Earth Science Mineral Vocab

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Luster

Back 1

The visual appearance of a mineral as it absorbs, reflects or refracts light.

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Mineral

Back 2

A solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance composed of an element or compound and having a fixed chemical composition.

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Muscovite

Back 3

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.

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Native elements

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Metallic (gold, silver, copper) and nonmetallic (graphite, sulfur, diamond) minerals composed of a single element in its purest uncombine form (i.e. Gold, Au)

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Oxides

Back 5

Minerals that form when oxygen atoms bond with metal atoms such as iron, magnesium, or aluminum. (i.e. Magnetite)

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Quartz

Back 6

One of the most abundant and stable minerals in the earth's crust, made of one atom of silicon and two atoms of oxygen

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Silicates

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THe rock-forming minerals made up of silicon-oxygen molecules either alone or in combination with one or more other elements.

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Specific Gravity

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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.

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Streak

Back 9

The color of the powder left by a mineral when it is rubbed across an unglazed tile.

Front 10

Sulfides

Back 10

Metallic minerals that form when a metal element bonds with sulfur. (i.e pyrite)

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Carbonates

Back 11

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)

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Cleavage

Back 12

THe way a mineral breaks along one or more smooth, flat planes

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Crystal

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A geometric mineral shape having an orderly arrangement of plane surfaces that reflects the fixed pattern of its internal atoms.

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Fracture

Back 14

The breakage of minerlas along irregular surfaces. Fracture can be described as uneven, splintered or curved.

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Feldspar

Back 15

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.