Minerals are the basic building blocks of the lithosphere. The rocks that we see around us are made up of one or more types of minerals. For example, granite often contains Quartz, Feldspar and Biotite; Basalt is mainly made up of Olivine, Pyroxene and Feldspar.

Minerals generally refer to naturally-occurring homogenous solids with a certain chemical composition and atomic arranged formed through inorganic action. Only those that meet these criteria can be considered a mineral. Artificial gem stones, stones found inside the body or pearls and ivory produced through biological processes are all not considered to be minerals.