What Is Mineral Alignment?

Definition

• Minerals contain a crystalline structure, or structural order where the molecules or atoms arrange in a regular, fixed manner. Mineral alignment occurs when the crystalline structure of the mineral compresses into layers, or bands.

Compression

• A mineral's crystalline structure compresses due to outside forces, such as heat and pressure, which over time constrict or compress the mineral's atoms, condensing their structure into parallel layers. Mineral alignment occurs more frequently beneath the Earth's crust, where pressures and temperatures are higher.

Metamorphics

• Metamorphic minerals refer to minerals that form in rock specifically based on pressures and high temperatures that occur in the metamorphic process, or the transformation of one rock type into another based on pressure, chemical, heat or tectonic changes. Due to metamorphic pressure, metamorphic minerals are often foliated, or contain a crystalline structure in alignment.