Petrography and elements of mineralogy
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: EUGENIO FAZIOExpected Learning Outcomes
Learn to recognise, describe and correctly classify rocks and minerals through mesoscopic visual analysis of samples.
Furthermore, in line with the Dublin Descriptors, this course contributes to the development of the following transversal skills:
Knowledge and understanding:
The ability to reason inductively and deductively.
The ability to schematise a natural phenomenon in terms of scalar and vector physical quantities.
The ability to set up a problem using appropriate temporal relationships between petrogenetic processes in different geodynamic contexts, and solve it using graphical, analytical, or numerical methods.
The ability to recognise simple geometric elements in natural samples of rocks and minerals and three-dimensional models and to use scientific instruments to carry out experimental tests.
Ability to perform statistical analysis of data.
Understanding of the physical characteristics of the minerals that make up rocks.
Ability to apply knowledge:
The ability to apply acquired knowledge to describe rock and mineral outcrops and structures using rigorous scientific methods.
The ability to identify elements of symmetry in three-dimensional models and to represent rock compositions on ternary diagrams is also required.
Autonomy of judgement:
Critical thinking.
Ability to select the most appropriate methods for the critical analysis, interpretation and processing of experimental data.
The ability to identify the predictions of a theory or model.
The ability to evaluate the accuracy of measurements and the sensitivity and selectivity of the techniques used.
Communication skills:
The ability to present a scientific topic orally using the appropriate language and terminology to illustrate its rationale and results.
The ability to describe a scientific topic in writing using the correct terminology and illustrating the rationale and results.
Course Structure
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
Lecture topics:
- General characteristics of the structure and composition of the Earth; The rock cycle and petrogenetic processes. Rocks and geodynamic environments. Definition of 'mineral'. The crystalline state. Morphological crystallography: elements of symmetry. Structural crystallography: from Haüy to the crystal lattice. Elementary cells. The crystal lattice. Crystal groups and systems. Crystal chemistry: bonds in crystal structures. Pauling's rules. Magmatic rocks: genesis, bedding characteristics, recognition and classification (QAPF and TAS diagrams). Metamorphic rocks: genesis, bedding characteristics, recognition and classification (concept of metamorphic facies). Sedimentary rocks: genesis, recognition and classification. Pyroclastic rocks. Evaporite rocks.
Laboratory topics:
- Elements of symmetry – morphological crystallography
- Physical properties of minerals and description
- Crystal chemistry (elementary cells, Pauling rules, representation of binary and ternary diagrams)
- Recognition of the most common minerals (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary origins)
- Recognition of magmatic rocks
- Recognition of metamorphic rocks
- Recognition of sedimentary rocks
Textbook Information
Further useful textbook :
- Morbidelli L. “Le rocce e i loro costituenti” Bardi Editore, Roma, 2005.
- Deer W.A., Howie R.A., Zussman. Introduzione ai minerali che costituiscono le rocce. Zanichelli, Bologna.
- Fossen, H., & Teyssier, C. (2024). Plate Tectonics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klein C. & Philpotts A.R. | Mineralogia e petrografia | Geologia Zanichelli | 2018 | 978-88-08-32060-5 |
| Fossen, H., & Teyssier, C. | Plate Tectonics | Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | 2024 | 9781108476232 |
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 2 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 3 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 4 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 5 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 6 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 7 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 8 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 9 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 10 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 11 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 12 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 13 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) | |
| 14 | Earth Materials (Klein & Philpotts - Cambridge ed.) |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Definition of minerals; Pauling's rules; classification of minerals; silicates; polyhedron coordination and structural formulae of major minerals; elements of symmetry (centre, planes, axes of symmetry) and their recognition on three-dimensional models; petrogenetic processes (sedimentary, magmatic, metamorphic); mesoscopic recognition of mineral specimens and rock classification; basic concepts of morphological and structural crystallography. Polymorphism, isomorphism and isomorphic mixtures. Compositional and structural features of silicates. Structural formula and composition of the most common families of silicates. What are magmas? Where do they solidify? What is viscosity and what factors control its variation; how do magmas crystallise? The structures, minerals and classification of igneous rocks. The metamorphic process and the factors that control it. The most common structures and nomenclature of metamorphic rocks. The metamorphic grade and general concepts of metamorphic facies. The rock cycle. The internal structure of the Earth. Geochemical composition of the Earth's mantle. Sedimentary rocks and petrogenetic processes. Typical bedding of rocks.