In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form. The geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur only in living beings. However some minerals are often biogenic (such as calcite) or are organic compounds in the sense of chemistry (such as mellite). Moreover, living beings often synthesize inorganic minerals (such as hydroxylapatite) that also occur in rocks. The concept of mineral is distinct from rock, which is any bulk solid geologic material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale. A rock may consist of one type of mineral, or may be an aggregate of two or more different types of minerals, spacially segregated into distinct phases. Some natural solid substances without a definite crystalline structure, such as opal or obsidian, are more properly called mineraloids. If a chemical compound occurs naturally with different crystal structures, each structure is considered a different mineral species. Thus, for example, quartz and stishovite are two different minerals consisting of the same compound, silicon dioxide.
Sample Chapter(s)
Preface (50 KB)
Components of the Book:
- Chapter1
Global earth mineral inventory: A data legacy
- Chapter2
Clay mineral composition of upland soils and its implication for pedogenesis and soil taxonomy in subtropical China
- Chapter3
Mineral Resource Governance in the 21st Century and a sustainable European Union
- Chapter4
State-of-the-art and perspectives in the heavy mineral industry of Sri Lanka
- Chapter5
Evaluation of mineral bioavailability and heavy metal content in indigenous food plant wild yams (Dioscorea spp.) from Koraput, India
- Chapter6
Extremophiles in Mineral Sulphide Heaps: Some Bacterial Responses to Variable Temperature, Acidity and Solution Composition
- Chapter7
Experimental Investigation and Simplistic Geochemical Modeling of CO2 Mineral Carbonation Using the Mount Tawai Peridotite
- Chapter8
Lithium in Portuguese Bottled Natural Mineral Waters—Potential for Health Benefits?
- Chapter9
Toward a more sustainable mining future with electrokinetic in situ leaching
- Chapter10
Persistent Activities of Extracellular Enzymes Adsorbed to Soil Minerals
- Chapter11
Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees
- Chapter12
Enrichment and Occurrence of Mn in 5–2 Coal from Qinglongsi Coal Mine, Northern Ordos Basin, China
- Chapter13
Mineral analysis reveals extreme manganese concentrations in wild harvested and commercially available edible termites
- Chapter14
Barriers to and uncertainties in understanding and quantifying global critical mineral and element supply
- Chapter15
Mineral Resource Dilemma: How to Balance the Interests of Government, Local Communities and Abiotic Nature
Readership:
Students, academics, teachers and other people attending or interested in Mineral Resources
Anirudh Prabhu
Anirudh Prabhu
1Tetherless World Constellation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
Shaunna M. Morrison
Shaunna M. Morrison
2Carnegie Institution for Science, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, D.C., USA
Joshua J. Golden
Joshua J. Golden
4Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
H. C. S. Subasinghe
H. C. S. Subasinghe
1Department of Applied Earth Sciences, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Uva Wellassa University, Passara Road, Badulla, 90000 Sri Lanka
Omeid Rahmani
Omeid Rahmani
1Department of Petroleum Engineering, Mahabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahabad 59135-433, Iran
and more...