mineralogies

Mineralogies, when used, refers to the diverse branches within mineralogy or to compilations and catalogs of mineral species. Mineralogy is the science that studies minerals—their occurrence, chemical composition, crystal structure, physical properties, and how they form and transform. The term in plural form can point to the different subfields that together describe minerals or to organized collections and classifications of mineral species.

Subfields within mineralogies include physical mineralogy, which examines mineral properties such as density, hardness, and cleavage; chemical mineralogy, which focuses on composition and phase relations; and optical mineralogy, which uses light and petrographic microscopy to identify minerals. Crystallography studies atomic arrangements and symmetry, while economic mineralogy investigates minerals of ore and resource significance. Planetary mineralogy extends mineralogical methods to extraterrestrial materials, including meteorites and planetary surfaces. There are also environmental, experimental, and computational mineralogies that apply mineralogical knowledge to geochemical cycles, materials science, and modeling.

Common methods used across mineralogies include X-ray diffraction for crystal structure, electron microprobe analysis and SEM-EDS for composition, along with Raman and infrared spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and various microscopic techniques. Classification schemes typically group minerals by chemical system (silicates, oxides, sulfides, carbonates, phosphates, sulfates, native elements) and by structural type (framework, sheet, chain silicates, etc.). The practical outputs of mineralogies support mining, materials development, geology, archaeology, environmental science, and planetary exploration, while historically they have evolved from qualitative observations to precise, standardized descriptions and databases.