Conservation of minerals

Presented by students of class X-

B
 Krishnangi Soni  Bhavya Chauhan
 Anshita Sachdeva  Cherish Anand
 Dhanya Sharma  Priyanshi Khandelwal
 About Minerals
• In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is a solid chemical
compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a
specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.
• The geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur
only in living beings. However, some minerals are often biogenic (such
as calcite) or are organic compounds in the sense of chemistry (such as mellite).
Moreover, living beings often synthesize inorganic minerals (such
as hydroxylapatite) that also occur in rocks.
• The concept of mineral is distinct from rock, which is any bulk solid geologic
material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale. A rock may
consist of one type of mineral, or may be an aggregate of two or more different
types of minerals, specially segregated into distinct phases.
• Some natural solid substances without a definite crystalline structure, such
as opal or obsidian are more properly called mineraloids. If a chemical
compound occurs naturally with different crystal structures, each structure is
considered a different mineral species. Thus, for example, quartz
and stishovite are two different minerals consisting of the same
compound, silicon dioxide.
- By Anshita
 Physical Properties
Classifying minerals ranges from simple to difficult. A
mineral can be identified by several physical properties,
some of them being sufficient for full identification
without equivocation. In other cases, minerals can only
be classified by more complex optical, chemical or X-ray
diffraction analysis; these methods, however, can be
costly and time-consuming. Physical properties applied
for classification include crystal structure and habit,
hardness, lustre, diaphaneity, colour, streak, cleavage
and fracture, and specific gravity. Other less general
tests
include fluorescence, phosphorescence, magnetism, 
radioactivity, tenacity (response to mechanical induced
changes of shape or form), piezoelectricity and
reactivity to dilute acids. - By Bhavya Chauhan
 Exploitation of Minerals
Exploitation of mineral refers to the use of mineral resources for economic growth. Exploitation
of mineral resources at a mindless speed to meet the growing needs of modern civilization has
resulted in many environmental problems. Although, the exploitation of minerals began at a
slow pace during the industrial revolution in Western countries, during the 20th century, the
exploitation of some minerals, especially the fossil fuels increased exponentially to meet the
growing energy need. Today, about 80% of the world’s energy consumption is sustained by the
extraction of fossil fuels, which consists of oil, coal, and gas.
Consequences of Exploitation of Mineral Resources -

Excessive exploitation of mineral resources has led to the following severe problems.

Deforestation and desertification

Extinction of species

Rapid depletion of high grade minerals

Forced migration

Wastage of upper soil layer and vegetation

Soil erosion and oil depletion

Ozone depletion

Greenhouse gas increase

Environmental pollution

Natural hazards, etc.

- Cherish Anand
 Why is it important to conserve
Mineral resources are necessary to beminerals?
conserved
because-
•  Minerals are indispensable part of our lives. Almost
everything we use is made up of minerals. The role of
minerals is very important in the Transport sector as
minerals are used for production as well as for running
various locomotives.
• They require a lot of time to be formed and at the
current rate of consumption, they will soon be
exhausted. Therefore, they are finite and non
renewable.
• If overused, they would soon be exhausted and then
will not be available for the future generations.
• Exploration of minerals has often led to the
displacement of the marginal communities like the
local tribes with very few instances of adequate - Krishnangi Soni
compensation.
Thank you so much for visiting our presentation.