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Geosciences LibreTexts

3.1: Prelude to Minerals

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  • The term “minerals” as used in nutrition labels and pharmaceutical products is not the same as a mineral in a geological sense. In geology, the classic definition of a mineral is:

    1. Naturally occurring
    2. Inorganic
    3. Solid at room temperature
    4. Regular crystal structure
    5. Defined chemical composition

    Some natural substances technically should not be considered minerals, but are included by exception. For example, water and mercury are liquid at room temperature. Both are considered minerals because they were classified before the room-temperature rule was accepted as part of the definition. Calcite is quite often formed by organic processes but is considered a mineral because it is widely found and geologically important. Because of these discrepancies, the International Mineralogical Association in 1985 amended the definition to: “A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes.” This means that the calcite in the shell of a clam is not considered a mineral. But once that clamshell undergoes burial, diagenesis, or other geological processes, then the calcite is considered a mineral. Typically, substances like coal, pearl, opal, or obsidian that do not fit the definition of a mineral are called mineraloids.

    The crystals are huge!
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): These selenite (gypsum) crystals, found in The Cave of the Crystals in Naica, Mexico, has some of the largest minerals ever found. The largest crystal found here is 39 feet (12 meters) and 55 tones.

    A rock is a substance that contains one or more minerals or mineraloids. As is discussed in later chapters, there are three types of rocks composed of minerals: igneous (rocks crystallizing from molten material), sedimentary (rocks made of products of mechanical weathering (sand, gravel, etc.), chemical weathering (things precipitated from solution), and metamorphic (rocks produced by alteration of other rocks by heat and pressure).