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Mineral alteration refers to the various natural processes that alter a mineral's chemical composition or crystallography. [1]Mineral alteration is essentially governed by the laws of thermodynamics related to energy conservation, relevant to environmental conditions, often in presence of catalysts, the most common and influential being water (H 2 O).
High specific gravity is a diagnostic property of a mineral. A variation in chemistry (and consequently, mineral class) correlates to a change in specific gravity. Among more common minerals, oxides and sulfides tend to have a higher specific gravity as they include elements with higher atomic mass.
It is traditionally defined as metamorphism which involves a change in the chemical composition, excluding volatile components. [2] It is the replacement of one rock by another of different mineralogical and chemical composition. The minerals which compose the rocks are dissolved and new mineral formations are deposited in their place.
In inorganic chemistry, mineral hydration is a reaction which adds water to the crystal structure of a mineral, usually creating a new mineral, commonly called a hydrate. In geological terms, the process of mineral hydration is known as retrograde alteration and is a process occurring in retrograde metamorphism .
Phase change metamorphism is the creating of a new mineral with the same chemical formula as a mineral of the protolith. This involves a rearrangement of the atoms in the crystals. An example is provided by the aluminium silicate minerals, kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite. All three have the identical composition, Al 2 SiO 5. Kyanite is ...
Phase transitions (phase changes) that help describe polymorphism include polymorphic transitions as well as melting and vaporization transitions. According to IUPAC, a polymorphic transition is "A reversible transition of a solid crystalline phase at a certain temperature and pressure (the inversion point) to another phase of the same chemical composition with a different crystal structure."
Example on bottom where albite (Na Al Si 3 O 8) changes to anorthite (Ca Al 2 Si 2 O 8), Al 3+replaces Si 4+ and Ca 2+ for Na +. Coupled substitution is the geological process by which two elements simultaneous substitute into a crystal in order to maintain overall electrical neutrality and keep the charge constant. [1]
Mineralogy applies principles of chemistry, geology, physics and materials science to the study of minerals. Mineralogy [n 1] 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.