GL - 204 Fundamentals of Geology

MINERALOGY
Physical Properties of Minerals

Dr. Mulugheta Tewelde

University of Zimbabwe
Department of Geology
 Physical Properties of Minerals
- Crystal habit
- Cleavage and Parting
- Fracture
- Hardness
- Density
- Luster
- Streak
- Color
- Magnetism and Taste
 Physical Properties of Minerals
Crystal Habit: The habit of a crystal is its
characteristic and common form.

Habits of individual Crystals:

Bladed - resembles a knife blade.
Equant - of approximately equal length.
Prismatic - prism faces.
Cubic - self explanatory
Octahedral - self explanatory
Tabular - having rectangular forms.
Acicular - long, slender crystals.
 Physical Properties of Minerals
Cleavage:
- is a tendency of a mineral to break along
specific plane surfaces that are weakly
bonded together.

- these planes of weakness are called

cleavage planes or cleavages.
 Physical Properties of Minerals
Cleavage (Contd.):
Types of Cleavage:
Perfect: breakage  very good; surfaces are
smooth and shiny (easily reflects light), forms
continuous flat cleavage surfaces.
Good: breakage  good; surfaces are smooth
and rough too, cleavage surfaces are interrupted by
fractures and the surfaces are less continuous.
Poor: breakage  poor; surfaces often rough, less
well developed faces.
No cleavage
(fracture)
Quartz
Cleavage (Contd.):
Cleavage in one
direction
Mica Cleavage (Contd.):
Cleavage in one
direction
Gypsum
Cleavage (Contd.):
Cleavage in two
directions
Feldspar
Cleavage (Contd.):
Cleavage in three directions
Calcite (rhombedral
cleavage;
at 120° and 60°)
Cleavage (Contd.):
 Cleavage in three
directions
Halite (cubic cleavage;
at 90°)
Cleavage (Contd.):
Cleavage in four directions
Fluorite (octahedral
cleavage;
Parallel to the octahedral faces)
Cleavage (Contd.):
Fracture:
- A mineral breaks in random directions (without
crystallographic control). In comparison to cleavage, there
is no plane of weakness.
- Even though fracture does not display obvious planar
surfaces, the nature of the fracture surfaces is often
characteristic for some minerals.

Types of fractures:

- Fibrous (splintery) - looks like a wood after breaking

(slide 18).
- Hackly - fractures have sharp edges (19).
- Uneven (Irregular) - rough surfaces (20).
- Conchoidal - breaks along smooth surface that looks
like a shell (21)
 Fracture (contd.):
Fibrous & splintery
fracture

Fibrous

Splintery
 Fracture (contd.):
fracture
Hackly
 Fracture (contd.):
fracture
Uneven
 Fracture (contd.):
Conchoidal
fracture
Hardness:
- the ease with which a mineral may be scratched is a
measure of its hardness.

- is determined mostly by scratching the mineral

with a substance (or mineral) of known hardness.

- with the help of Moh's relative scale of hardness

(next slide), the relative hardness of minerals
can be determined.
- each mineral on the list (next slide) will scratch
a mineral whose hardness is less and be scratched
by a harder mineral.
Hardness:

Moh’s hardness scale

Density (specific gravity):
- Density (ρ) is defined as mass per unit volume.
- Specific gravity (G) is defined as the density of a
material divided by the density of water at 4°C.

- Specific gravity of a mineral depends on the chemical

composition and on how tightly the atoms/ions are
packed together.
Luster:
Describes how a fresh surface of a mineral reflects light
and there are two types; metallic and non-metallic luster.

- Metallic: shines like metals do

- Non-metallic:
resinous- looks like resin e.g: sulfur
pearly- is self explanatory e.g: albite
vitreous- glassy like e.g: quartz
greasy- feels like grease e.g: nepheline
silky- fibrous like (a result of a fine
fibrous structure) e.g: antigorite
dull, earthy- e.g ilmenite
Streak:
- As per definition streak refers to the color produced by a
fine powder of the mineral that is scratched on a streak plate.
Streak:

Minerals leave a distinct residue

on a porcelain plate
Colour:
- The color of a mineral (or any other object) is our
perception of the wavelengths of light that are reflected
from or pass through the material to reach our eye. Color
depends on the wavelengths that the mineral does not
absorb.

For example: A red mineral looks red because it reflects

or transmits red light and absorbs a substantial part of
the blue end of the spectrum.
Colour (Contd.):
The same mineral can possess different kinds of colours;
e.g: quartz appears in white, purple, blue etc.

So, colour can only be helpful in some minerals like olivine,

which is always green or azurite (blue) etc.

Azurite
Miscellaneous Properties:
A variety of other properties may be useful in identifying
minerals. They include taste, odor, feel and reaction with
acid.

- Taste: Taste is peceived if some of the mineral dissolves

in saliva and activates taste receptors of the tongue.

Common minerals with a distinct taste include halite

(NaCl), which is salty, and sylvite (KCl), which also is salty
but somewhat more bitter than halite.

- Odor: Clay is perceived to have an earthy odor.

Miscellaneous Properties (Contd.):
- Feel: one property of feel that is associated with crystal
structure is the greasy feel associated with van der
waals bonds.
A finger rubbed on the surface of a mineral such as
graphite breaks these bonds and allows the mineral to
smear out, producing the greasy feel.
- Reaction with acid: a characteristic of many carbonate
minerals is that they may visibly react with dilute HCl.
The reaction with calcite is typical.

CaCO3 + 2H+ = Ca2+ + H2O + CO2

The CO2 released causes the acid to fizz or bubble.