1. Introduction; 2. Materials of the solid earth; 3. How are minerals identified?; 4. Fundamentals of crystal structures; 5. Introduction to crystallography; 6. Minerals and rocks observed under the polarizing optical microscope; 7. Igneous rock-forming minerals; 8. The direction and rate of natural processes: an introduction to thermodynamics and kinetics; 9. How do igneous rocks form?; 10. Igneous rocks: their mode of occurrence, classification, and plate tectonic setting; 11. Sedimentary rock-forming minerals and materials; 12. Formation, transport, and lithification of sediment; 13. Sedimentary rock classification, occurrence, and plate tectonic significance; 14. Metamorphic rock-forming minerals; 15. Metamorphic rocks; 16. Some economic minerals, mainly from veins and pegmatites; 17. Some selected earth materials resources; 18. Earth materials and human health. sakriti opis