GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Cleavage. The way in which a mineral breaks along smooth flat planes is called cleavage. These breaks occur along planes of weakness in the mineral’s structure.

Detailed explanation-2: -Cleavage: In mineral terms, cleavage describes how a crystal breaks when subject to stress on a particular plane. If part of a crystal breaks due to stress and the broken piece retains a smooth plane or crystal shape, the mineral has cleavage.

Detailed explanation-3: -Cleavage-The tendency of a mineral to break along flat planar surfaces as determined by the structure of its crystal lattice. These two-dimensional surfaces are known as cleavage planes and are caused by the alignment of weaker bonds between atoms in the crystal lattice.

Detailed explanation-4: -Diamond and graphite provide examples of cleavage. Both are composed solely of a single element, carbon. But in diamond, each carbon atom is bonded to four others in a tetrahedral pattern with short covalent bonds.

Detailed explanation-5: -After minerals are formed, they have a tendency to split or break along definite planes of weakness. This property is called cleavage. These planes of weakness are closely related to the internal structure of the mineral, and are usually, but not always, parallel to crystal faces or possible crystal faces.