Portal:Minerals

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The Minerals Portal

Crystals of serandite, natrolite, analcime, and aegirine from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada

In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance 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 organisms. However, some minerals are often biogenic (such as calcite) or organic compounds in the sense of chemistry (such as mellite). Moreover, living organisms 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. (Full article...)


Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...?

Aguilarite from Mexico

  • ... that the uncommon mineral aguilarite (pictured), named for discoverer Ponciano Aguilar, is known from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australasia?
  • ... that the thallium-rich mineral lorandite from the Allchar deposit is being used to determine the flux of solar neutrinos?
  • ... that seamanite is known from only four locations, with three in Michigan and one in Australia?
  • ...that jerrygibbsite ((Mn,Zn)9(SiO4)4(OH)2) is a rare mineral of which there are only five known samples in the world?

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