Syllabus
General mineralogy:
Subject and history of mineralogy, relationships to other scientific disciplines. Definition of crystal and mineral. Symmetry. Unit cell as a basic building block of crystals, 7 crystal systems, Bravais lattices, lines and planes of nodes and their expression by rational indices, Miller indices, crystal structure. Stereographic projection, plane, form, plane groups, translation, screw axes, glide planes, point group symbols, habitus, twinning, examples of most common twinning laws, aggregates and their basic types, growth effects. Reciprocal lattice, Laue and Bragg equations, and Ewald sphere. Density, color, luster, streak, hardness, fluorescence a phosphorescence, piezoelectric, pyroelectric and magnetic properties. Optical properties (refractive index, polarization, birefringence, dispersion, pleochroism), optical indicatrix, isotropic, uniaxial and biaxial minerals, polarizing microscope. Chemical elements and bonds. Chemical composition of minerals and calculation of empirical formulae. Ionic radii, radii ratios and coordination polyhedra, interstices in crystal structures with closest packing. General rules dealing with ionic structures (Pauling’s rules). Isomorphism, solid solutions, polymorphism, phase transformations, crystal defects, radiation-induces defects (metamictization). Experimental techniques in mineralogy and determination of minerals: Basic macroscopic description, preparation of samples for different methods, diffraction methods, methods of chemical analysis, spectroscopic methods, high resolution electron microscopy.
Systematic mineralogy:
Classification and naming of minerals. Mineral species and varieties. Elements: Description of selected elements. Halides: halite and fluorite a their structure aspects. Sulfides and other related minerals: crystal chemistry, brief description. Oxides and hydroxides: ionic crystal structures. Description of important oxides and hydroxides, SiO2 polymorphs, important building blocks of octahedral sheets of sheet silicates. Carbonates and other minerals with trigonal anionic groups: crystal chemistry of carbonates, influence of ionic radii on cation coordination numbers. Phosphates, sulfates and other related minerals: Apatite as a biogenic mineral, important sulfates and tungstates. Silicates - basic division. Neso-, soro-, and cyclosilicates: Basic structure aspects, description of selected important minerals. Inosilicates: brief description of important silicates with chain bonding of silicate tetrahedral - pyroxenes, pyroxenoids, amphiboles. Phyllosilicates: crystal structure, basic types of sheet silicates. Tectosilicates: feldspars (structure aspects), zeolites, other important rock-forming minerals.
Genetic mineralogy:
Origin of minerals. Crystallization of igneous rocks, Bowen crystallization series, origin of granites, pegmatites. Formation of sulfides from hydrothermal solutions. Origin of silicates by weathering, clay minerals. Weathering of sulfides and their oxidation. Metamorphic minerals.
Annotation
The course, targeting junior students of geosciences, presents fundamentals of general and systematic mineralogy. In the part devoted to the general mineralogy, the principal goal is to describe basic physical and chemical properties of minerals and their link with crystal structure.
Further, selected experimental methods used in study of minerals are presented. Part dedicated to systematic mineralogy gives brief information on selected important minerals, their occurrence, origin and links to other minerals in some cases.
Origin and economic potential of some minerals are mentioned briefly.