Geo124: Ore mineralogy (Preliminary exam)

Intro to mineralogy, formation of minerals, mineral chemistry, classification of minerals

the study and understanding of naturally occurring, generally inorganic, solid substances called minerals.

mineral science

aims at understanding the origin, evolution, and behavior of the Earth

earth science

- study of rocks, their overall composition, their mineralogy, texture, structure, and conditions of origin.

petrology

- deals with the relative abundance, distribution, and migration of chemical elements and their isotopes in housing nuclear waste and the construction of nuclear power plants.

geochemistry

concerned with the interaction of minerals with the biological systems.

environmental mineralogy

concerned with the distribution of mineral deposits and the economic considerations involved in their recovery, and the assessment of available reserves. This covers the extraction of all materials from the Earth, including metal-rich ores, fossil fuels, and industrial materials such as salt, gypsum, sand and gravel.

economic geology

deals with such geologic phenomena as the temperature distribution of the Earth’s interior and the geomagnetic field

geophysics

- a discipline that evaluates the rock deformation on both small and large scales.

structural geology

- the study of chemistry and mineralogy of meteorites samples that have been collected on Earth. This involves the study of rocks and soils returned from scientific missions to other planets.

meteoritics and planetary studies

-applies geologic research to the problems of land use and civil engineering.

environmental geology

is a naturally occurring solid with a highly ordered atomic arrangement and a defini (but not fixed) chemical composition. It is usual formed by inorganic processes.

mineral

what are the 5 properties that defined minerals?

1. Solid

2. Naturally occurring

3. Inorganic process

4. Specific chemical composition

5. long - range, geometric arrangement of constituent atoms or ions

rock consists of multiple crystals of a single mineral.

monomineralic

composed of many types of mineral crystals like granite.

polymineralic

a basic pattern of atoms is repeated systematically to produce the entire geometric design. 

crystal structure

All materials that possess geometric crystal structures

crystalline materials

Solid materials that lack a long - range crystal structure; where it means without form; without a long - range geometric order.

amorphous

Strictly speaking, naturally - occurring, solid materials that lack one of the properties described above are commonly referred to as ________. Common examples include amorphous materials such as volcanic glass and organic crystalline materials such as those in organic sedimentary rocks such as coal.

mineraloids

Albite

(NaAlSi3O8)

Rhodonite

(MnSiO3)

Chromite

FeCr2O4

Magnetite

Fe3O4

Franklinite

ZnFe2O4

from the latin albus (white), an allusion to its color

albite

from the Greek rhodon (a rose), an allusion to its characteristically pink color

Rhodonite

• the presence of a large amount of chromium in the mineral 

chromite

what do you call the mineral that is named because of its magnetic properties

magentite

• Franklin, New Jersey where it occurs as the dominant zinc mineral

Franklinite

Al2SiO5

Sillimanite

• after professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale University

Sillimanite

Luzonite

Cu3AsS4

TRUE OR FALSE

• Most minerals are naturally occurring homogeneous geological substances that are stable at Earth-surface conditions.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE

Minerals are organic compounds and are crystalline solids.

FALSE (minerals are inorganic compounds)

TRUE OR FALSE

• We generally classify minerals based on their chemical compositions and atomic arrangements. 

TRUE

explains how minerals form as magma cools. It's like a recipe for rocks, showing which ingredients (minerals) come together at different temperatures. This helps geologists understand why certain rocks have specific mineral combinations.

Bowen’s Reaction Series

what are the three basic steps in the bowen’s reaction series?

1. Crystallization from magma 

2. Precipitation (calcite, gypsum, halite)

3. Pressure and Temperature

Each element is characterized by the number of protons in the nucleus

atomic number

The mass of a particular atom is called its

atomic mass number

The nucleus is surrounded by a vastly larger, mostly “ empty ” , region called the

electron cloud

what do you call the common form of hydrogen atom?

protium

A less common form of hydrogen, used in some nuclear reactors, has an atomic mass number of 2

deuterium

have stable nuclei that tend to remain unchanged; they retain the same number of protons and neutrons over time. 

stable isotopes

have unstable nuclear configurations (numbers of protons and neutrons) that spontaneously change over time via radioactive decay processes, until they achieve stable nuclear configurations

Radioactive isotopes

The wave - like properties of electrons help to define the three - dimensional shapes of their electron clouds

orbitals

what is the periodic trend for electronegativity?

• From left to right across a period of elements, electronegativity increases.

  • From top to bottom down a group, electronegativity decreases

what is the periodic trend for the ionization energy?

• The ionization energy of the elements within a period generally increases from left to right. 

