Mineralogy and costituents of rocks with laboratory
Module Mineralogy and costituents of rocks

Academic Year 2022/2023 - Teacher: Rosalda PUNTURO

Expected Learning Outcomes

The module aims to provide the students with: a basic understanding of the minerals and of the factors that influence their genesis and stability; the ability to understand basic mineralogical data and the specific terminology; skills in the application of the acquired knowledge for the purposes of recognition, analysis and description of the minerals of main petrographic and environmental  interest.

Course Structure

The contents will be mostly presented  with the interactive teaching method. 

Detailed Course Content

INTRODUCTION Role of mineralogy in Earth Sciences. Definition of mineral. Crystalline and amorphous state. Isotropy and anisotropy. Melting and solidification of crystalline and amorphous solids. DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY Main physical properties of minerals. State of aggregation: aggregates, associations, twins. Crystal habit. CRYSTALLOGRAPHY Crystal morphology and symmetry. Fundamental laws. Miller indices. Crystal forms. Point groups. Crystal groups and systems. Principles of structural crystallography. Planes lattices. Space lattices and unit cell. The 14 Bravais lattices. Outline of the space groups. CRYSTAL CHEMISTRY Chemical bonds in the crystal structures. Atomic and ionic radius. Ion coordination. Polyhedra and coordination numbers. Pauling's rules. Crystal structure. Isostructuralism. Mineral formulas. Isomorphism and solid solutions. Crystallization of solid solutions: binary systems with complete and partial miscibility in the solid state. MINEROGENESIS Mineral nucleation. Crystal growth. Magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary processes. Mineral stability. Polymorphism. Postcrystallization processes. MINERAL SYSTEMATICS Mineral classification. Silicates: compositional and structural characteristics of the main subclasses, families and species. General characteristics and main species of the following classes: carbonates, oxides, hydroxides, halides, sulfates, sulfides, native elements. Genesis, stability, distribution and geological paragenetic association of the main minerals of petrographic and petrological interest. Overview on specific minerals of environmental and industrial interest. 

Textbook Information

Klein C. - Mineralogia, Zanichelli.

Klein C. , Philpott A. Earth Materials: Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology (edizione italiana)

Course Planning

 SubjectsText References
1mineraliC.Klein. Mineralogia
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO