Feldspar Minerals (PDF)

During the past two centuries, crystallography, mineralogy and petrology have evolved from simple compilations of data to powerful disciplines based on interlocking networks of laws, hypotheses and rules-of-thumb. While many data still consist of isolated facts which defy synthesis, a gratifying portion can be organized according to physical and chemical principles. Unfortunately the separation of physical sciences into sub-divisions, especially at the teaching level, makes it difficult to integrate the different approaches to minerals. This separation is worsened by the increasing technical demands of chemical and physical theories, by the number and complexity of experimental methods, by the sheer mass of facts in an observational discipline such as mineralogy or petrology, and by the explosion of papers. This book concentrates on those aspects of the genesis and properties of feldspar minerals which can be related to physical and chemical principles. My main aim is frankly pedagogic: I wish to show how chemical and physical principles can be combined with geologic observation to produce an enhanced level of understanding of the genesis of minerals. The feldspars which demonstrate almost all of the general principles provide the most suitable example.