Minerals

- Aggregate of rocks
- Rocks are composed of minerals.
- It should be naturally occurring.
o Ice. Mineral or not? It depends. If ice is formed from your freezer, it is not a
mineral. If the ice is formed when water vapor solidifies, then it becomes a
mineral with a hardness of 1.5. The ice would then turn into water and is no
longer in a mineral form. This also satisfies one condition for a mineral: It should
be solid.
- It has a regular internal structure
- Chemical composition is fixed.
o For example, Forsterite and Fayalite are both minerals from the Olivine group.
How can you distinguish the two? Fayalite is Fe2SiO4 meaning it is an olivine
mineral rich in Iron. If Iron becomes Magnesium, Mg2SiO4, then it will become
Forsterite, a magnesium-rich variety of Olivine.
o Quartz is another example. Pure SiO2 gives clear quartz. If you introduce titanium
to the chemical formula, it will become rose quartz. If you introduce ferric iron in
the chemical formula, it will become amethyst.

Figure 1: Rose quartz

Figure 2: Amethyst
Figure 3: Prasiolite: Green variety of quartz
Figure 4: Red quartz (due to hematite)
 - It is possible for minerals to have the same chemical composition, if this happens, the
next thing a geologist should look at is the crystal system. Example: Aragonite and
calcite are both calcium carbonate CaCO3. Same chemical composition, different
structures. Calcite has a rhombohedral cleavage, aragonite forms mostly as a needle-like
structure and does not have rhombohedral cleavage.
- There are instances when minerals have the same internal structure but different
composition, like biotite and muscovite.
Silicate Classification
- Always look at the ratio of Si and O. Once you determined the ratio, you would be able
to find out the classification of the silicates.
- Nesosilicates: 1:4
- Sorosilicate: 2:7
- Cyclosilicate: 1:3
- Inosilicate
o Single Chain: 1:3
o Double Chain: 4:11
- Phyllosilicate: 2:5
- Tectosilicate: 1:2
Identifying Minerals
- Color
- Luster – based on the reflection of light)
- Hardness – test of the internal structure and atomic bonding
- Streak – powdering the minerals to show the color if it is different from the color of the
mineral
- Cleavage – different cleavage planes or planes of weakness.
o Note that quartz has no cleavage. It only has crystal face.
- Taste – salty taste of halite
- Reaction of minerals to acid
- Magnetism
- Density