatite
Orthoclase
Quartz
Topaz
Corundum (Ruby)
Diamond

Streak

A minerals resistance
to scratching and
abrasion

Cleavage
The tendency of a
mineral to break along
weak planes of
bonding

Fracture
Irregular breaking of a
mineral
Conchoidal fracture
Splintery fracture

Specific gravity
The ratio between the
weight of a mineral
and an equal volume
of water

Other physical properties

Magnetism
Fluorescence
Double refraction

Types of Minerals

4000 have been named and about 40 to 50

are being named each year
No more than a
dozen are
common

Abundance of elements in the

Earths crust

Mineral Groups
Silicates (SiO2,
Mg2SiO4)
Oxides (Fe2O3,
Fe3O4, Al2O3)
Sulfides (FeS2,
ZnS)
Sulfates (CaSO4,
BaSO4)

Carbonates
(CaCO3,)
Native elements
(Au, Ag)
Halides (NaCl,
CaF2)
Hydroxides
Phosphates

Silicates
Most abundant
minerals on earth are
silicates
Building block is the
silicon tetrahedron
SiO4-4

Oxygen
Silicon
Aluminum
Iron
Calcium
Sodium
Potassium
Magnesium

46.6 %
27.7 %
8.1 %
5.0 %
3.6 %
2.8 %
2.6 %
2.1 %
Total = 98.3

Silicates
Tetrahedrons can link
Polymerization the
linking of silicon
tetrahedrons

Igneous rock
Definition:

Igneous rocks

Composition of magma
Dominantly ions of Silicon tetrahedra
(SiO4-4) and cations (e.g. Fe+2, Fe+3, Mg+2)
moving about in a hot liquid medium.

Rock formed from the crystallization of magma

Composed of aggregates of interlocking
crystalline minerals

Composition of igneous rock

Dominantly
silicate
minerals

Types of Igneous rocks

Extrusive (volcanic
rock)

Intrusive (plutonic
rock)

Igneous textures
Texture a term used to describe the
overall appearance of the rock based on the
size, shape, and appearance of the
interlocking crystals
Texture is important because it can be used
to distinguish between an intrusive rock and
an extrusive rock

Igneous textures
1.
2.
3.
4.

Phaneritic
Aphanitic
Glassy
Porphyritic

Phaneritic

Coarse-grained
texture with crystals
large enough to be
seen by the naked
eye (> 1 mm).

Aphanitic

Fine-grained texture
with crystals not
large enough to be
seen by the naked
eye (< 1 mm)

Glassy
No crystals (minerals)
are formed
Unordered ions

Porphyritic
Coarse-grained
crystals inset in a
finer-grained matrix

Factors affecting size of crystals

Rate of cooling
Slow rate of
cooling
large
crystals
Fast rate of
cooling
small
crystals
Very fast rate of
cooling
glass

Porphyritic

Porphyritic

Q:Where did this

porphyritic igneous
rock form?

Q:Where did this

porphyritic igneous
rock form?

A:First at depths of ~10

km from the surface and
then was extruded along
with the earlier formed
minerals.

A:First at depths of ~1020 km from the surface

and was emplaced as an
intrusive a few km
below the surface of the
earth.

Heat source why rocks melt

1. Geothermal gradient
2. Decay of radioactive
isotopes

Where rocks melt

Below oceanic ridges

At subduction zones

What are rocks that melt

Oceanic crust (Basalt)
and parts of the upper
mantle (Peridotite)

Continental crust
(Granite) and parts of
the upper mantle
(Peridotite)

Crystallization of melts
Bowens reaction series The relationship
between magma and the minerals
crystallizing from it during the formation of
igneous rocks
N.L. Bowen

Bowens reaction series

Some ions prefer to

crystallize earlier than
others
There occurs selective
depletion of ions in the
liquid magma

Low-temperature
Quartz
Granite
Rhyolite
Muscovite Na-rich plagioclase
Biotite
Amphibole

Pyroxene
(circles, triangles, and squares
represent ions)

Diorite
Andesite

Ca-rich plagioclase

Gabbro
Basalt
Peridotite

Olivine
High temperature