Minerals and

Rocks
 Lecture Outline

 What are minerals?

 Common rock-forming minerals

 Physical properties of minerals

 Basic rock types

 The rock cycle

 Minerals
A mineral is a naturally occurring, solid
crystalline substance, generally inorganic,
with a specific chemical composition
 Natural
 Solid
 Atoms arranged in orderly repeating 3D array:
crystalline
 Not part of the tissue of an organism
 Composition fixed or varies within defined limits

Minerals are the “building blocks” of rock

Large individual crystals (rare)

Mass of small grains: each is a crystal,

but grown up against each other
Atomic Structure of Minerals
 NaCl - sodium chloride
Halite
 Chemical Bonds: Ionic
 Electrical attraction between ions of opposite charge
 Bond strength increases with the electrical charges of the
ions
 Bond strength decreases as the distance between the
ions increases
 Most minerals are this kind of compound
Ionic Bonding example:
halite

Cation Anion
Na+ Cl-
 Covalent Bonds:
 Electron sharing
 Generally stronger than ionic bonds (e.g., diamond)
 Crystallization of Minerals
 Need starting material with atoms that can come
together in the proper proportions
 Growth from a liquid or a gas

 Time and space for crystallization

 Appropriate temperature and pressure

 Examples
 Magma that has cooled below its melting point
 Supersaturated solution --> precipitation
 Crystallization of Minerals

 Crystals begin as an initial “seed” - a microscopic

crystal

 Atoms keep being added in a 3D array, repeating the

basic arrangement

 Crystal faces are based on the array structure

 Cations and Anions
 Anions are typically large

 Cations are relatively small

 Crystal structure is
determined largely by the
arrangement of the anions
Common cations and anions

Radii given in angstroms; 10-8 cm

 Ions can be compound
 So far, we’ve talked about individual atomic ions

 Many common minerals are silicates

SiO4 4-

Complex ions act

as a single ion in
forming crystal
structure
 Cation Substitution

 Crystal structure determined by those large anions

 Various cations can substitute for each other in many

minerals
 Same crystal structure
 Different chemical composition
 Polymorphs
 Minerals with the same composition, but different
crystal structure.
Common Rock-Forming Minerals
Minerals fall into a small number of related “families” based
mainly on the anion in them
 Silicates
 Most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust
 Silicate ion (tetrahedron), SiO44-

 Quartz (SiO2), K-feldspar (KAlSi3O8), olivine

((Mg, Fe)2SiO4), kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4)
Quartz (SiO2)
 Silicate structure
 Most of the most common rocks in the crust are silicates

 Silicate tetrahedra can combine in several ways to form

many common minerals

 Typical cations:

K+, Ca+, Na+, Mg2+, Al3+, Fe2+

Different numbers of oxygen ions are shared among tetrahedra
 Carbonates

 Cations with carbonate ion (CO32-)

 Calcite (CaCO3), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), siderite

(FeCO3), smithsonite (ZnCO3)

 Make up many common rocks including limestone and

marble

 Very important for CCS!

Calcite (CaCO3)
CaCO3 + 2H+ = Ca2+ + CO2 + H2O
Smithsonite (ZnCO3)
 Oxides

 Compounds of metallic cations and oxygen

 Important for many metal ores needed to make things

(e.g., iron, chromium, titanium)

 Ores are economically useful (i.e., possible to mine)

mineral deposits
Hematite (Fe2O3)
 Sulfides

 Metallic cations with sulfide (S2-) ion

 Important for ores of copper, zinc, nickel, lead, iron
 Pyrite (FeS2), galena (PbS)
Galena (PbS)
 Sulfates

 Minerals with sulfate ion (SO42-)

 Gypsum (CaSO4.H2O), anhydrite (CaSO4)

Gypsum
 Gypsum

Cave of the Crystals

•1,000 feet depth in the silver

and lead Naica Mine

•150 degrees, with 100 %

humidity

•4-ft diameter columns 50 ft

length
 Identification of Minerals

 Chemical composition (microprobes and wet chemical

methods)

 Crystal structure (X-ray diffraction)

 Physical properties
 Physical properties

 Hardness
 Physical properties
 Hardness

 Cleavage: tendency of minerals to break along flat

planar surfaces into geometries that are determined
by their crystal structure
Cleavage in mica
Cleavage in calcite
Halite (NaCl)
 Physical properties

 Hardness

 Cleavage

 Fracture: tendency to break along other surfaces

(not cleavage planes)
Conchoidal fractures
 Physical properties
 Hardness

 Cleavage

 Fracture

 Luster (metallic, vitreous, resinous, earthy, etc.)

 Color (often a poor indicator; streak color is better)

 Specific gravity

 Crystal habit (shape)

 Rocks
An aggregate of one or more minerals; or a body of
undifferentiated mineral matter (e.g., obsidian); or of
solid organic matter (e.g., coal)

 More than one crystal

 Volcanic glass
 Solidified organic matter
 Appearance controlled by composition and size and
arrangement of aggregate grains (texture)
 Rock Types

 Igneous
 Form by solidification of molten rock (magma)
 Sedimentary
 Form by lithification of sediment (sand, silt, clay,
shells)
 Metamorphic
 Form by transformations of preexisting rocks (in
the solid state)
 Igneous Rocks

 Intrusive
 Extrusive
 Intrusive (plutonic)

 Form within the Earth

 Slow cooling
 Interlocking large crystals
 Example = granite
 Extrusive (volcanic)

 Form on the surface of the Earth as a result of volcanic

eruption
 Rapid cooling
 Glassy and/or fine-grained texture
 Example = basalt
Basalt: igneous extrusive
Intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks
Sedimentary Rocks
 Origin of sediment

 Produced by weathering and erosion or by

precipitation from solution
 Weathering = chemical and mechanical breakdown of
rocks
 Erosion = processes that get the weathered material
moving
 Sediment types

 Clastic sediments are derived from the physical

deposition of particles produced by weathering and
erosion of preexisting rock.
 Chemical and biochemical sediments are precipitated
from solution.
 Clastic

Chemical/biochemical
 Lithification

 The process that converts sediments into solid rock

 Compaction
 Cementation
Cemented sandstone
Metamorphic Rocks
Regional and contact metamorphism
conglomerate

metaconglomerate
granite

gneiss
The Rock
Cycle
The Rock Cycle