Earth:List of minerals

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This is a list of minerals which have Wikipedia articles.

Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various species. Within a mineral species there may be variation in physical properties or minor amounts of impurities that are recognized by mineralogists or wider society as a mineral variety.

Mineral variety names are listed after the valid minerals for each letter.

For a more complete listing of all mineral names, see List of minerals recognized by the International Mineralogical Association.

A

Amethyst crystals – a purple quartz
Apophyllite crystals sitting right beside a cluster of peachy bowtie stilbite
Aquamarine variety of beryl with tourmaline on orthoclase
Arsenopyrite from Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico
Aurichalcite needles spraying out within a protected pocket lined by bladed calcite crystals
Austinite from the Ojuela Mine, Mapimí, Durango, Mexico
Ametrine containing amethyst and citrine, from Bolivia
Azurite, Burra Mine, South Australia
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Adamantine spar (variety of corundum)
  • Agate (variety of chalcedony and quartz)
  • Alabaster (variety of gypsum)
  • Alexandrite (variety of chrysoberyl)
  • Allingite (synonym of amber)
  • Alum
  • Amazonite (variety of microcline)
  • Amethyst (purple variety of quartz)
  • Ametrine (variety of quartz)
  • Ammolite (organic; also a gemstone)
  • Amosite (asbestiform grunerite)
  • Antozonite (variety of fluorite)
  • Anyolite (metamorphic rock - zoisite, ruby, and hornblende)
  • Aquamarine (light blue variety of beryl)
  • Argentite (high temperature form of acanthite)
  • Asbestos (fibrous serpentine- or amphibole minerals)
  • Auerlite (variety of thorite)
  • Avalite (chromian variety of illite)
  • Aventurine (variety of quartz)

B

Baryte (included by malachite) on malachite, from Shangulowé Mine, Kambove, Central area, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo
Spiky calcite scalenohedra with a coating of whitish benstonite on a layer of teal-colored fluorite
Thin tabular biotite cluster
Brookite from Kharan, Balochistan, Pakistan
Varieties that are not valid species:

C

Radiating spray of colorless wheatsheaf calcite crystals on matrix, from Iraí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Rhombohedrons of calcite that appear almost as books of petals, piled up 3-dimensionally on the matrix, from Eastern Europe
Sky blue, prismatic crystals of celestine from Majunga, Madagascar
Pocket cavity of small chrysocolla stalactites from Ray Mine, Scott Mountain area, Mineral Creek District, Arizona, USA
Cinnabar on dolomite
Cubic Cobaltite, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Campylite (variety of mimetite)
  • Carbonado (variety of diamond)
  • Carnelian (variety of quartz)
  • Cementite (synthetic cohenite)
  • Ceylonite (variety of spinel)
  • Chalcedony (cryptocrystalline variety of quartz and moganite)
  • Chiastolite (variety of andalusite)
  • Chlorastrolite (variety of pumpellyite-(Mg))
  • Chrysoprase (green nickel bearing chalcedony)
  • Chrysotile (group name - asbestiform serpentine)
  • Citrine (yellow variety of quartz)
  • Cleveite (variety of uraninite)
  • Clinochrysotile (polytype of chrysotile)
  • Coltan (short for minerals of the columbite group)
  • Cotterite (variety of quartz)
  • Crocidolite (asbestiform riebeckite)
  • Cymophane (variety of chrysoberyl)

D

The slightly misshapen octahedral shape of this rough diamond crystal in matrix is typical of the mineral
Dioptase from Tsumeb, Namibia
Varieties that are not valid species:

E

Emerald on quartz, from Carnaiba Mine, Pindobaçu, Campo Formoso ultramafic complex, Bahia, Brazil
Epidote crystals on matrix mined in Katsna Yama, Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Elsmoreite (pure hydrokenoelsmoreite)
  • Emerald (green gem variety of beryl)

F

Translucent fluorapophyllit-(K) crystal and stilbite, from Jalgaon District, Maharashtra, India
Deep green isolated fluorite crystal showing cubic and octahedral faces, set upon a micaceous matrix
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Fassaite (variety of augite)
  • Ferrocolumbite (synonym of columbite-(Fe))
  • Ferrotantalite (synonym of tantalite-(Fe))
  • Fluorspar (synonym of fluorite)
  • Francolite (variety of fluorapatite)

G

Garnet
Gold vein stockwork in limonite, from Gold Flake Vein, Farncomb Hill, Breckenridge Mining District, Summit County, Colorado, USA
Varieties that are not valid species:

H

Brazilian trigonal hematite crystals
Heulandite and Celadonite, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra, India
Hübnerite and quartz
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Hatchettite (a paraffin wax)
  • Heliodor (greenish-yellow variety of beryl)
  • Heliotrope (variety of chalcedony)
  • Hessonite (variety of grossular)
  • Hiddenite (variety of spodumene)
  • Hyalite (variety of opal)
  • Hyalophane (synonym of jaloallofane)
  • Hypersthene (synonym of enstatite or ferrosilite, or mid-way member of the enstatite–ferrosilite series) (not approved by IMA)

I

Inyoite from Monte Azul deposit, Sijes, Salta, Argentina
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Idocrase (synonym of vesuvianite)
  • Iolite (a gem-quality variety of cordierite)

