Minerals

• About 98 percent of the total crust of the earth is composed of eight elements like oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and the rest is constituted by titanium, hydrogen, phosphorous, manganese, sulfur, carbon, nickel, and other elements.
• The elements in the earth’s crust are rarely found exclusively but are usually combined with other elements to make various substances.
• These substances are recognized as minerals. Though the number of elements making up the lithosphere is limited they are combined in many different ways to make up many varieties of minerals.
• It is a naturally occurring inorganic substance, having an orderly atomic structure and a definite chemical composition and physical properties. A mineral composed of two or more elements. Sometimes single element minerals like sulfur, copper, silver, gold, graphite, etc. are found.
• There are at least 2,000 minerals that have been named and identified in the earth crust, but almost all the commonly occurring ones are related to six major mineral groups that are known as major rock-forming minerals.
• The basic source of all minerals is the hot magma in the interior of the earth. When magma cools, crystals of minerals appear and a systematic series of minerals are formed in sequence to solidify so as to form rocks.
• Minerals such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are organic substances found in solid, liquid and gaseous forms respectively.

Any suggestions or correction in this article - please click here ([email protected])