MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY

Mineralogy is a branch of earth sciences that is

concerned with studying minerals and their physical
and chemical properties. It is concerned with the
various methods of classification of minerals for
most of its history. Modern day mineralogy has been
expanded by advance mother sciences such as
biology and chemistry, to shed even more light on
the nature of the materials that form the earth we live
on. The theory on origin and properties of minerals
was firstly given by a Greek philosopher Aristotle
but in 16th century, modern recognizable theory to us
was given by a German Scientist, Georgius Agricola.
• A mineral is a naturally occurring, in organic,
crystalline, homogeneous solid substance with a
definite but not generally fixed chemical composition.
• Naturally Occurring: synthetic compounds not
known to occur in nature cannot have a mineral
name.
• Homogeneous Solid: physically and chemically
homogeneous down to the basic repeat unit of the
atoms
• Crystalline: has an ordered atomic arrangement, a
crystalline substance in which atoms are arranged in a
regularly repeating, three dimensional orderly pattern.
• Inorganic: that is not formed by living organisms.
• Definite but not generally fixed: that is atoms or
groups of atoms occur in specific ratios.
 SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF
MINERALS
1. Color and streak: color is a property describing
a mineral reflectance. Metallic minerals are
either white, gray or yellow. Also most of the
ferromagnesian minerals (Iron-magnesium
bearing ) such as augite, hornblende, olivine and
biotite are either green and black
2. Streak: this is the color given by a pulverized
mineral. Scraping the edge of a mineral sample
across an unglazed porcelain plate leaves a
streak that may be diagnostic of the mineral.
 3. Luster: this is the quality and intensity of light
that is reflected from the surface of a mineral. The
luster of a mineral is described by comparing it to
familiar substance. Luster can be Metallic or Non-
metallic. A metallic luster gives a substance the
appearance of being made of metal. It may be
shining like a chrome car part or less shining like
the surface of a broken piece of iron. Non-metallic
luster is more common. it can be :
i. Glassy or Vitreous luster i.e a luster which
gives a substance a glazed appearance, like glass
or porcelain. Most silicates have this
characteristic e.g feldspar, quartz, pyroxenes and
Amphiboles.
ii Earthy luster: is a less common luster type.
This resembles the surface of unglazed pottery
and is characteristic of the various clay
minerals. Some uncommon lusters include
resinous, silky and pearly luster.
4. Cleavage, fracture and parting
Cleavage is the quality of a mineral to break when
struck along preferred directions. Cleavage
can be perfect or imperfect.
A perfect cleavage results in a regular flat faces
resembling growth faces such as in mica or
calcite
• An imperfect cleavage is a less well developed
cleavage. If the imperfect cleavage is very weak is
said to be a parting.
• Fracture is the breaking of a rock in an irregular
pattern. If a fracture is irregular and results in a rough
surface, it is hackly. If the irregular fracture
propagates as a single surface resulting in a shinny
surface as in glass, the fracture is said to be
conchoidal
5. Crystal form and habit: A crystal form of a mineral is
a set of faces that have a definite geometric
relationship to one another. According to geologists, a
crystal is any homogeneous solid that is crystalline
with or without crystal faces.
• Some obvious names of crystal faces are
prism and pyramids.
• A prism is a face that is perpendicular to a
major axis of the crystal.
• A pyramid is a face that is not perpendicular to
any major axis.
Some of the crystal habits are:
i. Crystals that commonly develop prismatic
faces are said to have a prismatic or columnar
habit.
ii. Crystals that grow in fine needles are
accicular
iii Crystals growing flat plates are tabular
iv crystals forming radiating sprays of needles or
fibres are stellate
v Crystals forming parallel fibres are fibrous
Vi crystals forming branching, tree-like growth are
dendritic.
6. Tenacity: this is ability of a mineral to deform
plastically under stress. Minerals may be brittle,
that is they do not deform but rather fracture
under stress as do most silicates and oxides.
