Rock & Minerals

Minerals and Rocks
EARTH SCIENCE
OBJECTIVE
 I can identify and describe the different properties of
minerals.
 I can group the minerals based on chemical
composition.
 I can identify several common rock-forming minerals.
MINERAL
 a naturally occurring (not man-made or machine
generated), inorganic (not a byproduct of living things)
solid with an orderly crystalline structure and a
definite chemical composition
 Minerals are the basic building blocks of rocks.
Do you consider water a mineral?
 No. It is not solid and crystalline.
How about snowflake, or tube ice?
Are these minerals?
 Tube ice is not a mineral, because it is not naturally
occurring.
 But a snowflake possesses all the properties under the
definition of a mineral.
MINERAL PROPERTIES
 Luster
 Hardness
 Color
 Streak
 Crystal Form/Habit
 Cleavage
 Specific Gravity
 Other Properties
LUSTER
 It is the quality and intensity of
reflected light exhibited by the mineral
 a. Metallic
 generally opaque and exhibit a resplendent
shine similar to a polished metal
 b. Non-metallic
 vitreous (glassy), adamantine
(brilliant/diamond-like), resinous, silky,
pearly, dull (earthy), greasy, among others.
HARDNESS
 It is a measure of the resistance of a mineral (not specifically surface) to
abrasion
 The use of a hardness scale designed by German geologist/mineralogist
Friedrich Mohs in 1812 (Mohs Scale of Hardness)
 The Mohs Scale of Hardness measures the scratch resistance of various
minerals from a scale of 1 to 10, based on the ability of a harder
material/mineral to scratch a softer one.
PROS OF THE MOHS SCALE
 The test is easy.
 The test can be done anywhere, anytime, as long as there is
sufficient light to see scratches.
 The test is convenient for field geologists with scratch kits who
want to make a rough identification of minerals outside the lab.
CONS OF THE MOHS SCALE
 The Scale is qualitative, not quantitative.
 The test cannot be used to accurately test the hardness of
industrial materials
Common everyday objects that can be
used for hardness test
Object Hardness
Fingernail 2 – 2.5
Copper coin/wire 3 – 3.5
Nail 5 – 5.5
Glass 5.5
Steel knife 6.5 - 7
COLOR
 A lot of minerals can exhibit same or similar colors.
Individual minerals can also display a variety of
colors resulting from impurities and also from
some geologic processes like weathering.
 Examples of coloring: quartz can be pink (rose
quartz), purple (amethyst), orange (citrine), white
(colorless quartz) etc.
COLOR
 Examples of coloring: quartz can be pink (rose quartz), purple
(amethyst), orange (citrine), white (colorless quartz) etc.
STREAK
 The mineral’s color in powdered form. It
is inherent in almost every mineral, and
is a more diagnostic property compared
to color. Note that the color of a mineral
can be different from its streak.
 Examples of streak: Pyrite (FeS2)
exhibits gold color but has a black or
dark gray streak.
COLOR AND STREAK
CLEAVAGE
 The property of some minerals to break along specific planes of
weakness to form smooth, flat surfaces.
 a. These planes exist because the bonding of atoms making up the
mineral happens to be weak in those areas.
 b. When minerals break evenly in more than one direction, cleavage
is described by the number of cleavage directions, the angle(s) at
which they meet, and the quality of cleavage (e.g. cleavage in 2
directions at 90°).
CLEAVAGE
 Cleavage is different from habit; the two are distinct,
unrelated properties. Although both are dictated by crystal
structure, crystal habit forms as the mineral is growing,
relying on how the individual atoms in the crystal come
together. Cleavage, meanwhile, is the weak plane that
developed after the crystal is formed
CLEAVAGE
CLEAVAGE
SPECIFIC GRAVITY
 The ratio of the density of the mineral and the density of water
 a. This parameter indicates how many times more the mineral
weighs compared to an equal amount of water (SG 1).
 b. For example, a bucket of silver (SG 10) would weigh ten times
more than a bucket of water.
OTHER PROPERTIES
 There are certain unique properties of minerals that actually help in

their identification (e.g. magnetism, odor, taste, tenacity, reaction to
acid, etc.).
 Magnetite is strongly magnetic; sulfur has distinctive smell; halite is
salty; calcite fizzes with acid as with dolomite but in powdered form.
MINERAL PROPERTIES
Mineral Name Halite (Table Salt)
Chemical composition NaCl
Luster Non-metallic – vitreous; transparent to translucent
Hardness Soft (2-2.5)
Color White
Streak White
Crystal Form / Habit Cubic
Cleavage Perfect cubic
Specific Gravity Light (2.2)
Other Properties Salty taste; very soluble; produces reddish spark in
flame
MINERAL GROUPS
Element Element + Element + Element + Element + Element + Element +

SiO4 O2 SO4 S2 CO3 Halogens
Native Silicate Oxide Sulfate Sulfide Carbonate Halide
Gold Quartz Hematite Gypsum Pyrite Calcite Chlorine
Bismuth Olivine Magnetite Barite Galena Dolomite Fluorine
Diamond Talc Chromite Anhydrite Bornite Malachite Halite
NATIVE ELEMENTS
 Minerals that form as individual elements.
 a. Metals and Inter-metals – minerals with high thermal and
electrical conductivity, typically with metallic luster, low hardness
(gold, lead)
 b. Semi-metals – minerals that are more fragile than metals and
have lower conductivity (arsenic, bismuth)
 c. Nonmetals – nonconductive (sulfur, diamond)
SILICATES
 minerals containing 2 of the most abundant elements in the Earth’s
crust, namely, silicon and oxygen.
 When linked together, these two elements form the silicon oxygen
tetrahedron – the fundamental building block of silicate minerals.
Over 90% of the rock-forming minerals belong to this group.
 Aside from Si (46.6 % by wt.) and O (27.7%), the other most common
elements that make the earth’s crust are Al (8.1), Fe (5.0), Ca (3.6),
Mg (3.1), Na (2.8) and K 2.6).
OXIDES
 Minerals containing Oxygen anion (O2 - ) combined with one or more
metal ions.
SULFATES
 Minerals containing Sulfur and Oxygen anion (SO 4)- combined with
other ions
SULFIDES
 Minerals containing sulfur anion (S 2)- combined with one or more
ions. Some sulfides are sources of economically important metals such
as copper, lead and zinc.
CARBONATES
 Minerals containing the carbonate anion (CO 3)2- combined with other
elements.
HALIDES
 Minerals containing halogen elements combined with one or more
elements
QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU

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Element Element + Element + Element + Element + Element + Element +

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