Minerals are natural compounds or elements of inorganic nature. There are 92 naturally occuring elements that have specific physical properties, definite chemical composition, and characteristic atomic structure. You can also find between 2,000 to 2,500 minerals in the earths crust. Minerals are formed in a positive response to their environment, most of them to deep for an observer. Environments in which minerals are formed far beneath the earths surface are plutonic igneous, pegmatitic, hot temperature vein, moderate temp. vein, low temp. vein, and a metamorphic environment.
Environments in which minerals form near the earths surface are groundwater, weathering, and sedimentary. Minerals are divided into groups on the basis of their composition. About one third of all mineral belong to the group silicates. Other groups are carbonates they includes calcite, oxide which includes magnetite, sulfides which includes pyrite, halides which includes halite, sulfates which includes gypsum, and phosphateswhich eapalite the mineral belongs to. The last group is every mineral that is a chemical element and is found their uncombined state. The elements include copper, silver, gold, and so on.
