12.108
Earth Materials: Minerals and Rocks
Provides an integrated survey of rocks and rock-forming minerals. Introduces the fundamentals of crystal structure and mineral chemistry and explore mineral and rock formation mechanisms across Earth and planetary surfaces and interiors. Links mineral assemblages to the chemical compositions of rocks within the Earth's crust and upper mantle and to specific tectonic environments. Students investigate the chemistry and physics of rock formation mechanisms, crust and mantle melting dynamics, and the geochemical and mineralogical signatures of igneous rocks and metamorphic processes. Laboratory component includes both specimen-level work and petrography.
Fall 2004 · Structure of Earth Materials
Topics
- 2-D Symmetry Operations
- Field Trip
- 3-D Symmetry + Translation
- Plane Symmetry
- Point Groups and Space Groups
- 3-D Symmetry
- Coordination Number and Polyhedra
- Packing of Spheres
- Bonding Models - Ionic - Electrostatics
- Polyhedral Models
- Bonding Models - Covalent - Metallic
- Crystal Lattices - Reciprocal Lattices
- Stereo-nets
- X-ray Generation, Diffraction, Bragg’s Law
- X-ray Diffraction
- Earth’s Element Inventory - Metals and Sulfides
- Minerals I
- High P Mantle Mineralogy
- Minerals II
- Pyriboles
- Minerals III
- Feldspar, Quartz
- Minerals IV
- Carbonates, Sulfates, etc.
- Tensor Properties
- Hardness
- Representation Quadrics
- Optics I
- The Interaction of Electric Fields with Crystals: An Introduction to Crystal Optics
- Optics II
- Optical Indicatrices
- Optics III
- Optical Properties
- Stress and Strain
- Optics IV
- Stiffness and Compliance
- Optics V
- Point and Line Defects
- Microprobe
- Magnetic Properties
- Defects I
Readings
- B = Bloss, F. Donald. Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry . New York, NY: Thomson Learning, 1971. ISBN: 9780030851551.
- N = Nye, J. F. Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices . Reprint ed. London, UK: Oxford University Press, 11 July 1985. ISBN: 9780198511656.
- P = Putnis, Andrew. An Introduction to Mineral Sciences . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 27 November 1992. ISBN: 9780521429474.
- ZS = Zoltai, Tibor, and James H. Stout. Mineralogy: Concepts and Principles . Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Pub. Co., 1984. ISBN: 9780808726067.
- SES #: Lec 1 · TOPICS: 2-D Symmetry Operations · READINGS: B 1, P 1, ZS 2
- SES #: Lec 2 · TOPICS: 3-D Symmetry + Translation · READINGS: B 2, P 1, ZS 2
- SES #: Lec 3 · TOPICS: Point Groups and Space Groups · READINGS: B 5, P 1, ZS 3
- SES #: Lec 4 · TOPICS: Coordination Number and Polyhedra · READINGS: B 8, P 5, ZS 5
- SES #: Lec 5 · TOPICS: Bonding Models - Ionic - Electrostatics · READINGS: B 9, P 5, ZS 4
- SES #: Lec 6 · TOPICS: Bonding Models - Covalent - Metallic · READINGS: B 9, P 5, ZS 4
- SES #: Lec 7 · TOPICS: Crystal Lattices - Reciprocal Lattices · READINGS: B 3-6, P 5, ZS 4
- SES #: Lec 8 · TOPICS: X-ray Generation, Diffraction, Bragg’s Law · READINGS: B 13, P 3, ZS 10
- SES #: Lec 9 · TOPICS: Earth’s Element Inventory - Metals and Sulfides · READINGS: P 5, ZS 5
- SES #: Lec 10 · TOPICS: High P Mantle Mineralogy · READINGS: P 6, ZS Part II
- SES #: Lec 11 · TOPICS: Pyriboles · READINGS: B 9, P 6, ZS Part II
- SES #: Lec 12 · TOPICS: Feldspar, Quartz · READINGS: B 9
- SES #: Lec 14 · TOPICS: Tensor Properties · READINGS: B 11, N 1, P 2
- SES #: Lec 15 · TOPICS: Representation Quadrics · READINGS: N 2, P 2
- SES #: Lec 16 · TOPICS: The Interaction of Electric Fields with Crystals: An Introduction to Crystal Optics · READINGS: N 4, P 2
- SES #: Lec 17 · TOPICS: Optical Indicatrices · READINGS: B 12, P 2, ZS 11
- SES #: Lec 19 · TOPICS: Stress and Strain · READINGS: N 13
- SES #: Lec 20 · TOPICS: Stiffness and Compliance · READINGS: N 5, 6
- SES #: Lec 21 · TOPICS: Point and Line Defects · READINGS: B 10, ZS 6, P 7
- SES #: Lec 22 · TOPICS: Magnetic Properties · READINGS: N 8, P 12.6
- SES #: Lec 23 · TOPICS: Review · READINGS: B 11
- Blackburn, William H., and William H. Dennen. Principles of Mineralogy . 2nd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: William C Brown Publishers, 16 September 1993. ISBN: 9780697150783.
- Deer, W. A., R. A. Howie, and J. Zussman. An Introduction to the Rock-forming Minerals . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 9780582300941.
- Klein, Cornelius, Cornelius S. Hurlbut Jr., and James Dwight Dana. Manual of Mineralogy: After James D. Dana . 21st ed. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1 May 1993. ISBN: 9780471574521.
- Bloss, F. Donald. Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry . Mineralogical Society of America_,_ New York, NY: Thomson Learning, 1971. ISBN: 9780030851551.
- Nye, J. F. Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices. Reprint ed. London, UK: Oxford University Press, 1 August 1985. ISBN: 9780198511656.
- Putnis, Andrew. An Introduction to Mineral Sciences. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, November 27, 1992. ISBN: 9780521429474.
- Zoltai, Tibor, and James H. Stout. Mineralogy: Concepts and Principles. Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Pub. Co., c1984. ISBN: 9780808726067.
- Loretto, M. H., and Smallman. Defect Analysis in Electron Microscopy. Wiley, Distributed by Halstead Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780412137600.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: Chemistry (GIR) Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Spring) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-4-5 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2004
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.