Minerals may be sectile, that is if it is able to
deform so that they can be cut with a knife. They
may be ductile and deform readily under stress as
does gold.
7. Hardness: this is the property tested for by seeing if
some standard minerals are able to scratch others.
Friedrich mohs in 1812, developed a standard scale of
hardness called moh’s scale of hardness. This
hardness is as follows:
i Talc
ii Gypsum . These two minerals have hardness of
about 2.5 which is hardness of a finger nail.
iii Calcite. This has a hardness between 3 and 4 which
is harness of a copper coin
iv Flourite
v Apatite. They both have hardness slightly higher
than 5.
vi Feldspar is having hardness between 6 and 7 which
is hardness of a file
iiv. Quartz
iiiv Topaz
ix Corrundum
x Daiamond
8. Density: this is mass per unit volume of a
mineral, measured in g/cm3. Most silicate of light
elements have densities in the range of 2.6 to 3.5,
silfides between 5 and 6, Iron metal about 8, lead
about 13, and gold about 19.
9. Un unique properties: some minerals have
unique properties that may greatly aid
identification. For example, Nacl (halite) and
sylvite (Kcl) very similar in most of their
physical properties but have a distinct taste.
• COMPOSITTION OF THE EARTH’S CRUST
The earth’s crust consists of many kinds of rocks,
each rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals.
There are more than 3000 minerals that have been
identified but only 12 common elements or
minerals occur in the earth’s crust. They are:
Oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium ,
potassium, magnesium, titanium, hydrogen,
manganese and phosphorus. All other naturally
occurring minerals are found in very minor trace
amounts. Out of the elements, silicon and oxygen
are the most abundant crustal elements. 98.5% of
the earth’s crust consists of O, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, K
and Mg.
• TYPES OF MINERALS ENVIRONMENT
1. IGNEOUS MINERALS: Minerals in Igneous
rocks must have high melting points and be able
to co-exist with or crystallize from silicate melts
at temperatures above 8000c.
Classification of Igneous rocks
Igneous rocks can be classified based on or
according to their silica content in to:
(i) low silica igneous rocks (<50% SiO2) which are
termed basic or mafic igneous rocks
(ii) High silica igneous rocks (>50% SiO2) which
are termed silica or acidic igneous rocks
 Basic or Mafic or low-silica igneous rocks include
basalts, dolerites, gabbros, kimberlitic and
peridotites. The abundant minerals in these rocks
include Olivine, pyroxenes, ca-feldspar
(plagioclase), amphiboles and biotite. The
abundance of faintness rocks causes them to be
dark colored
Silicic or Acidic or High silica igneous rocks
include, granites, granodiorites, and ryholites and
abundant minerals in them include quartz,
muscovite, and alkali feldspars, they are light
colored minerals.
An igneous mineral environment representing the
final stage of igneous fractionation is called a
pegmatite (PEG) which is very coarse grained and
• Similar in composition to silicic igneous rocks.
Incompatible elements are elements that do not
readily substitute into the abundant minerals and they
typically accumulate to form their own mineral in
pegmatite. Minerals containing the incompatible
elements Li, Be, B, P, Rb, Sr, Y, Nb, rare earths, Cs
and Ta are typical and characteristic of pegmatite.
2. SEDIMENTARY MINERALS
Minerals in Sedimentary rocks can be either stable in
low temperature hydrous environment (e,g clay ) or
high temperature minerals that are highly resistant to
chemical weathering (e.g quartz)
Sedimentary mineral can be classified into:
(i) Detrital Sedimentary mineral such as quartz, gold,
diamond, apatite, and other phosphates, calcite and
clays. Most insoluble minerals such as quartz, gold
and diamond accumulate in the coarsest detrital
Sedimentary rocks but less resistant minerals such as
feldspars which weather to clays accumulate in finer
grained siltstones and mudstones.
