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Radioactive
Minerals
Minerals containing uranium and thorium elements
have been displayed in this case.
The important uranium bearing minerals are pitchblende, carnotite, torbernite,
autunite and uranophane. They are displayed in the gallery.
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| Torbernite
Torbernite is a hydrated
phosphate of copper and uranium crystallising in the orthorhombic system. The mineral is
emerald green or grassy green in colour. Its hardness varies from 2 to 2.5 and the specific
gravity is about 3.5.
Torbernite is the most common
secondary uranium mineral and is found associated with primary uranium minerals.
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Carnotite
Carnotite is a vanadate of
potassium and uranium. Most commonly it occurs as soft, powdery aggregates or in thin films or
stains on rocks. It is the most important secondary uranium ore mineral. It is lemon yellow in
colour and its streak is yellow. |
Coal
Coal is a very important mineral fuel. It
has been formed by the accumulation of large quantities of vegetation in shallow waters in the
geological past which were subsequently covered by beds of mud, sand and other sediments. Due
to the heat and pressure produced by the deposition of sediments the vegetable matter was
gradually carbonised. Depending upon the nature of the vegetable matter, degree of
carbonisation and nature of sediments above the accumulated vegetation, various types of coal
were formed. Peat, lignite or brown coal, bituminous coal and anthracite are the important
varieties of coal.
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Cooking
Coal
Cooking coal is used for making coke. It
is black in colour and has a shining appearance. When heated it swells and forms into a soft,
spongy mass called coke. |
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Economic Geology