  • The ionization energy of the elements within a group generally decreases from top to bottom. 

is the energy required to remove an electron from a neutral atom in its gaseous phase.

ionization energy

what element has the highest ionization energy?

helium

what type of elements have relatively low first ionization energies?

metallic elements

what types of elements have high first ionization energies ( > 900 kJ/mol) and tend not to release their tightly bound electrons?

non-metallic elements

electron donors, tend to give up electrons

cations

electron acceptors, tend to acquire electrons

anions

 is an empirical measure that expresses the tendency of an element to attract electrons when atoms bond. Highly electronegative elements (En >3.0) have a strong tendency to become anions during bonding.

electronegativity

what are the primary bonding in chemical bonding?

ionic, covalent, and metallic

When very metallic atoms bond with very non - metallic atoms

ionic bonding i

ionic bonding is also called

electrostatic bond

Crystals with __________ bonds are generally characterized by the following: 

1. Variable hardness

2. Brittle at room temperatures

3. Quite soluble in polar substances (such as water). 

4. Intermediate melting temperatures. 

5. Do not absorb much light, producing translucent to transparent minerals with light colors and vitreous to sub - vitreous luster in macroscopic crystals.

ionic

Physically ionically bonded crystals are generally:

• Moderate hardness 

• High melting point 

• Poor conductors of electricity and heat 

The Sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms produces a

covalent bond

what is the best known mineral with covalent bonding

diamond

what is the strongest of all the chemical bonding?

covalent bond

what are Covalently bonded minerals generally characterized by?

1. Hard and brittle at room temperature.

2. Insoluble in polar substances such as water.

3. Crystallize from melts.

4. Moderate to high melting temperatures

   1. Do not absorb light, producing transparent to translucent minerals with light colors and vitreous to sub - vitreous lusters in macroscopic crystals.

• have low first ionization energies, are highly electropositive and possess low electronegativities they do not tend to hold their valence electrons strongly

• electrons are delocalized and are free to move throughout the material in a sea of electrons

metallic bonding

what does metallic bonding characterized by?

1. Moderate hardness 

2. Highly ductile and malleable 

3. Conducts heat and electricity by electron transport 

it is the weakest of all the bonds

Van der waals

tied neutral molecules by virtue of small residual charges on their surfaces

Van der waals

• weaker than ionic and covalent but stronger than Van der Waals

• electrostatic bond between a positively charged hydrogen ion

• and a negatively charged ion

hydrogen bonding

TRUE OF FALSE

Elements with similar properties may substitute for each other in minerals and many minerals have variable compositions.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE

Ionic, covalent, or hydrogen bonding are most common in minerals.

FALSE (ionic, covalent, and metallic)

Most of sulfide materials will undergo in

floatation

is the world's largest layered igneous intrusion and contains the largest and most important platinum-group element (PGE) deposits. 

the Bushveld Complex in South Africa

Minerals are classifies into two types

silicates and non-silicates

• oxygen and silicon are the two most abundant elements in Earth ’ s crust and mantle, silicate minerals are abundant and widespread, comprising more than 92% of the roughly 3500 minerals discovered to date

silicates

are silicate minerals characterized by isolated silica tetrahedra that are not linked through shared oxygen ions to other silica tetrahedra in the structure. The ratio of silicon (Si +4) ions to oxygen (O − 2 ) ions in the tetrahedral sites of such minerals is 1 : 4.

nesosilicates or orthosilicates

the most abundant mineral group in the upper mantle, has the formula 

(Mg,Fe)2SiO 4 

olivine group

what is the ratio of silicon to oxygen in nesosilicates?

1:4

is widespread and abundant in metamorphic rocks; it also occurs in igneous rocks and the mantle.

garnet group

this group comprises three polymorphs that are common in metamorphic rocks, especially in pelitic assemblages produced by the metamorphism of shales and mud rocks. T

aluminum group

what are the three polymorphs of the aluminum group?

andalusite, kyanite, sillimanite

low pressure polymorph

andalusite

high pressure polymorph

kyanite

high temperature polymorph

sillimanite

• also called disilicate, minerals possess the minimal amount of linkage possible between linked silica tetrahedra.

sorosilicate

what another term for sorosilicate?

disilicate

what is the ratio of silica to oxygen in sorosilicates?

2:7

what is a common mineral of sorosilicate?

hemimorphite

what is the chemical formula of hemimorphite?

Zn4(Si2O7)(OH)2•H2O

it has a silica:oxygen ratio of 1:3

cyclosilicates

• can be triangular, square and hexagonal ring structures and hexagonal net

  • Common elements: benitoite, axinite, beryl

cyclosilicates

what are the common elements of cyclosilicate?

benitoite, axinite, beryl

• Silicates in which tetrahedral are linked together through shared oxygen ions into 1D chains of long-range extent

inosilicates

ratio of silica to oxygen in inosilicate?

1:3

what is a single chained mineral of inosilicate ?

pyroxene

what is a double chained mineral of inosilicate?

amphibole

• multiple chains of silica tetrahedra are linked through shared oxygen ions in a direction at a large angle to the chain axis

Phyllosilicates

what are common minerals of phyllosilicate?

serpentine, talc, chlorite, mica

phyllosilicate ratio

2:5

what is the ratio of tectosilicate?

1:2

• form 3d frameworks

  • silica, feldspar, plagioclase

tectosilicate

what are the types of silicate minerals?

orthosilicate, sorosilicate, cyclosilicate, inosilicate, phyllosilicate, tectosilicate