LECTURE 1

Introduction to Mineralogy and

GEOPHYSICS MODULE
MODULE

Crystalography
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY

© Planet Geology || 2020

 INTRODUCTION
• What is a mineral?
Crystalline chemical compounds that form by geological
processes.
They have well defined chemical composition
Crystalline: having an orderly and repetitive atomic
structure
Well Defined: Varying within reasonable limits

• Crystalline vs Amorphous:
Crystalline compounds have an orderly and repetitive
atomic structure, example: diamond, graphite
Amorphous compounds have an unordered structure,
example: glass, obsidian (also called volcanic glass)

© Planet Geology | 2020

CRYSTALS:
ORDERED AND
REPETITIVE
ATOMIC
STRUCTURE
 WHICH OF THESE ARE
MINERALS?
• Quartz
• Diamond
• Graphite
• Sugar
• Ice
• Granite
• Sandstone
• Halite (NaCl)
• Calcite (CaCO3)
• Coal
 WHICH OF THESE ARE
MINERALS?
• Quartz Mineral with well ordered crystal structure, chemical composition SiO2
• Diamond Diamond is also a mineral having well ordered Carbon atoms. However, lab grown
diamond is not a mineral because it is not formed by geological processes.
• Graphite Graphite is also a mineral. It has same composition as diamond (carbon) but has
different crystal structure
• Sugar Although sugar is crystalline and has a well defined chemical composition, it is not
considered a mineral because sugar is not made by geological processes
• Ice Ice is a mineral because it is formed by natural processes (such as those in glaciers and
frozen lakes), has well defined composition (H2O) and crystal structure. Water is not a mineral
because it is liquid.
• Granite Granite is formed by geological processes, but it is not a mineral. Granite is an igneous
rock that is composed of many different minerals.
• Sandstone Sandstone is formed by geological process, but it is not a mineral. Sandstone is a
sedimentary rock that is composed of different minerals.
• Halite (NaCl) Common salt (rock salt) is a mineral because it is formed by geological processes
(eg. precipitation), has well defined chemical composition (NaCl) and crystal structure.
• Calcite (CaCO3) Calcite is a mineral because it is formed by geological processes (eg. biogenesis,
precipitation), has well defined chemical composition (CaCO3) and crystal structure.
 BUILDING BLOCKS OF
CRYSTALS

UNIT CELL

ATOMS MOLECULES

MINERAL CRYSTAL

COLLECTION OF UNIT CELLS

MINERAL PROPERTIES IN
HAND SPECIMEN
COLOR
COLOR
• Elements that give a mineral its colour are called chromophores. Eg.
Fe gives red colour to many minerals, Cu gives blue colour
• Some minerals are nearly always of the same colour like azurite
(blue) and sulfur (yellow) and they are known as idiochromatic
minerals. In these the chromophores are the major element.
• Many minerals come in a variety of colours the changes are caused
by slight chemical impurities or through exposure to heat. Example of
such minerals are quartz, diamond, beryl, corundum etc. and they
are known as allochromatic minerals.
• In allochromatic minerals minor or trace elements (sometimes also
called impurities) control the colour. For example small amount of
Chromium (Cr) gives ruby its red colour.
STREAK
• Streak is closely related to colour but is a different property because
the colour of the mineral may be different than the colour of the
streak.
• Streak is actually the colour of the powder of a mineral.
• Proper way to test for streak is to rub a mineral across a tile of white
unglazed porcelain and to examine the color of he eak lef
behind.
• Every mineral has an inherent streak no matter what colour it is. For
example, calcite occurs in many different colours, shapes and
varieties. But every single variety of calcite has a white streak.
• The minerals hematite and galena can be confused as both have a
gray colour. However, hematite’s streak is cherry-red, while galena’s
streak is lead gray. Hematite is probably the most well known
example of streak with its completely surprising streak colour.
LUSTRE
• Lustre refers to the general appearance OR SHEEN of a mineral
surface in reflected light.
• It refers to the way in which a mineral reflects light.
 Metallic
Adamantine Dull Greasy