J

Benitoite (blue), joaquinite-(Ce) (brown) and neptunite (dark red) on natrolite (white), from Dallas Gem Mine area, San Benito River headwaters area, New Idria District, Diablo Range, San Benito Co., California, USA
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Jade (tough, green mineral either jadeite or nephrite amphibole)
  • Jasper (variety of quartz)
  • Jeffersonite (variety of augite)

K

Kainosite-(Y) from the Amphibolite quarry, Haslach, Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Kröhnkite from Cuquicamata Mine, Chuquicamata District, Calama, El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Keilhauite (variety of titanite)
  • Kerolite (variety of talc)
  • Krantzite (natural resin)
  • Kunzite (variety of spodumene)

L

Langite from Alsace, France
Legrandite on limonite
Liddicoatite on quartz and feldspar
Varieties that are not valid species:

M

Magnetite from Speen Ghar, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
Manganite from Ilfeld, Thuringia, Germany
Mesolite at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Mimetite on limonite matrix
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Magnesia
  • Magnesiocummingtonite (magnesium-rich variety of cummingtonite)
  • Malacolite (synonym of diopside)
  • Manganocolumbite (synonym of columbite-(Mn))
  • Manganotantalite (synonym of tantalite-(Mn))
  • Mariposite (variety of phengite/muscovite)
  • Meerschaum (variety of sepiolite)
  • Melanite (variety of andradite)
  • Menilite (variety of opal)
  • Milky quartz (a cloudy white quartz)
  • Morganite (a pink beryl)

N

Needles of natrolite on deep pink inesite
Neptunite from California, USA
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Nephrite (variety of tremolite/actinolite)
  • Niobite (synonym of columbite)
  • Niobite-tantalite (synonym of columbite-tantalite)

O

Boulder opal, Carisbrooke Station near Winton, Queensland, Australia
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Oligoclase (a mixture of albite and anorthite)
  • Onyx (a monochromatic banded variety of chalcedony)
  • Opal (a mineraloid. Colored variety used as a gemstone)
  • Opalite
  • Orthochrysotile (a polytype of chrysotile)

P

A native Platinum nugget from the Kondyor mine, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.
Pectolite from Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey, USA
Phosphophyllite from Cerro de Potosí, Potosí Department, Bolivia
Proustite from Chanarcillo, Copiapo Province, Chile
Varieties that are not valid species:

Q

Quartz

R

Crystals of cherry red ruby in matrix
Rock crystal
Varieties that are not valid species:

S

Native silver on Acanthite, Imiter Mine, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco
Gypsum (selenite variety): Santa Eulalia District, Chihuahua, Mexico
Serandite clusters from Poudrette quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Montérégie, Québec, Canada
Botryoidal balls of shattuckite, from Otjikotu, Kaokoveld, Kunene, Namibia
Ball of stepped stannite crystals flanked by splaying GEM quartzes and golden chalcopyrite at its upper edge, from Yaogangxian Mine, Yizhang County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Sapphire (gem corundum of any color except red, especially blue varieties)
  • Sard (a variety of chalcedony/quartz)
  • Satinspar (a variety of gypsum)
  • Selenite (a variety of gypsum)
  • Simetite (a variety of amber)
  • Smoky quartz (a brown or black variety of quartz)
  • Soda niter (synonym of nitratine)
  • Spectrolite (a variety of labradorite)
  • Spessartite (synonym of spessartine)
  • Sphene (synonym of titanite)
  • Stantienite (a variety of amber)
  • Sunstone (a variety of either oligoclase or orthoclase)

T

Crystal of titanite with adularia and minor clinochlore on matrix
Fluorite crystal sitting beside a glassy, dark green tourmaline crystal, which itself sits atop a green tourmaline of a lighter color. All sit on a bed of sparkly, bladed stark white albite
Turquoise from the Copper Cities Mine, near Miami, Arizona, USA
Varieties that are not valid species:

U

Uranophane, Musonoi Mine, Kolwezi, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of Congo. FOV: 6 mm

V

Vanadinite from the Mibladen Mining District, Morocco

W

Deep green balls of wavellite in exposed pocket, from Mauldin Mountain Quarries, Montgomery County, Arkansas, USA

X

Radial fibrous inesite and xonotlite from Northern Cape Province, South Africa

Y

Yugawaralite crystals in a sheltered vug, from Jalgaon District, Maharashtra, India
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Yttrocerite (variety of fluorite)
  • Yttrocolumbite (variety of columbite)

Z

Zeolite with heulandite on quartz
Zircon from Gilgit, Pakistan
Varieties that are not valid species:
  • Zajacite-(Ce) (name changed to gagarinite-(Ce))
  • Zhonghuacerite-(Ce) (considered to be kukharenkoite-(Ce) or huanghoite-(Ce))
  • Zinalsite (synonym of fraipontite)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anthony, J.W.; Bideaux, R.A.; Bladh, K.W. et al., eds (19 March 2021). "Ice". Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America. https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/Ice.pdf. 
  2. ↑ Pasero, Marco (July 2024). "IMA List of Minerals". IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification. http://cnmnc.units.it/. 



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