the internal structure of the Earth and its most abundant chemical elements; mineral definition; basics of crystallography;
isomorphism and polymorphism; physical properties of minerals: habit, density, hardness, fracture and cleavage, brightness, color, reactivity with acids, magnetism, radioactivity.
Systematic mineralogy: chemical composition, symmetry, physical properties, formation environments of the most common terrestrial minerals including: SiO2 polymorphs, plagioclase, K-feldspar polymorphs, feldspathoids, phyllosilicates, pyroxenes, amphiboles, olivine polymorphs, garnets, epidote, staurolite, Al2SiO5 polymorphs, serpentine polymorphs, main carbonates, phosphates and sulphates, main oxides, hydroxides and sulphides. Optical mineralogy.
Instrumental techniques of mineralogical analysis: X-ray diffraction; X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF); electron microprobe and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Laboratory: macroscopic identification of minerals.
The second part of the course consists of the following contents:
Classification, structures and textures of intrusive, effusive and metamorphic rocks; melting of crust and mantle and genesis of basic, intermediate and acid magmas; principles and processes of crystallization and magmatic differentiation; solubility of volatile species in magmas; relations between magmatism and geodynamic environments; factors controlling metamorphism; metamorphic reactions; the metamorphic facies; relations between metamorphism and geodynamic environments.
- Enseignant: Omar Bartoli
- Enseignant: Bruna Borges Carvalho
- Enseignant: Fabrizio Nestola


