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MINERALOGY
Brucal, Nino
Castillo, Jerico
Giron, Rachel
Maranga, Ed Paul
Madrid, Georjeff
Reyes, Warren
Ugalde, Reinel
BSCE 1-2
I. Introduction
Minerals are defined as solid, inorganic, naturally occuring substances with a definite
chemical formula and general structure.
3. Metamorphism - formed under the influence of high temperatures and pressures with and
without the active involvement of chemically active solution
2. Crystal Chemistry - deals with how the chemical composition of a mineral relates to its
cyrtsal structure
3. Physical Mineralogy - concerned with the physical properties and description of minerals
4. Determinative Mineralogy - deals with identifying unknown minerals, also using the
physical properties of minerals
6. Optical Mineralogy - deals with determining the crystal structure of minerals using light
7. X-ray Mineralogy - uses x-ray diffraction techniques to determine the crystal structure of
minerals
IV. Crystallography
The following physical properties of minerals can be easily used to identify a mineral:
4. Cleavage - the tendency of a mineral to break along smooth parallel to zones of weak
bonding
5. Crystalline Structure - arrangement of the atoms, molecules or ions that make up the crystal
and how they are joined
7. Tenacity - describes how the particles of a mineral hold together or resist separation
8. Magnetism - characteristic that allows a mineral to attract or repel other magnetic materials
9. Luster - property of minerals that indicates how much the surface of a mineral reflects light
10. Odor - most minerals have no odor unless they are acted upon in one of the following
ways: moistened, heated, breathed upon or rubbed
12. Specific Gravity - ratio of the weight of the mineral to the weight of an equal amount of
water.
More than 4,000 minerals are present on earth according to the scientists. A small group
of these minerals makes up 90% of the rocks of the earth’s crust.
Be one of the original minerals present at the time of a crustal rock’s formation
Hardness: 5
Color: Typically green but also yellow, blue, reddish, brown and purple
Streak: White
Cleavage/Fracture: Poor/Conchoidal
Crystal Habit/ Mode of Occurence: Prismatic (Hexagonal Prism with hexagonal pyramid
orpinacoid or both as termination), acicular/granular, massive
Garnet
Hardness: 6.5-7.5
Streak: White
Cleavage/Fracture: Non-existent/Conchoidal
Quartz
Color: Variable - Clear is most common (pure quartz), also white or cloudy (milky quartz);
but can be very variable - purple (amethyst), pink (rose quartz), grey or brown to black
(smoky quartz) are also common; yellow to orange (citrine) are more rare; cryptocrystalline
varieties can be multicolored
Streak: White
Luster: Vitreous
Cleavage/Fracture: Non-existent/Conchoidal
Crystal Habit/ Mode of Occurence: Prismatic (hexagonal prism terminated with a six sided
pyramid )/ crysptocrystalline/ massive
Isometric System
All three axes are equal length and intersect at right angles.
Hexacisochedron (pyrite)
Tetragonal System
Two axes are equal length and are in the same plane, the main axis is either longer or
shorter, and all three intersect at right angles.
Trapezohedrons
Hexacisochedron (pyrite)
Hexagonal System
Three out of the four axes are in one plane, of the same length, and intersect each other at
angles of 60 degrees. The fourth axis is of a different length and intersects the others at right
angles.
Twelve-sided pyramids
Double pyramids
Trigonal System
Axes and angles in this system are similar to the hexagonal system, and the two systems
are often combined as hexagonal. In the cross-section of a trigonal crystal there will be three
sides. Based on a triangular inner structure.
Rhombohedra
Scalenohedra
Orthorhombic System
Three axes, all of different lengths, are right at angles to each other. Based on a rhombic
(diamond-shaped) inner structure.
Pinacoids
Rhombic prisms
Pyramids
Double pyramids
Monoclinic Systems
Three axes, each of different lengths. Two are right angles to each other and the third is
inclined. Based on a parallelogram inner structure.
Triclinic System
All three axes are of different lengths and inclined towards each other.
Amorphous
No crystal structure. Most of these are either cooled too quickly to crystallise - such as
obsidian or moldavite or are organic - such as amber
VIII. Summary
Minerals are defined as solid, inorganic, naturally occuring substances with a definite
chemical formula and general structure.
There are 3 types to form a mineral: formed from magma, secondary process and
metamorphism.
The physical properties of minerals are, color, odor, taste, luster, crystalline structure,
tenacity, diaphaneity, magnetism, streak, hardness and cleavage.
The civil engineers need to know the properties of rocks precisely to enable them to
consider different rocks for any required purpose, i.e., as foundation rocks, as road meta,
as concrete aggregate, building stones, as flooring or roofing materials, as decorative
material, etc. All properties of rocks are, in turn, depended on the properties of their
constituent minerals. Thus, properties of civil engineering importance such as their
strength, durability and appearance of rocks can be assessed only with the knowledge of
the minerals that form rocks i.e. rock forming minerals.
The economic minerals, since they are scare, do not influence the properties of rocks and
are hence irrelevant from the civil engineering point of view. However, if they happen to
occur in large quantities, their economic value will not permit them to be used either as
construction materials or as foundation sites.
X. Reference
http://www.geologyin.com/2014/11/crystal-structure-and-crystal-system.html
http://www.webmineral.com/help/CrystalSystem.shtml#.XIYt3noRWDY
http://www.rocksandminerals4u.com/properties of minerals.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal system
http://civilengineering-notes.weebly.com/rock-forming-minerals.html