Earth Science Mineral Vocab
Terms
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- Luster
- The visual appearance of a mineral as it absorbs, reflects or refracts light.
- Mineral
- A solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance composed of an element or compound and having a fixed chemical composition.
- Muscovite
- A potassium, aluminum silicate mineral of the mica group that has perfect cleavage in one direction (breaks into thin sheets) and has a glassy luster.
- Native elements
- Metallic (gold, silver, copper) and nonmetallic (graphite, sulfur, diamond) minerals composed of a single element in its purest uncombine form (i.e. Gold, Au)
- Oxides
- Minerals that form when oxygen atoms bond with metal atoms such as iron, magnesium, or aluminum. (i.e. Magnetite)
- Quartz
- One of the most abundant and stable minerals in the earth's crust, made of one atom of silicon and two atoms of oxygen
- Silicates
- THe rock-forming minerals made up of silicon-oxygen molecules either alone or in combination with one or more other elements.
- Specific Gravity
- The relative weight of a mineral when compared with the weight of an equal volume of water; also referred to as "heft". It is similar to a mineral's density.
- Streak
- The color of the powder left by a mineral when it is rubbed across an unglazed tile.
- Sulfides
- Metallic minerals that form when a metal element bonds with sulfur. (i.e pyrite)
- Carbonates
- Minerals made of the carbonate ion (one atom of carbon and three atoms of oxygen) in combination with one or more elements such as calcium, magnesium or iron (i.e calcite)
- Cleavage
- THe way a mineral breaks along one or more smooth, flat planes
- Crystal
- A geometric mineral shape having an orderly arrangement of plane surfaces that reflects the fixed pattern of its internal atoms.
- Fracture
- The breakage of minerlas along irregular surfaces. Fracture can be described as uneven, splintered or curved.
- Feldspar
- A group of aluminum silicate minerals characterized by their hardness and distinct right-angle cleavage. They are the most abundant of all the rock-forming minerals.