(ii) Evaporite Sedimentary minerals include calcite,
gypsum, anhydrite, halite and most soluble mineral
such as calcite, and halite (rock-salt) are chemically
precipitated in Evaporite deposits.
3. Metamorphic minerals: Minerals in metamorphic
rocks have crystallized from other minerals rather than
form melts and need not be stable to such high
temperature as igneous minerals. The metamorphic
environment may be classified as:-
(1). Low-grade metamorphic environment (LGM)
temperatures of 60 to 400c and pressure <5Gpa
(=15km depth)
(2). High-grade metamorphic (HGM) temperature
>400c and or pressure <5GPa
The mineral characteristic of zeolites, chlorites and
andalusite. The mineral characteristic of high-grade
metamorphic environments include: Sedimentary
kyanite, staurolite, epidote and amphiboles.
4. Hydrothermal Minerals: these are mineral
precipitated from aqueous solutions associated with
emplacement of intrusive igneous rocks this
environment is commonly grouped with metamorphic
environments but their minerals and element are
different from contact or regional metamorphic rock
these may be classified as:-
i. High-tempearture hydrothermal minerals which
include gold, sliver, tungstate minerals chalcopyrite,
bornite, the tellurides and molybdenite
ii. Low temperature hydrothermal minerals include
barite, gold, cinnabar, pyrite and cassiterite
iii. Oxidized hydrothermal minerals includes oxides,
sulfates and carbonates of the chalcopyrite metals.
These minerals are called gossans and are marked
by yellow-red iron oxides stains or rock surfaces.
CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS
Minerals are classified according to their anioic and
polyanion group of elements into:
i. Native elements: these are minerals that contain no
anion or polyanion. e.g Gold(Au) Silver(Ag)
Copper(Cu) and platinum(Pt)
 ii Halides: these contain halogen elements (F, Cl,
Br and I) as the dominant anion. These minerals
are ionically bonded and typically contain cations
of alkali and alkaline earth elements. Examaples
include Na, K, and ca. Familiar examples are
Nacl(halite) and Flourite(CaF2 )
iii Oxides: these minerals contain various cations
(not associated with a polyanion) and oxygen.
Examples are hematite (Fe2O3 and magnetite
(Fe3O4)
iv. Hydroxides: they contain the polyanion OH- as
the dominant anionic species. Examples include
brucite (mg(OH))2 and gibbsite (Al (OH)3)
V Carbonates: these contain CO3 as the dominant
polyanion in which C4+ is surrounded by O2-
anions in a planar triangular arrangement. E.g
calcite (CaCO3), Nitrate (NaNO3).
Vi Sulfates: these minerals contain SO42- as the
major polyanion in which S6+ is surrounded by O4
in a tetrahedron. Example is gypsum CaSO4.2H2O)
Vii Phosphates: these contain PO4 group as the
dominant polyanion. A common example is
apatite (Ca5 (PO4)3 (OH) a principal component of
bones and teeth.
 SILICATES
This group of mineral contains SiO4 as the dominant
polyanion in which Si4+ cation is surrounded by 4
oxygen.
Types of Silicates
1. Orthosilicates:- Contain isolated SiO4 Polyanionic
groups in which oxygen of the polyanion are bound to
one Si atom only i.e they are not polymerized. E.g
forsterite (MgSiO4 & pyrope (Mg3AlSi3O12.)
2. Sorosilicates:- contain double silicate tetrahedron in
which one of the oxygen is shared with an adjacent
tetrahedron so that the polyanion has formular (Si2O7)6
e.g epidote.
3. Cyclosilicate:- contain typically six members rings of
silicate tetrahedral with formular (Si16O17)10- e.g
tourmaline
4. Chain silicates:- contain SiO4 Polyhedral that are
polymerized in one direction to form chains. They
can be single chain silicate e.g pyroxene or double
chain e.g Amphibole
5. Sheet Silicates:- contain polyhedral that are
polymerized in two dimensions to from sheets with
formular (Si4 O10)4- e.g micas.