Resinous Silky
Submetallic
Pearly

Waxy
Vitreous
CLASSIFICATION OF LUSTRE
DIAPHENITY
• Refe o he mine al abili o an mi ligh
• Transparent: Transmit most of the light. eg. colourless quartz
• Translucent: Partially transmit light most silicate minerals
• Opaque: Do not transmit light. Most opaque minerals have metallic
lustre. Eg. Pyrite, most sulphide and oxide minerals
HABIT
• Habit refers to the overall
shape of a crystal or
aggregate of crystals.
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
SHAPE
• Minerals are crystalline, but perfectly formed crystals are rare
• Euhedral Crystals: Well formed geometric crystal shape, faces on a
mineral are flat and fully developed
• Anhedral Crystals: No crystal faces are developed and no
recognizable geometric shape
• Subhedral Crystals: Crystal faces are not well developed i.e. these
lie between euhedral and anhedral
• Amorphous: Random atomic structure. These substances are not
crystalline
 ISOTROPIC AND
ANISOTROPIC MINERALS
• Isotropic Minerals: Same properties in all the directions. All
amorphous compounds and some minerals (eg. garnet) are isotropic
• Anisotropic Minerals: Most of the minerals are anisotropic. That is
they have different properties in different directions

• OSTWALD RIPENING: Larger crystals are more stable compared to

smaller crystals. This is because they have higher surface area to
volume ratio. Hence, with time larger crystals can consume smaller
crystals (eg. during magma crystallization) by diffusion. This process is
called Ostwald ripening
HARDNESS
• Hardness of minerals is their resistance against
cracking and it is determined by the presence
of weak bond in the mineral. Though integral,
but hardness is a relative property of a mineral
and thus its estimation is dependant upon its
mode of determination.
• Hardness is commonly determined on the basis
of Moh relative scale of hardness exhibited by
some common minerals.
• This scale is not linear, the difference in
hardness between the first standard minerals
being much less than that between the last
ones.
MOH S RELATIVE SCALE OF HARDNESS
 SPECIFIC GRAVITY
• Specific Gravity (SG) indicates how many times more the mineral weighs compared to an
equal amount of water.
• In cgs units density is grams per cm3, and since water has a density of 1 g/cm3, specific
gravity would have the same numerical value as density, but no units (units would cancel).
CLEAVAGE
• Crystals often contain planes of atoms along which the bonding
between the atoms is weaker than along other planes.
• In such a case, if the mineral is struck with a hard object, it will tend to
break along these planes. This property of breaking along specific
planes, which are parallel to possible crystal faces is termed cleavage.
• Cleavage can mainly be of the following types: perfect, imperfect,
good, distinct, indistinct and poor.
• Cleavage is said to be basal when it occurs perpendicular to the major
axis of the mineral and prismatic when it occurs parallel to the major
axis.
FRACTURE
• If the mineral contains no planes of weakness, it will break along
random directions called fracture.
• Several different kinds of fracture patterns are observed. Fracture can
be confused with cleavage.
• Cleavage and fracture differ in that cleavage is the break of a crystal
face where a new face (resulting in a smooth plane) is formed,
he ea f ac e i he chi ing of a mine al
• All minerals exhibit a fracture, even those that exhibit cleavage. If a
mineral with cleavage is chipped a certain way, it will fracture rather
than cleave.
TENACITY
• Tenacity is how tough a mineral is, how easily a mineral will break,
split, bend, crumble or change shape.
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
• There are many minerals that remain more or less affected by the
magnetic field.
• Magnetism derives from a property of electrons called magnetic
moment that results from their spinning and orbiting motions.
• The sum of all the magnetic moments of all the atoms in a mineral
gives it magnetism.

Garnet, hornblende and

many pyroxenes
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
• Pure feldspars, halite, and quartz all exhibit weak diamagnetism.
• An impure feldspar can contain iron (Fe), which results in
paramagnetism.
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
• Minerals can be grouped under
different classes, depending on the
electrical properties.
• Piezoelectric: A number of dielectric
crystals (eg. quartz, tourmaline) has
the property of acquiring polarization,
i.e. dipole moments under externally
applied mechanical stress.
• Pyroelectric: Mineral charged by
temperature change
• Because they are difficult to measure,
electrical properties are not usually
used for mineral identification.
REACTION TO HCl
• Reaction to dilute HCl (5%) is diagnostic of calcite mineral
• Drops of acid placed on coarse samples of calcite cause obvious
bubbling or fizzing called effervescence.
• Dolomite is closely related carbonate mineral
• Dolomite shows effervescence when finely powdered but not when
coarse
CaCO3
CaF2

KAlSi3O8
SiO2
Al2SiO4(F, OH)2
Al2O3
C