When studying the formation and evolution of the planet, geologists inevitably find themselves

inspecting rocks and minerals since these materials provide valuable information about the Earth’s
compositions, age, dominant processes and resources. This is because rocks and minerals remain and
linger for millions and billions of years providing Earth’s history. Although the interpretation of the
remains (rocks and minerals) might not be facile (easy), a careful and throughout analysis and inspection
can help in providing extensive understanding with the first step being identifying these materials.

A mineral can be defined as a natural inorganic substance having a particular composition or

range of composition, and a regular internal atomic structure crystalline. [2] Different chemical
compositions and crystalline structures result in different minerals. In other words, each mineral possess
certain physical properties or characteristics by which it may be recognized or identified. These physical
properties are useful in mineral identification and can be subjected to certain tests. Some of these tests
focus on: Luster, density, magnetism, and cleavage, reaction to chemicals, streak test, colour and
hardness.

To explain a few of these property tests, the colour of the mineral is that seen by the eye. Colour can be
influenced by impurities in the sample, the light in the room or strong reflective surface thus, making it a
rather general test than a specific indicator. Streak is the colour of a mineral in its powdered form. The
mark left behind can be a characteristic feature of the mineral. It is important to note that the streak
might not necessarily be the same as the colour of the mineral. The hardness of a mineral is one of the
most diagnostic and easy tests to perform in the attempt to identify an unknown mineral. Hardness is a
measure of a mineral's resistance to abrasion and reflects a definite atomic structure of a mineral
(mechanical strength). This property can be determined by rubbing the mineral to be identified against
another mineral of known hardness. Unless the minerals have the same hardness, one will stretch the
other. Hardness is measured on the Moh’s hardness scale, minerals are identified numerically, from 1
being the softest to 10 being the hardest.

Figure 1. The Mohs Hardness Scale

 Another property is lustre which is reflected from the surface of a mineral, the amount of light
shows the state of the surface, thus luster can be explained as the degree of brightness. The range goes
from Metallic (similar to a polished metal), to submetallic which is less shiny, to dull and then Vitreous,
respectively. Additionally, some minerals readily react with acid. When diluted hydrochloric acid is
capped on to some minerals, a reaction take place. On Calcite (CaCO 3) bubbles of carbon dioxide are
produced and in some iron sulphide ore, hydrogen sulphide is produced. [3] Lastly, Cleavage refers to
how a mineral breaks along weak planes in the internal crystal structure. Some minerals do not have
cleavage and instead have a special type of breakage called conchoidal fracture. Conchoidal
fracture describes the way that brittle materials break or fracture when they do not follow any
natural planes of separation. [4] Conchoidal fracture produces curved breakage surfaces, such as would
be seen on chipped glass. A mineral can either fracture or cleave. Minerals that cleave may have up to
four directions of cleavage, and the resultant angle between the cleanly broken faces is an identification
of the particular mineral. The best way to observe cleavage is to hold the sample between an
individual’s visual and a light source to get a reflection off the surface. A cleavage surface is smooth and
will reflect light.

Although thousands of different mineral have been identified and catalogued by mineralogists,
the majority of rock-forming minerals belong to; Feldspar, Quartz, Mica, Pyroxene, Amphibole and
Calcite.

According to (Wilding L.P. 1977);

“Quartz is used industrially as an abrasive, as an inert glassy material, or for high-quality crystals
in microelectronics. It is also valued for its piezoelectronic properties. However, it is hard to grow quartz
as a patterned material or to integrate it into nanostructured devices.  Perspective by  Brinker and Clem)
have developed a method for preparing oriented epitaxial thin films of polycrystalline α-quartz on single-
crystal silicon substrates using ambient pressure and temperatures below 1000°C. Different processing
conditions can be used to fabricate quartz films with a variety of pore sizes or as a dense nonporous α-
quartz film.”[4]

Although most of the common minerals are described above other usual minerals include oxides
(e.g. hematite: Fe2O3), salts (e.g. halite: NaCl), and sulfides (e.g. pyrite: FeS 2), - each mineral having
different physical and chemical properties but because there are thousands of minerals classification, it
is rather unconventional and time consuming to describe and explain individually although if needed
they can easily be found in various resources such as books and the internet.
 Figure 2. Classification of some mineral samples

It is necessary to know common minerals before studying rocks because rocks are naturally
occurring material consisting of mixture of minerals. A rock’s composition and texture i.e. size and shape
of the component pieces, of a rock depends on the process by which it was formed.

