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Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Berhampur

EES 301 : Mineralogy (3)

Prerequisites:: All CHM 100 level courses and EES 100 and 200 level courses

Learning Objectives:

As minerals are the basic building blocks of Earth materials, this course is designed to give a fundamental understanding of their classification, structure, and properties. The student will learn the basic principles of crystal chemistry and how this is related to the external form, chemical composition, and physical properties of minerals. Identification, classification and interpretation of the occurrence of rock-forming minerals will be addressed.

Course Contents:

Unit-1: Introduction
Structure of the course, introduction to the subject and history of mineralogy.

Unit-2: Crystallography
Definition of mineral and crystal; Fundamental laws of crystallography; Introduction to crystallography and the seven crystal systems; Hermann Mauguin Notations; Miller’s Indices; X-ray crystallography.

Unit-3: Mineral Chemistry
Introduction to crystal chemistry - ionic radii and coordination number; Chemical affinity and geochemical classification of elements; Mineralogy of the Solar System; Chemical bonding, coordination polyhedra, radius ratio, and Pauling’s rules; Major and minor trace elements in minerals; Isomorphism, polymorphism, twinning, phase transformations and crystalline defects; Mineralogical Phase Rule, phase diagrams (binary eutectic, peritectic, solid solutions, exolution), phase equilibria and introduction to the stable mineral assemblages of rocks.

Unit-4: Physical Properties of Minerals in Hand Specimen
Color, luster, form, streak, hardness, fracture, cleavage, habit, specific gravity, crystal system, magnetic properties, optical properties, other special properties and occurrences.

Unit-5 Optical Mineralogy
Introduction to optical mineralogy; Petrological microscope, isotropic and anisotropic minerals; Uniaxial and biaxial indicatrices; Optical properties in relation to indicatrices absorption and pleochroism, extinction, birefringence; Interference figures.

Unit-6: Descriptive Mineralogy
General structure, composition and salient properties of Common Rock Forming Minerals: Olivine, Pyroxene group and Amphibole group, Mica group, Feldspars, Quartz

Suggested Readings :

1. Putnis, A., 1992, An Introduction to Mineral Science, Cambridge University Press.
2. Deer, W. A., Howei, R. A., and Zussman, J., 2013 An Introduction to Rock Forming Minerals (3 rd  Edition), Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
3. Klein, C., and Butrow, B., 2008, The 23 rd  edition of the Manual of Mineral Science (4 th  Edition), John Wiley and Sons.
4. Wenk, H.-R. and Bulakh, A., 2016, Minerals – Their Constitution and Origin (2 nd  Edition), Cambridge University Press.
5. Nesse, W. D., 2011, Introduction to Mineralogy (2 nd  Edition), Oxford University Press.

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