Question

How does mineral growth occur?

Answer 1

Hint: There are enormous range of geological conditions under which minerals form. It is believed that there are more ways to form minerals than the types of minerals themselves.

Complete answer: Volcanic gases, sediment formation, oxidation, crystallization from magma or the deposition from a saline fluid are all the ways in which minerals can be formed. Liquids which are hot enough to melt rocks are the starting point of many minerals.
-Melted rock inside the earth is called magma and it is a molten mixture of substances that can be hotter than 1000 degree C. Mineral crystals are given enough time to grow to be seen clearly when the magma cools inside the earth.
-A rock that is formed out of slowing cooled magma is Granite. Minerals such as quartz, plagioclase feldspar, potassium feldspar and biotite are all minerals which can be found in Granite.
-Magma, after being erupted onto the earth’s surface, is called lava. Compared to magma, lava cools much more rapidly. Due to this fast cooling of lava the mineral crystals do not have time to form and are small in size but they have the same chemical composition.
-Sometimes molecules are released from the structure of rocks and start to move around and this happens when that particular rock is heated enough. These molecules and different molecules may match up to form new minerals as the rock cools down. This entire process occurs during metamorphism.

Note: When magma heats nearby underground water it leads to the water reacting with the rocks around it and picking up dissolved particles. The open spaces in the rocks, through which the water flows, cools and gets deposited by solid minerals.