Mineralogy

Mineralogy is the branch of geology science that

deals with the study of various aspects of minerals
i.e. their origin,properties,composition ,classification
etc.

Mineral:Mineral is defined as the naturally occuring

inorganic substance having definite chemical
composition in crystalline state.Most of the minerals
are solid but some minerals are in liquid and gaseous
in their natural state . Minerals are compounds of
their natural constituent elements. For example the
minerals Quartz(Sio2) is a compound of the elements
Silicon(Si) and Oxygen(O).

Formation of minerals
Minerals are natural products in solid state and may
be formed in a number of ways involving the
solidification from liquid or gasses state . The most
common process or mineral solidification from
hot,molten materila, the other process is rthe
crystallization from saturated sloution of common
salt or by precipitation as in the calcite from hot
springs .
The earth is made up of >80 elements (excluding
the short loved radioactive ones)which contains only
300 elements ,since only the most stable one can
occur as minerals because less stable compounds

either do not form in nature or decompose some

after they form .

Identification of minerals
Minerals can be identified from the study of their
properties .There are three types of properties.

Physical Properties: Study of external

appearance of minerals.

Chemical Properties:study of chemical properties

of the minerals .

Optical properties:Study of properties when light

passing through mineral in thin section under
Polarizing MIcroscope.

Physical Properties Of Minerals

Each mineral is generally characterized with a set of
qualities some of which are always distinctive and
differentiate it from other minerals. The properties
studied from the body of the minerals e.g its
shape,colour,shine,hardness etc are called physical
properties .

1.colour
It is the apperance of a substance in light and
depends upon the composition and structure of the
substance .Colours may be either of inheriet or of an
exotic type . Inherit is related to the chemical

compostion and is more diagnostic whereas exotic

colours are due to small traces of impurities and may
vary within wide limits. The colours cannot be taken
as a conclusive property in the identification of
minerals but is generally helpful .

2.Luster
It is the way in which a mineral reflects light from its
surface and may be called as the shine of the
minerals . It varies with the composition and the
reflecting power of mineral surface.
Types of Luster
Metallic Luster : if the mineral's shine resembles to
that of shine of
any metal the
resulting called metallic luster e.g Silvary ,
Golden ,copper like etc.
Non metallic Luster :If the shine resembles with that
of non metals . Non metallic lusters are of following
types :
Adamantine: Highly brilliant reflection like that of
Diamond .
Pearly: The shine that resembles with that of
pearls,jewels etc Labradorite,Musocovite
Silky : The shine that resembles with that of silk . e.g
asbestos.gypsum etc
Vitreous: The reflection resembles like that of glass

e.g quartz,calcite etc

Resinous: The shine resembles like that of resin e.g
sulphur,talc
Earthy: If the mineral give no shine on light , it is
called earthy

3.Streak

: It is defined as the colour of mineral

in powder form. Some minerals have entirely
different colour than that of their powder form.For
example mineral chromate has greenish black colour
in their external appearance while their appearance
in powder form is greenish brown.Similarly the
mineral Hematite has balck colour in their external
appearance while their appearance in powder from is
cherry-red and the mineral Pyrite has brass-yellow
colour in their external appearance while their
apparance in powder from is black.

4.Transparancy :

The transparancy of
mineral may be defined as the its capacity to pass
through it .The amount of light is transmitted by a
solid varies in intensity . The following terms are
adopted to express the different degrees in the
power of transmitting light :
Type sof transpirancy
Transparent : The mineral which allows the light to
pass fully and an object on other sides are seen
cleraly through mineral e.g quartz (colourless
varities).

Semi transparent: When the light is passed partially

the object are seen but the outline are not distict e.g
calcite (slighty milky varities)
Translucent:The mineral which allows only some
diffused light to passs through it and object are not
seen , e.g Sulphur,quartz,calcite(milky white
varieties).
Opaque:when no light is transmitted even on the thin
edges of small splinters ,the mineral is said to be
opaque e.g orthoclase,magnetite,hornblende etc

5.Hardness
Hardness is important property of mineral .It is
defined as the resistrance that a mineral offers to
stracth. Hardness of mineral may be tested by
rubbing the mineral specimen over a fine cut file and
nothing the amount of powder and degrees of noise
produced in that time of rubbing . The less the
powder and greater the noise the harder the mineral
is . A soft mineral produced more powder and a little
noise. The amount of powder and noise are
compared with those produced by the minerals of set
used as standard samples for hardness testes.A
series 10 minerals that are used as scale of hardness
is developed by Mineralogist F.Moh,which is known as
Mohs' Hardness Scale.
Besides these minerals of Mohs' scale of hardness ,
certain ceratin other substances can be used in field

to identify hardness of minerals.Knife blade has

hardness 5-5.5,glass plate has hardness 7.0
fingernail has hardness 2-2.5 and copper coin has
hardness 3.0 . These substance are useful tools for
identification of minerals in field.

