The macroscopic behaviour of minerals is not always directly related to their crystalline structure at the atomic scale but often depends explicitly on mesoscopic (nanometer–micrometer) features. This paper reviews various cases where the macroscopic phenomena differ from those of the bulk, with structural and chemical variations related to: domain walls, leading to enhanced or reduced transport properties; surfaces controlling growth morphologies; and radiation-damaged minerals where the interface between the amorphous and crystalline phase is believed to play a key role in hydrothermal leaching behaviour. Minerals explicitly discussed are: quartz, agate, hydroxylapatite, cordierite and metamict zircon.

A combination of Kawai-type multianvil apparatus and highly brilliant X-rays at the third generation synchrotron radiation facility (SPring-8) in Japan has been successfully applied to various studies in high-pressure mineral sciences such as determinations of phase transition boundaries, P–V–T relations of high-pressure phases, kinetics of phase transitions, structure and viscosity of melts. These studies are now comfortably made at pressures of ˜25 GPa and at temperatures to 2300°C, using the intense X-ray beam and the large capacity of the high-pressure apparatus at SPring-8. Moreover, efforts have been made to further extend the pressure limit using large sintered diamond anvils. Thus in situ X-ray observations are now possible at pressures to 50 GPa with the Kawai-type apparatus, which may be doubled in the near future when the potential of sintered diamond anvils is fully utilized. On the other hand, some problems, such as those related to pressure and temperature measurement, have been manifested in these studies. These should be overcome for further quantitative studies of the mineralogy of the Earth's deep interior based on these techniques.