6. Framework Silicates:- contain SiO4 that are
polymerized in three dimensions to from a
framework with formular SiO2. e.g quartz and
feldspars.
 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF MIERALS
1. Metallic minerals such as hematite( a source of iron),
bauxite ( a source of aluminium), sphalerite ( a source
of zinc), galena ( a source of lead), gold or copper are
used for commercial purposes.
2. Non metallic minerals are commonly used in
industries and are referred to as industrial minerals.
Some of these minerals are used as source of
chemicals. Examples are:
i. halite for sodium chloride, borax for borates.
ii. Some are used as buildiing materialse.g gypsum for
plaster and kaolin for bricks.
iii. Apatite is used for fertilizer making, phosphate and
sylvite for potassium
iv. Diamond and corrundum are used as abrasives
 PETROLOGY
Petrology is the branch of geology that studies rocks
and the conditions under which they from. Such
conditions include origin , texture, structure and
composition.
Petrology has three (3) sub-divisions
i. Igneous petrology ii. Metamorphic petrology
iii. Sedimentary petrology. These are also known as
branches of petrology
i. Igneous petrology deals with the study of
composition and texture of igneous rocks (such as
granite or basalt) which have crystallized from
molten rock or magma.
ii. Sedimentary petrology deals with the composition
and texture of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone,
shale or limestone which consists of particles derived
from other rock or biological or chemical deposits
and are usually bound together in a matrix of finer
material.
iii. Metamorphic petrology focuses on the
composition and texture of metamorphic rocks such
as slate, marble, gneiss or schist due to extremes of
pressure of temperature or both.
Petrology utilizes the fields of mineralogy, petrology,
optical mineralogy and chemical analysis to describe
the composition and texture of rocks. Petrography is
the specialty that deals with microscopic details.
 IGNEOUS PETROLOGY
Igneous rocks are rocks formed from solidification of
molten magma beneath the earth’s crust. The molten
magma contains enormous temperature of 1000C and
pressure <3kb.
The nature and characteristics of igneous rocks can be
classified under the following:
(i) Chemical composition of igneous rocks
(ii) Mineralogical composition
(iii) Textural composition
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF IGNEOUS
ROCKS
Igneous rocks contain major and minor constituents but
only (8) elements are essential which are O, Si, Al,
Fe, Ca. Na, K, and Mg. O and Si are the abundant
constituents.
 Silicon occurrence
Silicon occurs in igneous rocks as SiO2 and it is
the major abundant constituents of the rocks
making 45-75%. Based on this constituent,
igneous rocks can be classified into:
i. Acid or felsic rocks: Igneous rocks where SiO2
>66%
ii. Intermediate igneous rocks: Igneous rocks
where SiO2 is between 52and 65%
iii. Mafic or basic igneous rocks: Igneous rocks
where SiO2 is between 42 and 51%
Iv Ultramafic igneous rocks: igneous rocks where
SiO2 is less than 42%.
MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITION OF
IGNEOUS ROCKS
Felsic igneous rocks (granite, rhyolite) are light
coloured and rich in quartz, feldspars (
plagioclase or K- feldspars) and minor
ferromagnesian minerals such as olivine and
pyroxene.
Intermediate igneous rocks such as diorite, andesite
are medium-gray or medium-green and are rich in
feldspars (white or gray) and about 35 -50%
ferromagnesian minerals. It has no quatrz.
Mafic igneous rocks such as gabbro and basalts are
dark-grey to black in colour and are predominant
of ferromagnesian minerals. The rest of the rock
is plagioclase feldspar (medium to dark gray).
Ultramafic rocks such as peridotite, kimberlite,
augite are green to black and are entirely rich in
ferromagnesian minerals, usually olivine and
pyroxene
TEXTURAL COMPOSITION
Granite, Diorite, Gabro and ultramafic rocks are
coarse—grained in texture while ryholite,
andesite and basalt are fine grained in texture.
