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. However, if a mineral breaks along an irregular surface, it does not have cleavage.

Detailed explanation-2: -CLEAVAGE: ➢ Tendency of crystallized mineral to break along a certain definite direction yielding more or less smooth, plane surfaces.

Detailed explanation-3: -Cleavage is the property of a mineral that allows it to break smoothly along specific internal planes (called cleavage planes) when the mineral is struck sharply with a hammer. Fracture is the property of a mineral breaking in a more or less random pattern with no smooth planar surfaces.

Detailed explanation-4: -’Eminent’ cleavage describes the case in which cleavage always occurs readily and is in fact difficult to prevent from occurring. The mineral mica, for example, cleaves readily into thin, flat sheets. A mineral which demonstrates ‘perfect’ cleavage breaks easily, exposing continuous, flat surfaces which reflect light.

Detailed explanation-5: -In a mineral that displays cleavage, the bonds of the crystal structure are weaker in the directions in which the mineral breaks. When geologists describe the cleavage of a min-eral, they consider both the directions in which the mineral breaks and the smoothness of the broken surfaces.