Mineral Definitions

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What is a Mineral?

The following definitions on what constitutes a mineral were taken from several different sources and are arranged by year:

"A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes" (Nickel, E. H., 1995).
"Minerals are naturally-occurring inorganic substances with a definite and predictable chemical composition and physical properties." (O' Donoghue, 1990).
"A mineral is a naturally occurring homogeneous solid, inorganically formed, with a definite chemical composition and an ordered atomic arrangement" (Mason, et al, 1968).
"These... minerals ...can be distinguished from one another by individual characteristics that arise directly from the kinds of atoms they contain and the arrangements these atoms make inside them" (Sinkankas, 1966).
"A mineral is a body produced by the processes of inorganic nature, having usually a definite chemical composition and, if formed under favorable conditions, a certain characteristic atomic structure which is expressed in its crystalline form and other physical properties" (Dana & Ford, 1932).
"Every distinct chemical compound occurring in inorganic nature, having a definite molecular structure or system of crystallization and well-defined physical properties, constitutes a mineral species" (Brush & Penfield, 1898).

See the IMA Commission On New Minerals And Mineral Names: Procedures and Guidelines on Mineral Nomenclature(1998) for a technical discussion on "what is a mineral."