Some rocks are porphyritic in texture.
Coarse grained rocks are those in which most of
the grains are larger than 1 millimetre.
 Fine grained rocks are those in which most of the
grains are smaller than 1 millimetre. Porphyritic
rocks are those that have larger crystals enclosed
in a much finer grained matrix
There are two main types of Igneous rocks which
are intrusive/plutonic and extrusive/volcanic.
Intrusive igneous rocks are igneous rocks formed
at considerable depth, usually more than several
killometers. The word plutonic was named after
Pluto, the Roman god of the under world. These
rocks are coarse grained as a result of slow
cooling rate and solidification of molten magma.
Examples are granite, diorite and gabbro.
• Extrusive igneous rocks are fine-grained igneous
rocks formed at or near the earth’s surface. This
is due to rapid cooling of magma at the earth’s
surface.
INTRUSIVE BODIES
These are bodies of intrusive rocks whose names are
based on their size , shape and their relatonship to
surrounding rocks. Some of the examples of
intrusive bodies are dikes, sills and batholiths.
A dike is a tabular, discordant intrusive structure.
They may form at shallow depths and can be fine
grained in texture such as those at ship hock or
form at greater depth or coarse grained.
• A sill is also a tabular intrusive structure but it
is concordant.
• A batholith is a plutonic rock in which the
outcrop area is greater than 100km2 and it is
discordant. Batholiths predominantly compose
of granite but often contain mafic and
intermediate rocks.
 METAMORPHIC PETROLOGY
Metamorphism refers to changes to rocks that take place
in the earth’s interior. It is a latin word due to which
means changing of form. Metamorphic rocks are
formed from pre- existing rocks due to changes in
pressure and temperature of the rock .
Factors controlling the characteristics of metamorphic
rocks.
• 1 temperature: for metamorphic reactions, there must
be heat which comes primarily from the outward flow
of geothermal energy from the earth’s deep interior. The
deeper a rock is beneath the surface, the hotter it will
be. The particular temperature for rock at a given depth
depends on the local geothermal gradient.
 Geothermal gradient is a manifestation of heat transfer
in the mantle. Geothermal gradient is the rate at
which temperature increases with increasing depth
beneath the surface. Geothermal gradient as data
show is about 30C for each 100m of depth in the
upper part of the crust.

• Temperature plays a vital role in stability of minerals.

Any mineral is stable only within a given temperature
range. A stable mineral is a mineral that does not react
with another substance or convert to another new
mineral or substance, if given enough time. The
stability temperature range of a mineral varies with
pressure and presence or absence of other substance
.
 SOURCES OF HEAT FLOW
i. Heat is conducted towards the earth’s surface through
the mantle and to the crust.
ii. Heat is also brought from the lower mantle when part
of the mantle flows upward, either through convection
or by mantle plumes.
iii. Heat can also be generated by radioactive decay e.g
uranium and radium.
2. Pressure: This is the force exerted on a substance.
There are two pressure types under this, the confining
pressure and Lithostatic pressure. Confining pressure
is the pressure applied equally on all surfaces of a
substance a s a result of burial or submergence.
Lithostatic pressure is a strong confining pressure on
an object buried deeply within the earth’s crust.
• Any mineral that has crystallized under high-
pressure conditions would have less space and
denser than the mineral from which it is formed.
3. Composition of the parent rock: the mineral
content of a metamorphic rock is controlled by
the chemical composition of the parent rock. This
is due to the fact that during metamorphism, no
new elements or chemical compound are added to
the rock, except perhaps water. For example, a
limestone composed essentially of calcite
(CaCO3), cannot metamorphose into a silica-rich
rock
 4. Differential Stress : this is the force applied to
an object either stronger or weaker stronger in
different directions. Differential stress tends to
deform objects into oblong or flattened forms.
