ENV:1203 Fundamentals

of Earth Science
Fowzia Ahmed
Lecturer
Department of Environmental Science
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Email: fowzia.ahmed@bup.edu.bd
If,….
Geology = language:
Minerals = Letters of the Alphabet
Rocks = Words

So, in order to understand the

language of geology, one must be
able to properly identify the letters of
the language.
 Mineralogy

Mineralogy is a scientific discipline that is concerned with

all aspects of minerals, including their physical properties,

chemical composition, internal crystal structure, and

occurrence and distribution in nature and their origins in

terms of the physicochemical conditions of formation.

Goals of Mineralogy

 the description and classification of a new or rare

mineral,
 an analysis of crystal structure involving determination of
its internal atomic arrangement
 the laboratory or industrial synthesis of mineral species
at high temperatures and pressures.
 simple physical and chemical identification tests,
determination of crystal symmetry, optical examination,
X-ray diffraction, isotopic analysis, and other
sophisticated procedures.
Minerals

Geologists define a mineral as

“any naturally occurring inorganic solid that

possesses an orderly crystalline structure and a
well-defined chemical composition.”
Minerals are solid substances that
occur naturally. They can be made
from a single element (like gold or
copper) or from a combination of
elements.
Sulphur

The Earth is made up of

thousands of different
minerals. There are over
2000 known minerals.

Example: Gold , Copper, Coal, Silver, Gypsum etc.

The scientific study of minerals is called
mineralogy
Characteristics of Minerals

 Naturally occurring - Minerals occur in nature. Solids that are made

in a chemistry lab don't count as minerals.
 Solid substance - All minerals will be solids at normal temperatures
on Earth.
 Orderly crystalline structure- Minerals are crystalline substances,
atoms are arranged in an orderly repetitive manner.
 Well-defined chemical composition- - Specific minerals will always
have the same chemical formula. They will have the same
combination of elements.
 Generally Inorganic - Minerals don't come from plants, animals, or
other living organisms.
• While water may contain minerals, water itself can't
be a mineral because it's liquid.

• This means they can't be manufactured in a lab.

Synthetic gems, like cubic zirconia, are therefore not
minerals.

• This is like the DNA of the mineral - it's what makes the
mineral different from other minerals.

• Minerals are some of the most beautiful substances on

Earth, because they are always arranged in an
orderly geometric pattern. Minerals of the same type
always have the same geometric arrangement of
their atoms.
 Worlddistribution
World distributionofofGold
Gold
Most commonly used Minerals

Gold The first gold rush in

America was in Used to make
Dahlonega, Ga. in the jewelry
1830’s
Calcite Forms in cubes and Used in
rectangular prisms toothpaste, soap,
glue, and gum
Talc It is one of the softest Talcum Powder
minerals
Diamond Hardest rock in the world Used to make
jewelry
Silver shiny and hard to find Used to make
jewelry and coins
Luster

Appearance or quality of light reflected

a gentle shine or soft glow, especially that of a

partly reflective surface
Luster classification

Metallic luster

 having the look of a polished metal

 refers to minerals that look like a shiny metal
 Produce the largest amount of luster which
makes them very shiny.
 Examples include galena, pyrite, magnetite
Submetallic luster

 Minerals with submetallic luster are ones that resemble a metal, but
due to weathering and corrosion, have become less reflective or
dull.
 Some examples are sphalerite and cinnabar.
Non-metallic luster

 not looking like a metal at all

 vitreous or glassy

Talc is a good example

Non-metallic luster

 Dull or earthy luster (dull like soil)

 Pearly luster (like pearl)
 Silky luster (like satin cloth)
 Greasy luster (coated in oil)

 Home assignment:
Find out examples of each type
The ability to transmit light

 Opacity
 Opaque: When no light transmitted
Translucent: light transmitted but not image
 Transparent: Light and image are visible
Color

 Conspicuous characteristics of minerals

 Color is the most eye-catching feature of many minerals
 Color is commonly the most striking feature of a mineral but can be
misleading.
Many minerals can be the same color.
Below are gold colored minerals. Which
one is gold?
 The answer…

None of them were

real gold.
Tourmaline
 exhibit a variety of hues
 Multiple colors sometime in same sample
 Just like with people…
Outside color does not tell you much
about the important
characteristics.

Color alone will not normally

identify a mineral, but it can be a
very helpful factor.
Streak

 Color of the powdered minerals

 Streak plate: a piece of unglazed porcelain
 determine of identification
Crystal shape or habit

 Shape of a crystal or aggregate of crystals

 Few exhibit regular polygon

Example:
 Cube (Fluorite)
 Octahedron (magnetite)
 Dodecahedron (Garnet)
 Some minerals are three dimensional
 Some are elongated in one direction
Other crystal habit

1. Bladed: flattened in one direction

2. Prismatic: faces are parallel to a common direction
3. Banded: have stripe or bands of different color
4. Botryoidal: resembling a bunch of grapes

Figure: 3.19
Tenacity

 toughness or resistance to breaking or deforming

 Brittle: ionic bond, shatter into small pieces (fluorite and
halite)
 Malleable: metallic bond, easily hammered into shape
 Sectile: cut into thin shavings (talc)
 Elastic: bend and snap back
 Hardness

The hardness describes

how easy it is to scratch
the surface of a mineral.

Scientists often use the Moh's scale to

describe hardness. Using the Moh's
scale, a "1" is the softest mineral and a
"10" is the hardest.
One example of hardness is
diamond. Diamond has a
hardness of 10 because it is
the hardest of all the minerals.
 This doesn’t
Moh's scale mean that
diamonds are 10
times harder
than talc…
that’s why we
call this a
qualitative
measure, not
quantitative
measure
 Cleavage
Cleavage describes how a
mineral breaks up into pieces. Not all minerals have
cleavage.

Some minerals break up into small

cubes while others may break up into
thin sheets.
 The quality of cleavages are perfect, imperfect, distinct,
good, fair, and poor.
 The difficulty is described as easy, hard, and difficult to
produce.
the micas have a perfect cleavage in one
direction that is easy to produce
 Fracture

 Minerals that have structures that are equally or strong in all

directions, those form fracture to form irregular surfaces.
 Conchoidal fracture: broken into smooth curves
 Irregular fracture
 Some break into splinters or fibres
 Specific Gravity (SG)
The specific gravity measures
the density of the mineral.

Formula:

It is measured in comparison to water where

water has a specific gravity of 1.
For example, pyrite has a specific gravity of 5
and quartz has a specific gravity of 2.7.
 Special Characteristics
There are other special characteristics that
some minerals exhibit that allow us to identify
them

–Reacts to Acid
[Calcite : CaCO3]

–Magnetic
[Magnetite: Fe3O4]

–Salty taste
[Halite: NaCl]
 References
References

1. An Introduction to Physical Geology.

Edward J. Tarbuck

2. Physical Geology, Edgar W Spencer