- Nearly 4000 minerals have been named and 30 to 50 new ones are identified each year.
- Rock-forming minerals: most of the minerals on the crust of earth.
- Economic Minerals: Manufacture of product that drive our modern society.
- The mineral calcite is the primary component of the sedimentary rock limestone and has many uses including the production of cement.
- Minerals have been named for people, location where the mineral was discovered, appearance, and chemical composition.
- Minerals are placed into categories in much the same way as plants and animals are classified by biologists.
- Minerals species: collection of specimens that exhibit similar internal structures and chemical compositions.
- Mineral Class: Based on anions or anion complexes of mineral species they are placed in mineral classes.
- Minerals classes are further divided into groups based on similarities in atomic structures or compositions.
- Silicates: the most dominant mineral class.
- non silicates: classes that are far less abundant than the silicates.
- Silicon- oxygen tetrahedron: Same fundamental building block .
Calcite
quartz-conchoidal-482.jpg (560×420)
Conchoidal
garnet.jpg (350×347)
crystal embedded in a light colored mica rich metamorphic rock
- Rock-forming minerals: most of the minerals on the crust of earth.
- Economic Minerals: Manufacture of product that drive our modern society.
- The mineral calcite is the primary component of the sedimentary rock limestone and has many uses including the production of cement.
- Minerals have been named for people, location where the mineral was discovered, appearance, and chemical composition.
- Minerals are placed into categories in much the same way as plants and animals are classified by biologists.
- Minerals species: collection of specimens that exhibit similar internal structures and chemical compositions.
- Mineral Class: Based on anions or anion complexes of mineral species they are placed in mineral classes.
- Minerals classes are further divided into groups based on similarities in atomic structures or compositions.
- Silicates: the most dominant mineral class.
- non silicates: classes that are far less abundant than the silicates.
- Silicon- oxygen tetrahedron: Same fundamental building block .
Calcite
Conchoidal
crystal embedded in a light colored mica rich metamorphic rock