MINERALOGY

Definition of Mineral: A mineral is naturally occurring solid substance

with definite chemical composition and definite atomic structure.
Definition of Ore: A mineral which contains a metallic element in a
quantity that can be exploited and extracted for use at an economical
cost.
Example: Bauxite, Haematite
Megascopic Study of Minerals: Study of Minerals in hand specimens.
Physical Properties of Minerals:
Each mineral is generally characterized with a set of properties, some
of which are always distinctive and differences are related to the body
of a mineral, e.g. its color, shine, shape, hardness etc; these are aptly
termed as Physical Properties.
Physical Properties can also be classified as 1. Intrinsic 2. Extrinsic
Intrinsic: A physical property which is the direct result of the internal
chemical and structural organization of the crystal. Some of the
important intrinsic physical properties are form, cleavage, fracture,
hardness, specific gravity.
Extrinsic: A physical property that in not necessarily a unique product
of the atomic arrangement of the mineral. Some of the important
extrinsic physical properties are color, lustre

Various important Physical Properties are listed below:

1. Color:
The color of any object is a light dependent property: It is the
appearance of the particular object in light. A particular color is produced
by reflection of some and absorption of other components of white light.
A mineral shows color of that wavelength of the white light which is
not absorbed by it by virtue of its composition and atomic structure.
In nature, minerals of all perceivable colors are known to occur. Quite
a few common minerals generally occur in characteristic colors so that they
can be easily identified from their colors.
Examples: Orthoclase: Pink, Biotite: Black, Kyanite: Blue, white

2. Form:
The physical make up of a mineral is expressed by the term FORM
and is often quite helpful in identifying a particular mineral.
Following are a few common structural forms observed in minerals.
1. Massive or Amorphous: The mineral occurs in massive form. There is
no evidence of orderly arrangement of atoms. Neither a crystal face
nor a cleavage is seen. Example: Agate
2. Tabular: The mineral occurs in the form of a flattened, square,
rectangular or rhombohedral shape. Examples: Calcite, Orthoclase
3. Elongated: The mineral is in form of a thin or thick elongated,
column-like crystals. It is also referred as columnar structure.
Examples: Quartz, Hornblende

4. Bladed: The mineral appears as it is composed of thin, flat, blade-like

overlapping. Example: Kyanite.
5. Crystalline: The mineral occurs in crystalline form belonging to
various crystalline systems. Example: Pyrite (Cubic)
6. Nodular: The mineral occurs in form of nodules. Example: Flint
7. Pisolitic: The mineral comprises of pisoliths (in small rounded
accretionary form). (pea like) Example: Bauxite
8. Lamellar: The mineral is made up of relatively thick, flexible, leaf-like
sheets. Example: Vermiculite
9. Foliated: The structure is similar to lamellar in broader sense but in
this case the individual sheets are paper thin, even thinner and can
be easily separated. Example: Muscovite (Mica)
10. Fibrous: When the mineral is composed of fibers, generally
separable, either quite easily or with some difficulty. Example:
Asbestos
11. Radiating: The mineral is made up of needle like or fibrous crystals
which appear originating from a common point thereby giving a
radiating appearance. Example: zeolite
12. Granular: The mineral occurs in the form of densely packed mass of
small grain like crystals. Example: chromite

13. Botryoidal: When the mineral surface is in the form of rounded, bulb
like overlapping globules or projecions ( bunch of grapes ) Example:
Haematite
Few other forms:
1. Reniform: Similar to botryoidal form but the shape of the bulbs or
projections resemble to human kidneys. Example: Haematite
2. Mammillary: Similar to botryoidal but the projections are very
conspicuous in size, overlapping in arrangement and rounded in shape.
Example: Malachyte.

