The Evolution of Wales Gallery

Diversity of the Natural World

Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic chemical compounds that aggregated together make rocks. There are over 3,500 different minerals with each having a specific composition and a fixed internal arrangement of atoms. The internal arrangement leads to a regular orientation of crystal facies that result in an extreme diversity of shape. With sufficient space mineral growth can proceed to give large recognisable crystals that can be very beautiful to look at.

This small gallery has a spectacular display of minerals from around the world, including many of the 400 or so different minerals identified from Wales. The main display is laid out in beautiful colour co-ordination. The colour of a mineral depends on the amount of light absorbed and reflected. This absorption is related chiefly to the chemical elements present in the mineral and also to the arrangement of the atoms. Some minerals show variations in colour brought about by different elements entering the crystals during their growth. A selection of different coloured fluorite crystals vividly illustrates this phenomenon.