ABSTRACT
This chapter describes minerals, the units that make up rocks. Mineralogy is the science of minerals. It is related to inorganic chemistry and petrology, the scientific study and description of rocks. The chapter shows that the technical properties of these rocks are strongly influenced by the properties of their minerals and emphasizes those that affect engineering projects. It discusses the important role of amorphous minerals in the genesis of rocks and in engineering. The chapter investigates the elementary components of minerals and their arrangements. It observes that crystal faces and the most common cleavages are parallel to planes of the highest lattice density. The chapter defines several essential notions linking the physical structure of a mineral to its constituent elements before examining the principal minerals from a geochemical point of view. It presents the chemical composition and physical properties of minerals.