Differential stress can also be caused by shearing
which causes parts of a body to move or slide
relative to one another across a plane. It has
influence on the texture of a metamorphic rock
because it forces the constituents of the rock to
become parallel to one another.
5. Foliation: this is the parallel alignment of
textural and structural features of a rock. When a
rock is having a planar texture, it is said to be
foliated.
6. Hydrothermal fluids: this is the hot water as
water vapour which involved in metamorphic
processes. Water helps to trigger metamorphic
chemical reactions and is a sort of intra-rock rapid
transit for ions. Under high pressure, it moves
between grains, dissolves ions from one mineral
and carries these ions elsewhere in the rock where
they can react with the ions of a second mineral.
7. Time: this is the period it takes a rock to finish
undergoing metamorphism.Most metamorphic
rocks are composed of silicate minerals which are
very slow in chemical reactions, hence it takes a
long period to complete its metamorphism.
• Classification of Metamorphic rocks
• Metamorphic rocks are classified based on the
combination of factors that control its metamorphism
which are primarily, temperature, pressure, stress and
chemical constituents of the parent rock.
• Metamorphic rocks may be named according to its
planar texture to be a foliated metamorphic rock. If the
rock is non-foliated, it is named based on its
composition. Example a quartz rich non-foliated
metamorphic rock is called quartzite.
• Types of Metamorphism
• There are two most common types of metamorphism;
the contact metamorphism and regional metamorphism
• Contact Metamorphism: this metamorphism that
takes place not too far beneath the earth’s surface (less
than 10 killometres). Temperature is the dominant
factor in this type while influence of confining pressure
is low. This type of metamorphism is also known as
thermal metamorphism. Contact metamorphism occurs
adjacent to a pluton when a body of magma intrudes
relatively cool the country rock. The zone of contact
metamorphism is called aureole which is quite narrow,
generally from 1 to 100m wide. Differential stress is
rarely significant here, therefore these rocks are
typically non foliated. Examples of metamorphic rocks
under this type are: Hornfels (fine grained metamorphic
rock) from shale, Marble (a coarse grained rock) from
calcite, Dolomite marble from dolomite, and Quartzite
(welded quartz grains in sand stones
• Regional metamorphism: this type of
metamorphism is also known as dynamothermal
metamorphism. It is a metamorphism that takes
place at considerable depth underground (greater
than 5 killometers). Majority of metamorphic
rocks found on the earth’s surface are products of
regional metamorphism. Regional metamorphic
rocks are almost always foliated, indicating
differential stress recrystallization. Temperatures
vary widely during regional metamorphism in the
range of 300 to 8000C.
• Temperature may increase locally because of heat
from friction due to shearing or from heat given
off by magma bodies. The metamorphic rocks
under this type of metamorphism include:
• Slate: a very fine grained metamorphic rock that splits
easily along flat parallel planes. Slate is used for
making chalkboards, pool tables and roofs because
splity characteristic.
• Schist characterized by visible approximately parallel
oriented minerals.
• Gneiss: rock consisting of dark and light mineral layers
or lenses.
• PROGRESSIVE METAMORPHISM: this is a
metamorphism that occurs as progressively greater
pressure and temperature act on a rock type with
increasing depth in the earth’s crust. Example, shale to
slate with lowest temperature and pressure conditions
to phylite (a mica-schist rock), to a garnet mica- schist
to gneiss and to the highest temperature rock,
migmatite.
• METASOMATISM: this is a metamorphism
coupled with the introduction of ions from an
external source. The ions can be carried by: (i)
hot water and participate in metamorphic
reactions. This condition occurs during
regional metamorphism. Ions such as K, Na, Si
and O are carried by water (ii) introduction
from a cooling magma. This is associated with
contact metamorphism.
• Some important commercially mined deposits
of metals such as iron, tungsten, copper, lead,
Zinc and silver are attributed to metasomatism.