Mineral assembly

• Most minerals will deal with ionic bonds

between cations and anions (or anionic
subunits which are themselves mostly
covalent but do not dissociate)
• Assembly of minerals can be viewed as
the assembly of individual ions/subunits
into a repeatable framework
• This repeatable framework is a crystal or
crystalline material
 Mineral Assembly
• Isotropic – same properties in every
direction
• Anisotropic- different properties in different
directions  most minerals are this type
• Assembly of ions from melts, water, or
replacement reactions which form bonds
• The matrices the ions are in always contain
many different ions – different conditions of
formation for the same mineral creates
differences…
 Polymorphs
• Two minerals with the same chemical formula but
different chemical structures
• What can cause these transitions??

•sphalerite-wurtzite
•pyrite-marcasite
•calcite-aragonite
•Quartz forms (10)
•diamond-graphite
 Complexes  Minerals
• Metals in solution are coordinated with ligands
(Such as H2O, Cl-, etc.)
• Formation of a sulfide mineral requires direct
bonding between metals and sulfide
– requires displacement of these ligands and
deprotonation of the sulfide
• Cluster development is the result of these
requirements
 Mineral growth
• Ions come together in a crystal – charge is
balanced across the whole
• How do we get large crystals??
– Different mechanisms for the growth of
particular minerals
– All a balance of kinetics (how fast) and
thermodynamics (most stable)
 Nucleation
• Aggregation of molecules builds larger and
larger molecules – becomes a nucleus at
some point
• Nucleus – size of this is either big enough
to continue growth or will re-dissolve
(Critical Size)
• Overall rate of nucleus formation vs.
crystal growth determines crystal
size/distribution
 Crystal Shapes
• Shape is determined by atomic
arrangements
• Some directions grow faster than others

• Morphology can be distinct for the

conditions and speed of mineral
nucleation/growth (and growth along
specific axes)
 Ostwald Ripening
Larger crystals are more stable than smaller crystals
– the energy of a system will naturally trend towards
the formation of larger crystals at the expense of
smaller ones

In a sense, the smaller crystals are ‘feeding’ the

larger ones through a series of dissolution and
precipitation reactions
Figure 3-17. “Ostwald ripening” in a monomineralic material. Grain boundaries with significant
negative curvature (concave inward) migrate toward their center of curvature, thus eliminating
smaller grains and establishing a uniformly coarse-grained equilibrium texture with 120 o grain
intersections (polygonal mosaic). © John Winter and Prentice Hall
 Small crystals…
• In the absence of ripening, get a lot of very
small crystals forming and no larger
crystals.
• This results in a more massive
arrangement
• Microcrystalline examples (Chert)
• Massive deposits (common in ore
deposits)
 Topotactic Alignment
•Alignment of smaller grains in space – due to magnetic
attraction, alignment due to biological activity (some microbes
make a compass with certain minerals), or chemical/
structural alignment – aka oriented attachment
 Igneous Textures

Figure 3-1. Idealized rates of

crystal nucleation and growth as
a function of temperature below
the melting point. Slow cooling
results in only minor
undercooling (Ta), so that rapid
growth and slow nucleation
produce fewer coarse-grained
crystals. Rapid cooling permits
more undercooling (Tb), so that
slower growth and rapid
nucleation produce many fine-
grained crystals. Very rapid
cooling involves little if any
nucleation or growth (Tc)
producing a glass.