Minerals Luster & Transparency
Luster: indicates the way a mineral's
Building blocks for rock surface interacts with light and can
4460 mineral species range from dull to glassy.
Naturally occurring, inorganic solids, 1. Metallic
consisting of specific chemical - High reflectivity like metal:
elements, and a definite atomic array. galena and pyrite.
Crystalline structure – ‘crystal’ 2. Sub-metallic
Two Categories: - Slightly less than metallic
1. Silicates reflectivity: magnetite.
- Contain silicon & oxygen
molecules (SiO) Transparency:
- Make up 90-95% of the
Earth’s crust 1. Transparent - allows the light to
pass through & you can see objects
2. Non – Silicates
- Do not contain silicon & through it.
2. Opaque – light cannot pass through
oxygen molecules (SiO)
- Make up 5% of Earth’s crust & you cannot see objects through
it.
3. Translucent – light can pass through
Elements & objects cannot be clearly seen
through it.
Eight elements make up most of all
minerals on the earth.
Elements combine to form minerals.
Color
Indicates the appearance of the mineral
Physical properties of minerals in reflected light or transmitted light for
translucent minerals.
Crystal structure and habit
A mineral may show good crystal habit Streak
or form, or it may be massive, granular
Refers to the color of the powder a
or compact with only microscopically
visible crystals. mineral leaves after rubbing it on an
unglazed porcelain streak plate.
Crystal structure
Describes the orderly geometric spatial Note: This is not always the same color
arrangement of atoms in the internal as the original mineral.
structure of a mineral.
Hardness Cleavage
Mineral resistance to scratch. Describes the way a mineral may split
Dependent on the chemical apart along various planes. In thin
composition & crystalline of a mineral. sections, cleavage is visible as thin
It is usually measured according to the parallel lines across a mineral.
Mohs scale. This scale is relative and
goes from 1 to 10. Minerals with a given Fracture
Mohs hardness can scratch the surface
Describes how a mineral breaks when
of any mineral that has a lower
broken contrary to its natural cleavage
hardness than itself.
planes. (Conchoidal fracture & Hackley).
Specific gravity existing igneous, sedimentary or
metamorphic rocks.
Relates the mineral mass to the mass of 2. Chemical sediment forms from
an equal volume of water, namely the previously dissolved minerals that
density of the material. either precipitated from solution in
water , or were extracted from water by
Rocks living organisms.
3. Organic sedimentary rock consisting
Naturally occurring solid mixture of one mainly of plant remains.
or more minerals.
Aggregations of 2 or more minerals. Sedimentary Processes
Three Categories Lithification
1. Igneous Rocks
2. Sedimentary Rocks As sediment is buried several kilometers
3. Metamorphic Rocks beneath the surface, heated from
below, pressure from overlying layers
and chemically-active water converts
Igneous Rocks the loose sediment into solid
sedimentary rock.
Latin “ignis” – fire
Formed by volcanic activity. Compaction
Formed from cooled, solidified molten Volume of a sediment is reduced by
material, at or below the surface. application of pressure.
Note:
Plutonic – intrusive: cooled below Cementation
surface at great depths.
Volcanic – extrusive: cooled at or near Sediment grains are bound to each
other by materials originally dissolved
the surface through volcanic eruptions.
during chemical weathering of existing
Identification of igneous rocks rocks.
Texture
Mineral Composition
Metamorphic Rocks
Sedimentary Rocks
Weathering processes break rock into
pieces, sediment, ready for
transportation deposition burial
lithification(sediments are transformed
into solid rock) into new rocks.
Classifying sedimentary rocks
Three Sources:
1. Detrital / Detrimental (or clastic)
sediment is composed of transported
solid fragments (or detritus) of pre-
