Evolution of Earth and life

ECS 1213

Lecture - 3
Minerals
 Major questions

1. Why some minerals are more common than the others?

2. Do we find the same minerals at different depths of the
Earth?
3. Do we expect to find similar trends through out the history
of the earth?
4. Do we find the same patterns in other planets?
 Background

Things that you need to know:

- Basics of element structure

- Different type of bonding

- Crystal and crystallization

 What is a mineral
Definition: Any naturally occurring inorganic solid that posses an orderly crystalline
structure and a well defined (range of) chemical composition.
• Naturally occurring
• Solid substrate
• Well-defined chemical composition
• Generally inorganic

•Which of the following is not a mineral?

a. Table salt
b. Ice
c. Sugar

Use the definition to identify.

Minerals are the building blocks of the rocks.

 How do they form?
• Crystal is any natural solid with an ordered, repetitive, atomic structure.

• Minerals form through crystallization. The molecules, or ions, chemically bond to

form an orderly structure.
- Example:

Evaporation

Dissolved salt in water solution Formation of salt crystals

Temperature drop

Hot magma Formation of quartz crystals

Temperature and
Pressure change

Mudstone Formation of mica crystals

 Structure of mineral: Halite
_
Cl Anions

Na+ Cations

Sodium and Building block Collection of Crystal of the

chlorine ions. of halite. building blocks mineral halite.
(crystal).
Steno’s law: Angle between equivalent faces of crystals of the same mineral are
always the same.

Property of the mineral depends on its - composition.

- crystal structure.
 Mineralogical variation
• Mineral group and mineral species

Chemical variation
- Solid solution
- Exsolution / Unmixing

Geometrical variation
- Polymorphism
- Polytyptism
- Order-disorder
- Twinning

Polymorph **Additional reading: pdf

 Mineral property
Hardness: - How hard a mineral is depends primarily on its crystal structure.
- Example: Diamond & graphite
- Mohs hardness scale
Habit/ Shape:
-Characteristic shape
-Determined by crystal structure
- Types: Bladed
Platy
Prismatic
Banded
Botryoidal

Cleavage

Optical properties:
- Colour
- Streak
- Luster
 Shape

Identify the following shapes:

Bladed kyanite
Botryoidal hematite

B
Prismatic quartz

Banded agate

Fibrous okenite
 Cleavage
- Preferred plane of breakage.

- Creates a smooth plane.

- Generated by crystal
arrangements.

Three
 Optical property
Color: Rarely a diagnostic property.

Streak: -The color of powdered mineral.

- Diagnostic property.
- Rub the mineral across Varieties of quartz
unglazed porcelain.

Red-brown streak of
the mineral hematite.

Luster: - The appearance of light reflected from mineral surface.

Types: 1. Metallic
2. Non-metallic : Dull/Earthy
Glassy
Pearly
Silky
 Luster

Glassy luster of quartz

Metallic luster of pyrite

Identify the following luster:

A

Earthy luster of limonite Pearly luster of talc

Silky luster of siderite

How do we study a mineral?
Hand specimen

Information:
1. Identification of the mineral group

Thin section

Information:
1. Identification of Mineral species
2. Textural details
3. Alterations

Chemical analysis

Information:
1. Composition
2. End members
3. Trace elements
Common minerals of the crust
- Silicate (Si, O)
- Non-silicate (Carbonate, Oxide,
Sulfide, Sulfate)

-- Silicates account for more than

90% of Earth’s crust.

-- Often incorporates impurities.

-- Among non-silicates, one

important type of mineral is
calcite (CaCO3).

-- Important mineral resources

often come from native elements
(Cu - Copper, Ag-Silver).
 Silicates
- All silicate minerals have the same fundamental building block.

- Silicon-oxygen tetrahedron (SiO44-)

- 4 oxygen anions surrounding one silicon cation.

- Each O2- has one of its valence electrons

balanced by bonding with Si4+ .

-The remaining -1 charge on each oxygen

anion is available to bond with another cation.

-- What is the total unbalanced charge for each tetrahedron?

--How can you arrange these tetrahedra?

 Silica tetrahedron
Independent Olivine

Single chain Pyroxene

Double chain
Amphibole

Sheet structure Mica

Three
Quartz,
dimensional
Feldspar
network
 What can it tell us?
Evolution of Pressure and Temperature condition

- Formation
- Exsolution

Chemical environment
- Sulphide minerals
- Metal ores

Subsequent deformation

- Shocked quartz
- Snowball structure
 Rocks and rock cycle

- Minerals are the building blocks of rocks.

- Generally more than one mineral constitutes a rock.

-There are three ways you can make rocks:

1. Bring molten magma to the surface and solidify it.
2. Metamorphose the existing rock and make a new one.
3. Break down existing rocks and solidify after re-deposition.

-Types:
A. Igneous rock.

B. Metamorphic rock

C. Sedimentary rocks

Rock cycles:
- Generation of different rock types are interlinked.
- Generation of new rocks and destruction of old rocks is a continuous cycle.
 Igneous rock

• Rock forms when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies. [Ignis = Fire]
• A variety of different minerals could be found.
• Magma composition is generally uniform-------- still we see a variety of different
igneous rocks differing in their composition.

http://activities.macmillanmh.com/science/ca/scienceinmotion/Common/SIM.html?
Module=../Grade4/Chapter3-IgneousRockFormation/

Crystallization
Igneous
Magma
Cooling rock

Some common igneous rocks:

1. Granite
2. Basalt
 Metamorphic rock

Metamorphosis: Transformation
Metamorphic rocks: produced by changes in pre-existing rocks.
Parent rocks: Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary rocks

Igneous
rock Temperature
Metamorphic
Pressure rocks
Sedimentary
rock

Melting
Magma
Some common metamorphic rocks:
1. Marble
2. Slate
 Sedimentary rock
• Sediments are the materials from pre-existing rocks generated by the processes
of weathering.
• How do you transform sediments into rocks???

Process
Sediment Sedimentary
1. Compaction rock
2. Cementation

-These are generally layered rocks.

- Fossils or remains of ancient life could

only be found from this kind of rock.

Important sedimentary rocks:

1. Coal
2. Limestone
 What is a rock cycle?
• Three different types of rocks are closely related in their formation.

Pressure
Igneous Metamorphic
rock Temperature rocks

Melting
Sedimentary Magma
rocks Melting

Crystallization

1. Form igneous rocks

2. Rocks that you get from igneous rocks (formation of metamorphic and igneous rocks)

3. Relationship between metamorphic and sedimentary rocks

 Mineral physics
Science of materials that compose the interior of planets, particularly the Earth
 Mineral evolution

Robert M. Hazen
Geophysical Laboratory
Carnegie Institution for Science

Earth’s mineralogical diversity has increased through 10 stages

Important resources:
1. https://hazen.carnegiescience.edu/research/mineral-evolution
2. Minik Rosing (2008) “On the evolution of minerals.” Nature 456, 456-458.