Almost every human endeavor is influenced by minerals. Many natural resources used in the manufacture of goods on which civilization and our lives depend begin as minerals in the ground. The crops that we eat are grown in soil composed of minerals. The safety and stability of structures such as buildings, roads, and bridges depend on the mechanical properties of the minerals that make up the rocks and soil on which they are built. In addition, the chemical composition, structure, and texture of the minerals that compose the rocks beneath our feet provide myriad clues that guide geoscientists as they attempt to decipher the history of the earth.

Since time immemorial the minerals, rocks and soil had been the major attraction for the growth, development, and survival of every living entity including human, animals, birds, plants, and trees. That indeed forced us to know more about the minerals (mineralogy) and the rocks and soils (petrology).

Stable isotopes from sulfates of three origins in Carlin-type deposits (CTDs) from western North America fall into distinct clusters and can be utilized to discriminate between barite of Paleozoic (sedimentary exhalative) origin, barite of hydrothermal origin related to gold mineralization, and supergene alunite and jarosite of weathering origin. Although the latter are obvious from field relations, the distinction between hydrothermal and sedex barite is not always so clear. Sedex sulfate sulfur was probably reduced and mobilized during gold mineralization, equilibrated with hydrothermal fluids, and then precipitated as sulfate during the late stages of mineralization, with a distinctly different sulfur and oxygen isotope signature. Isotopic signatures of sulfates may, therefore, be utilized as a mineral exploration tool for CTDs.

Terminem kamienie szlachetne i ozdobné obejmu-je sig duž§ grupg mineralów i skal maj§cych zastoso-wanie w jubilerstwie, služ§cych do wyrobu ozdób, galanterii artystycznej lub tež užywanych w architek-turze wngtrz. Nazwg kamienie szlachetne czy tež ju-bilerskie stosuje sig do szczególnie pigknych i rzad-ko spotykanych, czystych, jednorodnych i przežro-czystych odmian niektórych mineralów d skal. Odzna-ezaj§, sig one silným polyskiem, efektownym zabar-wieniem (s§ tež bezbarwne), duž§ trwalošci§ i twar-došci§. Maj§. zastosowanie w jubilerstwie, oprawia sig je w zloto, srebro i inne metale szlachetne. Terminem kamienie ozdobné okreála sig natomiast mniej cenne, o mniejszej twardošci i trwalošci lub o mniej efektownym wygl§dzie, minerály i skaly, z których wyrabia sig róžnego rodzaju galanterig artystyczn§, i wyroby pamiftkarskie. <...>