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GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE EARTH SCIENCE IMAGE ARCHIVE ASTRONOMY GEOLOGY METEOROLOGY MUSEUM TOUR PHS 120 PHS 120 ONLINE HOME
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| Welcome to GCC's Wonderful World of Minerals. The collection has been organized alphabetically. You will find information about the physical properties of minerals along with crystals systems, forms and habit. I am currently (as of January 2006) adding information about the pictures. Each picture WILL have information about its locality and size. In addition, information pertaining to ownership will be included where possible. The (MM ----) refers to the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum collection catalog number. There are 210 entries into the mineral category. FOLLOW THE LINKS TO THE LEFT. THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS - TUTORIAL This is a new addition. It is a Microsoft Office - Power Point presentation describing the various physical properties of minerals. To view it, click on the hyperlinked, green, underlined title above. This is a large file ~ 17 Mb. ALSO... Check out the Crystal Systems Power Point presentation. Follow this LINK. Finally, to investigate the science of mineralogy and crystallography, here is a link to an area that has the most advanced studies in the United States: http://www.cems.stonybrook.edu/~celestian/research.html
The link for Parise Research Group is:
Each MINERAL PAGE begins with photos of the minerals with a brief description of that particular specimen. Following the photo(s) is a list of its properties. On the Pictures Page is a thumbnail picture of the specimens that can be enlarged for a more detailed look at the mineral. CHEMISTRY - Chemistry describes the elements that are forming the mineral. CRYSTALLOGRAPHY - This is the crystal system to which the mineral belongs CRYSTAL GROWTH AND HABITS - This is a description of the way in which the crystal grows and how the crystal or crystal masses are found in nature COLOR AND OTHER OPTICAL PROPERTIES - This is the appearance of the mineral in natural light. Besides color, it includes diaphaneity (transparent, translucent, opaque) or other unusual properties dependent on light. HARDNESS - Hardness is the resistance a mineral has to mechanical abrasion. It is measured on a scale of 1 to 10. SPECIFIC GRAVITY - A measure of the density of a substance. It refers to it weight relative to an equal volume of water. Water has a density of 1.0. LUSTER - The appearance of a mineral in reflected light. Minerals may have be metallic, vitreous, waxy, dull, earthy, pearly, greasy, adamantine, silky, or various combinations of these. STREAK - The color of the powdered mineral. The streak is usually obtained by rubbing the mineral over a streak plate. A streak plate is a piece of unglazed porcelain that allows the mineral to be ground to a powder. For minerals that are harder than a streak plate (>7.5) a small piece of the mineral is powdered by other mechanical methods. BREAKABILITY - This is a description of how the mineral yields to mechanical pressure. Cleavage is a break along smooth, flat surfaces that is guided by the atomic structure. Cleavage can be perfect (as in the micas), very good, good, fair, poor or indistinct. Cleavage can occur in 1,2,3,4, and 6 directions. OCCURRENCE - This is a description of the geological conditions in which the mineral is found and formed. ASSOCIATED MINERALS - This is a list of minerals that are commonly found with the mineral being described. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MINERALS INCLUDED ON THIS WEB SITE: Acanthite, Actinolite, Adamite, Analcime, Anatase, Anhydrite, Apophyllite (Fluorapophllite), Aragonite, Argentite, Arsenopyrite, Asbestos, Atacamite, Augite, Aurichalcite, Austinite, Azurite
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