Rocks can be classified into three main categories, namely; Igneous, Sedimentary and
Metamorphic, depending on the conditions of their formation. Igneous forms when magma (molten
rock inside the Earth) or Lava (molten rock that has erupted) cools either at or below Earth’s surface.
Igneous rocks that cool deep within the Earth are called plutonic or intrusive (e.g. granite) while as
volcanic or extrusive igneous rocks refers to rocks which cool on or near the surface of the Earth. [3]
Intrusive igneous rocks cool more slowly and have larger crystals such as Granite while Extrusive igneous
rocks cool more rapidly than intrusive rocks, leaving less time for crystal growth e.g. Basalt.

When it comes to rocks, some of the properties to observe and investigate include mechanical
strength (toughness), hardness, density, durability, chemical stability, crushed shape and surface
characters. While the toughness provides’ information on the rock’s ability to resist to crushing and
breaking, the hardness signifies it ability to resist scratching and abrasion. As described in the lab
manual, when testing for toughness, it is common to attempt to break the rock with a hammer or
measuring its resistance to penetration by impact drills while the hardness test is similar to that of the
mineral test mentioned above. The chemical stability test refers to the rock’s ability to resist to reaction
with alkali material in Portland cement. [1] This is because some rocks that have impurities such as Silica
react with alkalis in cement which forms a gel. This gel is known to be responsible for the expansion and
cracking of hardened concrete once it absorbs water causing alkali-aggregate reaction. This form of
reaction can only be evaluated by comparing known types of reaction as well as inspecting the rock in
correspondence to the known reaction types. Furthermore, by breaking or crushing a sample of the rock
into smaller pieces, one can estimate the crushed shape. Finally, the surface character, whether it being
smooth, slick, non-absorbent aggregate surfaces or rough, jagged or absorbent surfaces, shows its
bonding characteristics (smooth being poor bond with cement). The rock’s surface can visually be
inspected surface and the surface texture can be felt as inspection. Some of the rocks include, Dolomite
which is a sedimentary rock composed of calcium and magnesium carbonate and has scattered grains,
clumps as well as layers within the dolomite. Basalt is a bubbly, crystalline, igneous rock type, dark in
colour, heavy, iron-rich and silica-poor, volcanic rock that makes up most of the world's oceanic crust. It
represents the Earth's upper mantle. Finally, a Magmatite is a foliated metamorphic rock that is the
product of high pressure and temperatures that are near melting point of rock.

As stated above, it is rather time consuming to mention all of the rock types; however below are
figures of some minerals classified by their rock types.

Figure 3. Classification of Sedimentary Rocks

In this lab, the different types of minerals that will be investiaged are Graphite, Pyrite, Quartz,
Magnetite, Mica, Calcite, Galena, Feldspar, Hornblende and Talc. The type of rocks that are inspected
include; Gneiss, Shale, Limestone, Quartzite, Granite, Sandstone, Basalt, Slate, Dolomite and
Conglomerate.
[1] Lab manual ‘’’

[2] Spear, F.S., 1993: Metamorphic Phase Equilibria and Pressure-Temperature-Time Paths.
Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 799 pp.

[3] Carlson, D.H, Plummer, C.C and Hammersley, L., 2008: Physical geology, earth revealed. McGrawHill.
New York, NY 100200

[4] Wilding L.P. 1977. Silica in soils: quartz, cristobalite, tridymite, and opal. In Dixon J.B., Weed S.B. (eds.)
Minerals in Soil Environments, Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 471 – 553