3. Lustre:
It is the shine of a mineral.
technically, it is intensity of reflection of light from the mineral surface.
Various type of lustres are as below:
1. Metallic: Shine resembles to known metals.
Example: Galena, Magnetite
2. Vitreous: Shine typical of glass.
Example: Quartz
3. Pearly: Resembling shine of pearls.
Example: Muscovite
4. Silky: Like shine of pure silk.
Example: Gypsum

5. Resinous: Oily shine, waxy or greasy.

Example: Opal
6. Dull or Earthy: Here, the shine is almost absent because no light is
reflected due to highly porous nature of the mineral.
Example: bauxite

4. Cleavage:
In some minerals, there exist planar surfaces within the structure wherein
the bonds are weaker than in other directions. If a mineral is struck at one
of these weak regions, it will break along smooth surfaces.
Cleavage planes are the planes of easiest fractures.
A mineral may have cleavage in one, two or three directions. Further, the
degree of ease in splitting along cleavage directions may vary in the same
mineral.
Since cleavage directions are always parallel to certain crystal faces in a
mineral, these can be described as such. For example, cubic cleavage,
rhombohedral cleavage, prismatic cleavage, basal cleavage etc.
Various types of cleavages can also be termed as basal cleavage, one set
cleavage, two set cleavage, three set cleavage, pinacoidal cleavage etc.
Example: Muscovite, calcite, kyanite

5. Fracture:
The appearance of broken surface of a mineral in a direction other than
that of cleavage is generally expressed by the term fracture.

Common types of fractures are:

1. Even: When the broken surface is smooth and flat. Example: Chert
2. Uneven: When the mineral breaks with an irregular surface. Example:
Fluorite
3. Conchoidal: The broken surface of the mineral shows broadly concentric
rings or concavities. When these concavities are deep, the fracture is
termed as conchoidal and when these concavities are faint, the fracture is
termed as sub conchoidal. Example: Quartz.

6. Hardness:
Hardness can be defined as the resistance which a mineral offers to an
external deformation action such as scratching, abrasion, rubbing.
Hardness of a mineral depends on its chemical composition and atomic
arrangement.
In 1822, Austrian mineralogist F. Mohs proposed a relative, broadly
quantitative scale of hardness of minerals assigning values between 1 and
10. It is called, Mohs' scale of hardness.

The mohs' scale of hardness comprises ten minerals arranged in order of

ascending hardness; the softest is assigned a value of 1 and the hardest a
value of 10.
Table 1: Mohs' Scale of Hardness
Standard
Mineral

Talc
Gypsum
Calcite
Fluorite
Apatite
Orthoclase
Quartz
Topaz
Corundum
Diamond

Hardness
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

7. Streak:
Streak is the color of the finely powdered mineral as obtained by
scratching or rubbing the mineral over a rough unglazed porcelain plate.
The plate is often termed as streak plate.
Colorless and transparent minerals will always give a colorless streak. The
colored minerals, especially of ore groups, give typically characteristic
streaks.
Example: Haematite: Cherry red or brown streak, Magnetite: Black Streak

8. Specific Gravity:
In mineralogy, the term specific gravity signifies the ratio between the
density of a mineral and that of water at 4 degree Celsius. Since it is a ratio,
it has no units.
Specific gravity of minerals depend primarily on Chemical composition and
Atomic arrangement of minerals.
Examples: Quartz: 2.65, Galena: 7.5, Native Gold: 19.3, Haematite: 5.2
Specific Gravity is calculated by the following relationship:
Specific Gravity = Weight of the mineral in air d
Loss of weight in liquid
Where d = density of the liquid used ( In case of water it is 1 )
The Jolly's balance, the Beam Balance and the walker's steelyard balance
are commonly used to measure specific gravity of minerals.
The properties other than physical properties which help in identifying
minerals are chemical composition, crystalline system etc.

Reference:
Engineering and General Geology (sixth edition), Parbin Singh.
http://www.geosci.ipfw.edu/PhysSys/Unit_3/minerals.html

Prepared by:
Praneta V. Trivedi
M.Sc. Geology