Current problems in the field of structure, properties of minerals and methods of their investigation

The main goal of research into the structure and properties of minerals, as well as their crystal chemistry and physics, consists in obtaining fundamental information about the actual atomic and electronic structure of mineral objects and physical regularities of their transformations under the influence of external factors (temperature, pressure, radiation, and environmental chemistry). Such information forms the basis for mineral typification and restoration of mineral crystallization conditions and their evolution in a certain geological situation. This information is widely used in petrogenetic and geochronological constructions. Such studies are also relevant to the development of nature-like technologies for obtaining new promising functional materials. Knowledge of the structure, crystal chemistry, and physics of minerals, typomorphism of their spectroscopic properties, as well as the development of analytical techniques and methods for the synthesis of mineral-like materials are of particular significance. This thematic issue of the Lithosphere journal aims to review of these problems in the context of the materials reported at the XIII All-Russian Scientific Conference “Minerals: Structure, Properties, Research Methods” held in 2023 at the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Yekaterinburg.