MINERAL AND

ROCK SOURCES
EARTH SCIENCE
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Identify common rock-forming minerals in their
physical and chemical properties.
• Know what is mineral and how it affects our
environment.
• Identify the different examples of rock-form
materials.
WHAT IS MINERALS?
• Minerals are naturally
occurring inorganic solids
with crystalline structure,
and chemical composition
which may be fixed or
vary within certain limits.
ROCK-FORMING MINERALS

These minerals undergo

different geological process and
become part of or develop into
rocks, in which case they
become known as ROCK-
FORMING MINERALS.
 ROCK-FORMING
MINERALS
Not all rock-forming
minerals contain various
types and amounts of
minerals that may be
useful to man.
 ROCK-FORMING
MINERALS

Most of the minerals resources used as

raw materials for buildings and other
structures require the application of
geological principles they go through
various processes before they can be used
as materials. Some minerals do not need
or require little processing such as
gemstones.
 TWO GROUPS OF
MINERAL RESOURCES
Metallic Mineral Resources
• Are hard, ductile, malleable pure substance
are melted to obtain mew products. These
minerals possess a metallic lustre, contains
metals in their composition, and are potential
source of the metal that can be obtained
through mining. They are usually associated
with igneous rocks. Examples of metallic
mineral resources are gold, iron, silver,
copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and aluminium.
Non-Metallic Mineral Resources
• Do not have the properties of the
metallic minerals and thus can be
easily disintegrated or broken into
pieces. They are usually
associated with sedimentary
rocks. Example are coal, clay, salt,
and marble.
 PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES OF
MINERALS
 COLOR
• Is the most evident characteristic • However, this property may not
of and is usually the first property be used in identifying
used to identify minerals. It is a translucent to transparent
result of the way minerals absorb minerals due to the presence of
light. When a mineral absorb all other trace minerals or
the color of the spectrum except impurities. Therefore, color is
that of a certain color, the mineral considered the least reliable
will appear in that color. means of identifying minerals.
 MINERAL MINERAL COLOR
AUGITE BROWN, GREEN, BLACK,
PURPLE
BIOTITE BLACK, BROWN, GREEN
CALEITE PEARLSCENT AND PALE
COLORS
DOLOMITE COLORLESS, PINK, PALE
BROWN
FELDSPAR YELLOW, WHITE, PINK GREEN,
GRAY
HEMATITE METTALIC GRAY OR BLACK
HORNBLENDE GREEN, YELLOW, BROWN,
BLACK
LIMONITE BLACK, BROWN, OR YELLOW
SULPHUR PALE GOLD
 STREAK
• Is the color of the mineral in powder
form. Usually, the mineral is rubbed
on a streak plate to determine its
color. (A streak plate may be an
unglazed side of a porcelain.) In
cases when the color of a mineral
appears different because of trace
particles inside it, scientists would
pulverized it to get its true color.
• In this case, the color of
the mineral becomes
more visible and clear.
However, the
disadvantage of
pulverizing the mineral is
tedious, making the
mineral lose its integrity.
 HARDNESS
• It refers to the measure of •
the mineral’s resistance to
scratching. To quantify the
hardness of a mineral, the
Mohs scale is used. The
harder the mineral, the less
prone it is to scratches.
Your teeth, for example, which
is made of calcite, is more
prone to abrasion compared
with stones made of, say topaz.
Most minerals also react to
certain chemicals. Thus, some
minerals get corroded when
exposed to certain chemicals.
CLEAVAGE AND
FRACTURE
• Used to describe how minerals
break into pieces. Minerals are
crystalline structures, and
breakage of minerals may take
place in weak parts of the
structure. The planes of weak
bonding or the breakage along the
crystalline structure where a
mineral is likely to break
smoothly is known as cleavage.
CRYSTALLINE
STRUCTURE
• Also known as
crystalline lattice, is
the periodic array of
the atoms. This is a
unique arrangement of
atoms in a crystal.
TRANSPARENCY MAGNETISM
• The extent of light that
can pass through the • It indicates the ability
mineral. Hence, the of the mineral to
degree of transparency attract or repel other
may depend on the mineral.
thickness of the mineral.
 TENACIT
Y
• It is the mineral’s ability to hold its particles
together or the mineral’s level of resistance to
stress such as bending, breaking, crushing, or
tearing. Tenacity indicates if a mineral is brittle,
elastic, malleable, etc.
 LUSTER ODOR
• It shows how much light • It is a distinct smell of a
is reflected in a mineral. mineral that is usually
This depends on the released from a
brilliance of light used to chemical reaction
conserve the surface of manifested when the
the mineral. mineral is subjected to
water, heat, air, or
SPECIFIC GRAVITY
• It is a measure of the density of the
mineral. It determines how heavy the
mineral is by its weight to water. It is
used especially when two minerals have
the same size and color.