Lecture 1- MINERALS

• Naturally occuring,
• Homogeneous solid
• definite but generally not fixed chemical comp.
• ordered atomic arrangement

• No.
• Lack long range atomic order
• amorphous

Minerals that constitue an integral part of biological structures and processes.

• Calcite (CaCo₃) -shells of marine invertebrates, limestone
• Apatite (Ca₅(PO₄)₃(OH,CL,F) - teeth and bone H=5

The interaction of microbes and geological processes

pyrite FeS₂- Produced by action of sulfate producing bacteria (shale and coal beds)

- pice of a mineral bounded, at least in part by regular crystal faces produced as the crystal grew.

example Quartz in granite vs Quartz CRYSTALS

Minerals get more complex from core to crust

Lithosphere: brittle outermost layer (averge thickness ~ 100km) consiting of crust (oceanic and continntal) and uppermost mantle

Asthenosphere: Ductile later (from ~100km depth to perhaps as deep as 700m) within the mantle that deforms plastically

• - Era of planetary accretion
• 250 minerals
• -Era of Crust and Mantle
• 1500 minerals
• -Era of bio-mediated minerology
• 4500 minerals