Mineraloid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A mineraloid is a mineral-like substance that does not demonstrate crystallinity. Mineraloids possess chemical compositions that vary beyond the generally accepted ranges for specific minerals. For example, obsidian is an amorphous glass and not a crystal. Jet is a dense form of coal. Opal is another mineraloid because of its non-crystal nature. Pearls, considered by some to be a mineral because of the presence of calcium carbonate crystals within their structure, would be better considered a mineraloid because the crystals are bonded by an organic material and there is no definite proportion of the components.
A very common mineraloid is limonite a mixture of hydrated iron oxides.
Other naturally occurring substances that appear superficially to be minerals in nature are Nonminerals.
[edit] See also
- List of minerals Mineraloids are listed alphabetically after minerals.
