Minerals and Rocks

Learning Objectives
▪ I can describe how much minerals are part of our lives.
▪ I can describe minerals as a life-long hobby (gemstone collectors)
▪ I can describe the importance and use of minerals to human
development.
▪ I can develop a systematic way of identifying minerals..
What is Mineral?
▪ Naturally occurring, inorganic solid with orderly crystalline
structure and a definite chemical composition.
▪ These are the basic building blocks of rocks.

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Do you consider water a
mineral?

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How about snowflake or
tube ice?
A. Mineral Properties
Mineral Name HALITE (TABLE SALT)
Luster non-metallic – vitreous;
transparent to translucent
Hardness soft (2-2.5)
Color white
Streak white
Crystal Form / Habit cubic
Cleavage perfect cubic
Specific Gravity light (2.2)
Other Properties salty taste; very soluble; produces
reddish spark in flame
Luster non-metallic – vitreous;
transparent to translucent

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Different mineral properties
1. Luster – it is the quality and intensity of reflected light exhibited
by the mineral.

a. Metallic – generally opaque and exhibit a resplendent shine

similar to a polished metal

b. Non-metallic – vitreous (glassy), adamantine (brilliant/diamond-

like), resinous, silky, pearly, dull
(earthy), greasy, etc.
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Different mineral properties
2. Hardness – it is a measure of the resistance of a mineral (not specifically
surface) to abrasion.

a. Use of a hardness scale designed by German geologist/mineralogist

Friedrich Mohs in 1812 (Mohs Scale of Hardness).

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Moh’s Scale of
Hardness

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b. What are the pros and cons in using the
Mohs scale of hardness?
PROS CONS
Easy to do the test The scale is qualitative and not
quantitative
Can be done anywhere, anytime as Cannot be used to test accurate
long as hardness of
the place is not dark industrial materials
Mohs scale is highly relevant for  
field
geologists to roughly identify
minerals using
scratch kits
Can be done without or few kits –  
handy
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Different mineral properties

3. Color and streak – Color maybe a unique identifying property of certain

minerals (e.g. malachite –green, azurite – blue). There are also lots of
minerals that share similar or the same color/s. In addition, some minerals
can exhibit a range of colors. The mineral quartz for example, can be pink
(rose quartz), purple (amethyst), orange (citrine), white (colorless quartz) etc.

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Different mineral properties
Streak on the other hand is the color of a mineral
in powdered form.

Note that the color of a mineral could be different from the

streak. For example, pyrite (FeS2) exhibits golden color (hence the
other term of pyrite which is Fool’s Gold) but has a black or dark
gray streak.
▪ Streak is a better diagnostic property as compared to color.

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Different mineral properties
4. Crystal Form/Habit –The external shape of a crystal or groups of crystals is
displayed / observed as these crystals grow in open spaces. The form reflects the
supposedly internal structure (of atoms and ions) of the crystal (mineral). It is the
natural shape of the mineral before the development of any cleavage or fracture.
▪ Examples include prismatic, tabular, bladed, platy, reniform and equant. A mineral
that do not have a crystal structure is described as amorphous.
▪ The crystal form also define the relative growth of the crystal in 3 dimension
which are its length width and height.

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Left picture: blocky/cubic or equant (it has equal growth rate in three dimensions).
Middle picture: bladed habit (it resembles a blade, with varied growth rates in 3
dimensions).
Right picture: needle-like habit (rapid growth of crystals in one dimension while slow in
other dimensions).
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Different mineral properties
5. Cleavage – It is the property of some minerals to break along
parallel repetitive planes of weakness to form smooth, flat surfaces.
These planes of weakness are inherent in the bonding of atoms that
makes up the mineral.

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Different mineral properties
6. Fracture – Some minerals may not have cleavages but exhibit broken
surfaces that are irregular and non-planar. Quartz for example has an
inherent weakness in the crystal structure that is not planar. Examples of
fracture are conchoidal, fibrous, hackly, and uneven among others.
7. Specific Gravity – It is the ratio of the weight of a mineral to the weight
of an equal volume of water. A bucket of silver (SG 10) would weigh 10
times more than a bucket of water (SG 1). It is a measure to express the
density (mass per unit volume) of a mineral. The specific gravity of a
mineral is numerically equal to density.

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Different mineral properties
8. Others – There are certain unique properties of minerals that
actually help in their identification (e.g. magnetism, odor, taste,
tenacity, reaction to acid, etc.). Magnetite is strongly magnetic; sulfur
has distinctive smell; halite is salty; calcite fizzes with acid as with
dolomite but in powdered form.

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B. Mineral Groups

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1. Silicates
– minerals containing 2 of the most abundant elements in the Earth’s
crust, namely, silicon and oxygen. When linked together, these two
elements form the silicon oxygen tetrahedron – the fundamental
building block of silicate minerals. Over 90% of the rock-forming
minerals belong to this group.

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2. Oxides
– minerals containing Oxygen anion (O2-) combined with one or
more metal ions.

3. Sulfates
- minerals containing Sulfur and Oxygen anion (SO4)- combined
with other ions.

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4. Sulfides
- minerals containing sulfur anion (S2)- combined with one or more
ions. Some sulfides are sources of economically important metals
such as copper, lead and zinc.

5. Carbonates
- minerals containing the carbonate anion (CO3)2- combined with
other elements

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6. Native Elements
- minerals that form as individual elementsa.
a. Metals and Inter-metals – minerals with high thermal and
electrical conductivity, typically with
metallic luster, low hardness (gold, lead)
b. Semi-metals – minerals that are more fragile than metals and have
lower conductivity (arsenic,
bismuth)
c. Nonmetals – nonconductive (sulfur, diamond)

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7. Halides
– minerals containing halogen elements combined with one or more
elements.

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Thanks!

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