Minerals make up the rocks that make up the earth's crust. Become aware of minerals and how they have been identified to comprehend rocks. The information in this report will help you comprehend the terminology used to identify minerals.

What are Minerals?

Most rocks are made up of a unique combination of minerals specific to their nature. The organic carbon in coal and obsidian makes them both volcanic rocks. You must identify a rock's minerals to recognize it as such.

Natural solids, inorganic solids with a crystal lattice structure, are known as minerals. Plagioclase, quartz, orthoclase amphibole, pyroxene, garnet, and clay make up the bulk of the earth's crust, even though hundreds of minerals have been found.

How Do Minerals Become Known?

Scientists who specialize in minerals are known as mineralogists. Mineralogists are required to identify and classify minerals. You can use the physical qualities of most minerals to identify them. However, a powerful microscope may be used by a mineralogist. What is the hue of the mineral? What's the general outline of this thing? The crystals themselves are either shiny or dull. If so, what kind of patterns can be found in the minerals?

Colour

This lustrous, soft, hefty, and gold-coloured mineral is made of pure gold. It depicts a glossy gold mineral, extremely soft and hefty, and gold-coloured. A person shouldn't rely just on colour, even when helpful. The colour of many minerals might be the same. Depicts real gold, which has a colour that is quite similar to that of the pyrite in Figure 1.

Aside from that, some minerals come in a wide range of hues and shades. There are a variety of colours to choose from when it comes to quartz. As a result, while colour might be useful, it should not be relied upon solely as a deciding factor. There is a white quartz a purple quartz sample. Because of a trace quantity of iron, the quartz has a purple hue. Chemical impurities can give minerals a variety of hues.

Luster

Luster is the surface reflection of light. Gloss is a mineral word. You can use the mineral's metallic or non-metallic sheen to classify lustre. Metallic lustre is found in opaque, bright minerals like pyrite. Quartz has a non-metallic shine.

Streak

Colour minerals may have a varied coloured streak. A pebble on porcelain leaves a red-brown imprint—an unglazed porcelain plate with a red-brown hematite stripe. Streak is a mineral's powder colour. Colour is less dependable than streak since streak does not vary. Many minerals, like quartz, have no streak.

Basics of Mineral Identification

Good lighting and a hand lens or magnifying glass are a must first and foremost. An 8x hand lens is a small, double-lens magnifying glass that you may obtain at several book and nature stores. It is available for purchase.

Physical qualities, such as those listed in the previous section, are used to identify minerals. Identifying minerals requires a detailed examination. There are many similarities between calcite and quartz. Luminous and colourless, they have a glassy lustre. However, their other features are radically different. Glass can be scratched by quartz, which is much harder. Calcite's suppleness will not scratch the glass. Quartz has no mineral cleavage and breaks the same erratic manner glass splits. Calcite has three cleavage directions which meet at angles other than 90°, so it fractures into solid pieces with completely flat, smooth, glossy sides.

• To correctly identify a mineral, you must:
• On every visible side, examine how it reflects light.
• Measure the abrasiveness of the material
• Decide whether or not it is cleaved or broken.
• Name its lustre
• Evaluate any other physical attributes necessary to determine the mineral's identity

The minerals are categorised according to their lustre and colour in the mineralogy tables that accompany this section. They are also classed based on their hardness and their cleavage or fracture. If you can identify several of these physical qualities, you can identify the mineral.

Some Other Identifiable Factors

When hydrochloric acid is added to calcite, the mineral effervesces a unique mineral feature (5 per cent HCl). Because of the HCl solution's ability to dissolve calcite, it fizzes, releasing CO2 gas into the air. The hardness, brilliance, and cleavage of calcite make it easy to identify even if you don't conduct an HCl test. Only a few minerals, or even a single mineral, can benefit from these characteristics.

In addition, magnetism is a distinct quality. You can use a tiny magnet to see if the mineral responds to it. In terms of high magnetism, magnetite is the most abundant mineral. Plagioclase feldspar has the unusual property of displaying striations on the cleavage surfaces. Straight, fine, parallel lines are called striae. Plagioclase cleavage surfaces may require magnification to show striations. On a mineral-to-mineral basis, you may find more specific features. Some of the various qualities of minerals, some of which are unique. 

Conclusion 

We have explained all about The Basics of Mineral Identification. After reading this article, you will be able to identify minerals independently. Good luck!