"Highlights in Mineralogical Crystallography" presents a collection of review articles with the common topic: structural properties of minerals and synthetic analogues. It is a valuable resource for mineralogists, materials scientists, crystallographers, and earth scientists. This book includes: An introduction to the RRUFF database for structural, spectroscopic, and chemical mineral identification. A systematic evaluation of structural complexity of minerals. ab initio computer modelling of mineral surfaces. Natural quasicrystals of meteoritic origin. The potential role of terrestrial ringwoodite on the water content of the Earth's mantle. Structural characterization of nanocrystalline bio-related minerals by electron-diffraction tomography. The uniqueness of mayenite-type compounds as minerals and high-tech ceramics.
At the dawn of structural crystallography, Walther Friedrich, Paul Knipping and Max von Laue carried out the first experiments and developed the theory of X-ray diffraction. From the early days, when even the simpler inorganic structures filled an entire PhD study, structural crystallography evolved at its own pace and found new partners in chemistry, physics, materials science, biology and other fields of physical sciences. Both morphological and structural crystallography, however, have remained as important instruments in the mineralogist's toolbox until today. Efforts to enhance the existing instrumentation, to improve our understanding of the theory of diffraction, to study nanoparticulate or poorly ordered materials, and to master large, complex structures continue in all fields of physical sciences. Mineralogy can thus use the fruits of this labour and include them in its toolbox.
This student-oriented text is written in a casual, jargon-free style to present a modern introduction to mineralogy. It emphasizes real-world applications and the history and human side of mineralogy. This book approaches the subject by explaining the larger, understandable topics first, and then explaining why the little things are important for understanding the larger picture.
This book describes the discovery of quasicrystals (icosahedral and decagonal) in an extraterrestrial rock from the Koryak Mountains of Far Eastern Russia. After a decade-long search for a natural quasicrystal, this discovery opened a new avenue in mineralogy and crystallography that could lead to further discoveries in geoscience, astronomy, condensed matter physics, and materials engineering. For the first time, minerals have been discovered that violate the symmetry restrictions of conventional crystallography. The natural occurrence of such crystals was unexpected, involving previously unknown processes. The fact that the quasicrystals were found in a meteorite formed in the earliest moments of the solar system means these processes have been active for over 4.5 billion years and have influenced the composition of the first objects to condense around the Sun. Finding quasicrystals formed in these extreme environments also informed the longstanding debate concerning the stability and robustness of quasicrystals. Recent shock experiments lend support to the hypothesis that the extraterrestrial quasicrystals formed as a result of hypervelocity impacts between objects in the early Solar system, and that they are probably less rare in the Milky Way.
Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology, second edition, presents the essentials of both disciplines through an approach accessible to industry professionals, academic researchers, and students alike. This new edition emphasizes the relationship between rocks and minerals, right from the structures created during rock formation through the economics of mineral deposits. While petrology is classified on the lines of geological evolution and rock formation, mineralogy speaks to the physical and chemical properties, uses, and global occurrences for each mineral, emphasizing the need for the growth of human development. The primary goal is for the reader to identify minerals in all respects, including host-rocks, and mineral deposits, with additional knowledge of mineral-exploration, resource, extraction, process, and ultimate use. To help provide a comprehensive analysis across ethical and socio-economic dimensions, a separate chapter describes the hazards associated with minerals, rocks, and mineral industries, and the consequences to humanity along with remedies and case studies. New to the second edition: includes coverage of minerals and petrology in extra-terrestrial environments as well as case studies on the hazards of the mining industry. Addresses the full scope of core concepts of mineralogy and petrology, including crystal structure, formation and grouping of minerals and soils, definition, origin, structure and classification of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks Features more than 250 figures, illustrations and color photographs to vividly explore the fundamental principles of mineralogy and petrology Offers a holistic approach to both subjects, beginning with the formation of geologic structures that is followed by the hosting of mineral deposits and the exploration and extraction of lucrative, usable products that improve the health of global economies Includes new content on minerals and petrology in extraterrestrial environments and case studies on hazards in the mining industry
A brief historical account of the background leading to the publication of the first four editions of the World Directory of Crystallographers was presented by G. Boom in his preface to the Fourth Edition, published late in 1971. That edition was produced by traditional typesetting methods from compilations of biographical data prepared by national Sub-Editors. The major effort required to produce a directory by manual methods provided the impetus to use computer techniques for the Fifth Edition. The account of the production of the first computer assisted Directory was described by S.C. Abrahams in the preface of the Fifth Edition. Computer composition, which required a machine readable data base, offered several major advantages. The choice of typeface and range of characters was flexible. Corrections and additions to the data base were rapid and, once established, it was hoped updating for future editions would be simple and inexpensive. The data base was put to other Union uses, such as preparation of mailing labels and formulation of lists of crystallographers with specified common fields of interest. The Fifth Edition of the World Directory of Crystallographers was published in June of 1977, the Sixth in May of 1981. The Subject Indexes for the Fifth and Sixth Editions were printed in 1978 and 1981 respectively, both having a limited distribution.
Crystallography remains, for mineralogy, one of the main sources of information on natural crystalline substances. A description of mineral species shape is carried out according to the principles of geometric crystallography; the crystal structure of minerals is determined using X-ray crystallography techniques, and physical crystallography approaches allow one to evaluate various properties of minerals, etc. However, the reverse comparison should not be forgotten as well: the crystallography science, in its current form, was born in the course of mineralogical research, long before preparative chemistry received such extensive development. It is worth noting that, even today, investigations of crystallographic characteristics of minerals regularly open up new horizons in materials science, because the possibilities of nature (fascinating chemical diversity; great variation of thermodynamic parameters; and, of course, almost endless processing time) are still not available for reproduction in any of the world's laboratories. This Special Issue is devoted to mineralogical crystallography, the oldest branch of crystallographic science, and aims to combine important surveys covering topics indicated in the keywords below.
Volume 41 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry introduces to the field of high-temperature and high-pressure crystal chemistry, both as a guide to the dramatically improved techniques and as a summary of the voluminous crystal chemical literature on minerals at high temperature and pressure. The three parts of the book introduces crystal chemical considerations of special relevance to non-ambient crystallographic studies, reviews the temperature- and pressure-variation of structures in major mineral groups and presents experimental techniques for high-temperature and high-pressure studies of single crystals and polycrystalline samples as well as special considerations relating to diffractometry on samples at non-ambient conditions.