6.Cleavage
Crystallized mineral has tendency to break along
certain direction producing more or less smooth
surfaces. This tendency of mineral to break along the
planes is known as Cleavage . The planes along
which the mineral break are known as cleavage
plane. The cleavage plane are always parallel to
some faces of the crystal from typical of minerals .
It is related to the internal(atomic structure of
minerals .Atoms are more closely packed in the plane
of cleavage than in direction right angle to it .Mineral
may no have cleavage ,one set ,two set ,three set ,
and up to six sets.
The mineral Quartz (SiO2) has no cleavage
,Orthoclase Feldspar has two sets Muscovite has one
set and calcite has three sets of cleavage.

7.Fracture
The term fracture is used to define the form or
kindobtaind by the breaking in a direction other than
that of cleavage in crystalline minerals and in any
direction in massive minerals . There are different
kinds of fracture, which are described below

Conchoidal: When a mineral breaks with the curved

concavities more or less deep . e.g Quartz
Even : When the broken surface is smooth and flat
e.g calcite
Uneven: The surface of the fracture is rough and
entirely irregular e.g Chromate
Hackely: the surface is sharp and jagged as in broken
iron e.g Native copper

Splinterly:When mineral breaks with the rough ,

woody , farcture e.g Serpentine
Earthy: soft and smooth e.g as in the fractrure in the
chalk

8.Teacity:

It is the resistence that the minerals

offers to breaking ,chrushing,bending and tearing
isknown as tenacity . The mineral may have different
types of tenacity ,which are described below:
Brittle:When part of minerals seprate and breaks in
powder or grains .on attempting to cut it e.g
calcite,quartz.
Sectile: The minerals that can be cut into their layers
with a knife without failing to powder e.g
Talc,Graphite.

Ductile : The mineral that can be extended out into

thin wires e.g Copper
Malleable : the minerals that can be hammered out
into thin sheets e.g Gold , Silver.
Flexible : The minerals that can be bend without
braeking and reamains bend after the bending force
is removed e.g chlorite
Elastic : When a flexible minerals on being bent
regains its origional position as the bending force is
removed e.g Muscovite and Biotite.

9.Specific gravity
The specific gravity of mineral may be defined as the
ratio of its weght to the weight of an equal volume of
water at 4OC.The specific gravity of mineral depends
upon the weight and spacing of atoms which are
arranged in minerals . A mineral possessing heavier
and closely spaced atoms will have higher specific
gravity, while a mineral possessing lighter and
widely spaced stoms will have low specific gravity .
Thus the specific gravity is represented of its atomic
arrangement. The minerals of earth's chrust have
been found to possess specific gravity varying in
between 1-20 , but most of them do have in between
2-7. The mineral Haematite has 4.9-5.3 5.3
,Magnetite has 5.17,Hornblende has 3.2-3.5
Muscovite has 2.7-3.1 calcite has 2.72-2.9 Quartz has
2.6.

Other properties of minerals

Besides the various physical propertes , there are
several other properties of mineral i.e chemical and
optical properties.

Optical Properties
Besides the various physical properties , there are
several other chharacteristics of mineral , which can
be studied under the polarizing Microscope.These
properties are known as optical properties which help
in more precise identification of even minute crystals
of minerals . It helps in the identification of rocks,
which have assemblager of different types of
minerals . These are the properties of minerals
realted to light as observed under the microscope .
The optical properties of minerals can be studied in
thin section of mineral sample using polarizing
Microscope under plane plane polarizing light under
cross Nichols.

Chemical properties
Minerals has definite chemical composition .hence it
has chemical properties which can be found out from
detailed chemical analysis of minerals sample .A
chemical analysis of mineral , a chemical formula of
mineral is determined ,which helps to identify
unknown mineral