(no subject)
Throat is feeling sore. [And what organ lives in the lower right of your back? Coz it hurts. A lot. Especially when I, well, move. Or breathe. And even when I don't.] Dunno if the two are related, but if I get sick, I will kill every man, woman, and child on the planet. I shit you not.
Have Never-Ending Geology Lab From Heck tonite. We're doing our mineral test. Wanna see my study guide? We had to memorize 60 total but I only listed the ones I was having issues with. Galena is my favorite. So pretty. So shiny. Sorry my pictures suck. Damn flourescent lights. [Yeah, blame the lights. That'll work.]
Halite (table salt)
# Color is clear or white but can be found blue, purple, pink, yellow and gray.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in three directions forming cubes.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 2
# Specific Gravity is 2.1+ (light)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are taste, cleavage and crystal habit.
Gypsum (Selenite)
# "Selenite" is the colorless and transparent variety that shows a pearl like luster and has been described as having a moon like glow. The word selenite comes from the greek for Moon and means moon rock.
# Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
# Luster is vitreous to pearly especially on cleavage surfaces.
# Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
# Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
# Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: thin crystals are flexible but not elastic, meaning they can be bent but will not bend back on their own. Also some samples are fluorescent. Gypsum has a very low thermal conductivity (hence it's use in drywall as an insulating filler). A crystal of Gypsum will feel noticeably warmer than a like crystal of quartz.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
Sulfur
# Color is a strong yellow color in thick crystals and duller yellow in small crystals to pale yellow in massive or powdery forms. Can also be reddish or greenish yellow with impurities.
# Luster is vitreous to more often resinous or earthy in massive forms.
# Cleavage is very poor in two directions.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Streak is yellow.
# Hardness is 2.
# Specific Gravity is 2.0 - 2.1 (well below average)
# Other Characteristics: odor (see above), poor heat conductivity makes it brittle when heated and can actually crack if held tightly in a person's hand.
# Best Field Indicators are color, odor, heat sensitivity, lack of good cleavage and crystal habit.
Calcite
-Color is extremely variable but generally white or colorless or with light shades of yellow, orange, blue, pink, red, brown, green, black and gray. Occasionally iridescent.
-Luster is vitreous to resinous to dull in massive forms.
-Cleavage is perfect in three directions, forming rhombohedrons.
-Fracture is conchoidal.
-Hardness is 3 (only on the basal pinacoidal faces, calcite has a hardness of less than 2.5 and can be scratched by a fingernail).
-Specific Gravity is approximately 2.7 (average)
-Streak is white.
-Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, reaction to acid, abundance, hardness, double refraction and especially cleavage.
Milky Quartz
Azurite & Malachite
# Color is azure, deep blue or pale blue if found in small crystals or crusts.
# Luster is vitreous to dull depending on habit.
# Cleavage is good in one direction and fair in another.
# Fracture is conchoidal and brittle.
# Hardness is 3.5-4.
# Specific Gravity is 3.7+ (heavier than average).
# Streak is blue.
# Best Field Indicators are color, softness, crystal habits and associations.
Bornite
# Color is brown to black with a typical purplish-bluish tarnish, a reddish bronze color on freshly broken surfaces.
# Luster is metallic.
# Cleavage is very poor, octahedral.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 3
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.9 - 5.3 (average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is a gray black.
# Other Characteristics: The tarnish that occurs on fresh surfaces can form in only hours and will become black over time.
# Best Field Indicators are lack of good crystals, tarnish, streak, color of fresh surfaces and associations.
Fluorite
# Color is extremely variable and many times can be an intense purple, blue, green or yellow; also colorless, reddish orange, pink, white and brown. A single crystal can be multi-colored.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in 4 directions forming octahedrons.
# Fracture is irregular and brittle.
# Hardness is 4
# Specific Gravity is 3.1+ (average)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: Often fluorescent blue or more rarely green, white, red or violet and may be thermoluminescent, phosphorescent and triboluminescent.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color zoning, hardness (harder than calcite, but softer than quartz or apatite), fluorescence and especially the octahedral cleavage.
Gypsum (Alabastor)
-A fine grained massive material is called "alabaster" and is an ornamental stone used in fine carvings for centuries, even eons.
-Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
-Luster is vitreous to pearly especially on cleavage surfaces.
-Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
-Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
-Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
-Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
-Streak is white.
-Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
Chalcopyrite
# Color is brassy yellow, tarnishes to irredescent blues, greens, yellows and purples.
# Luster is metallic.
# Transparency: Crystals are opaque.
# Cleavage is rather poor in one direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal and brittle.
# Hardness is 3.5-4
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.2 (average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is dark green.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, tarnish, softness and brittleness.
Apatite
# Color is typically green but also yellow, blue, reddish brown and purple.
# Luster is vitreous to greasy and gumdrop.
# Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent.
# Cleavage is indistinct in one basal direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 5.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 3.1 - 3.2 (average for translucent minerals)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, hardness and look.
Hematite
# Color is steel or silver gray to black in some forms and red to brown in earthy forms. Sometimes tarnished with irredescent colors when in a hydrated form (called Turgite).
# Luster is metallic or dull in earthy and oolitic forms.
# Cleavage is absent however there is a parting on two planes.
# Fracture is uneven.
# Hardness is 5 - 6
# Specific Gravity is 5.3 (slightly above average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is blood red to brownish red for earthy forms.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, streak and hardness.
Barite
# Color is variable but is commonly found colorless or white, also blue, green, yellow and red shades.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction, less so in another direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 3 - 3.5
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.5 (heavy for translucent minerals)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flame test and density.
Hematite (red ochre)
- Oolitic Hematite is a sedimentary formation that has a reddish brown color and an earthy luster and is composed of small rounded grains.
- Hematite is an important ore of iron and it's blood red color (in the powdered form) lends itself well in use as a pigment.
Biotite (black Mica)
# Color is black to brown and yellow with weathering.
# Luster is vitreous to pearly.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction producing thin sheets or flakes.
# Fracture is not readily observed due to cleavage but is uneven.
# Hardness is 2.5.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 2.9 - 3.4+ (slightly above average)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, cleavage, elastic sheets and associations.
Sphalerite
# Color is typically black but can be brown, yellow, reddish, green, and less commonly white or colorless.
# Luster is adamantine or resinous or submetallic to earthy in massive forms.
# Cleavage is perfect in six directions forming dodecahedrons.
# Fracture is conchoidal, but rarely seen because of frequent cleavage.
# Hardness is 3.5-4
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.0 (heavier than average, but light when compared to most metallic minerals)
# Streak is yellow to light brown (unusually light colored for a normally dark mineral).
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habits, streak, cleavage, high luster, softness and twinning.
Talc
# Color is green, gray and white to almost silver.
# Luster is dull to pearly or greasy.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction, basal.
# Fracture is uneven to lamellar.
# Hardness is 1 (can leave mark on paper)
# Specific Gravity is 2.7 - 2.8 (average)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: cleavage flakes are slightly flexible but not elastic and talc has a soapy feel to the touch.
# Best Field Indicators softness, color, soapy feel, luster and cleavage.
Pyrite (Fool's Gold)
- Color is brassy yellow.
- Luster is metallic.
- Cleavage is very indistinct.
- Fracture is conchoidal.
- Hardness is 6 - 6.5
- Specific Gravity is approximately 5.1+ (heavier than average for metallic minerals)
- Streak is greenish black.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, hardness, streak, luster and brittleness.
Galena
- Color is lead to silver gray sometimes with a bluish tint.
- Luster is metallic to dull in weathered faces.
- Crystal Habits include the cube, octahedron and combinations of the two. Spinel twinning is possible forming flattened crystals. Also massive and granular.
- Cleavage is perfect in four direction forming cubes.
- Fracture is uneven and rarely seen because of the perfect cleavage.
- Hardness is 2.5+
- Specific Gravity is approximately 7.5+ (heavy even for metallic minerals)
- Streak is lead gray
- Other Characteristics: brighter metallic luster on cleavage surfaces than on crystal faces.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, cleavage and, perhaps most importantly, density.
Gypsum (satin spar)
- Another variety is a compact fiberous aggregate called "satin spar" . This variety has a very satin like look that gives a play of light up and down the fiberous crystals.
- Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
- Luster is vitreous to pearly.
- Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
- Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
- Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
- Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
- Streak is white.
- Other Characteristics: thin crystals are flexible but not elastic, meaning they can be bent but will not bend back on their own. -Also some samples are fluorescent. Gypsum has a very low thermal conductivity (hence it's use in drywall as an insulating filler). A crystal of Gypsum will feel noticeably warmer than a like crystal of quartz.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
P.S. If you live in the south, especially Texas, the cost of gasoline is supposed to reach over $3 a gallon after midnight. So tonite would be a good time to fill up, methinks.
Have Never-Ending Geology Lab From Heck tonite. We're doing our mineral test. Wanna see my study guide? We had to memorize 60 total but I only listed the ones I was having issues with. Galena is my favorite. So pretty. So shiny. Sorry my pictures suck. Damn flourescent lights. [Yeah, blame the lights. That'll work.]
Halite (table salt)
# Color is clear or white but can be found blue, purple, pink, yellow and gray.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in three directions forming cubes.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 2
# Specific Gravity is 2.1+ (light)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are taste, cleavage and crystal habit.
Gypsum (Selenite)
# "Selenite" is the colorless and transparent variety that shows a pearl like luster and has been described as having a moon like glow. The word selenite comes from the greek for Moon and means moon rock.
# Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
# Luster is vitreous to pearly especially on cleavage surfaces.
# Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
# Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
# Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: thin crystals are flexible but not elastic, meaning they can be bent but will not bend back on their own. Also some samples are fluorescent. Gypsum has a very low thermal conductivity (hence it's use in drywall as an insulating filler). A crystal of Gypsum will feel noticeably warmer than a like crystal of quartz.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
Sulfur
# Color is a strong yellow color in thick crystals and duller yellow in small crystals to pale yellow in massive or powdery forms. Can also be reddish or greenish yellow with impurities.
# Luster is vitreous to more often resinous or earthy in massive forms.
# Cleavage is very poor in two directions.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Streak is yellow.
# Hardness is 2.
# Specific Gravity is 2.0 - 2.1 (well below average)
# Other Characteristics: odor (see above), poor heat conductivity makes it brittle when heated and can actually crack if held tightly in a person's hand.
# Best Field Indicators are color, odor, heat sensitivity, lack of good cleavage and crystal habit.
Calcite
-Color is extremely variable but generally white or colorless or with light shades of yellow, orange, blue, pink, red, brown, green, black and gray. Occasionally iridescent.
-Luster is vitreous to resinous to dull in massive forms.
-Cleavage is perfect in three directions, forming rhombohedrons.
-Fracture is conchoidal.
-Hardness is 3 (only on the basal pinacoidal faces, calcite has a hardness of less than 2.5 and can be scratched by a fingernail).
-Specific Gravity is approximately 2.7 (average)
-Streak is white.
-Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, reaction to acid, abundance, hardness, double refraction and especially cleavage.
Milky Quartz
Azurite & Malachite
# Color is azure, deep blue or pale blue if found in small crystals or crusts.
# Luster is vitreous to dull depending on habit.
# Cleavage is good in one direction and fair in another.
# Fracture is conchoidal and brittle.
# Hardness is 3.5-4.
# Specific Gravity is 3.7+ (heavier than average).
# Streak is blue.
# Best Field Indicators are color, softness, crystal habits and associations.
Bornite
# Color is brown to black with a typical purplish-bluish tarnish, a reddish bronze color on freshly broken surfaces.
# Luster is metallic.
# Cleavage is very poor, octahedral.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 3
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.9 - 5.3 (average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is a gray black.
# Other Characteristics: The tarnish that occurs on fresh surfaces can form in only hours and will become black over time.
# Best Field Indicators are lack of good crystals, tarnish, streak, color of fresh surfaces and associations.
Fluorite
# Color is extremely variable and many times can be an intense purple, blue, green or yellow; also colorless, reddish orange, pink, white and brown. A single crystal can be multi-colored.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in 4 directions forming octahedrons.
# Fracture is irregular and brittle.
# Hardness is 4
# Specific Gravity is 3.1+ (average)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: Often fluorescent blue or more rarely green, white, red or violet and may be thermoluminescent, phosphorescent and triboluminescent.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color zoning, hardness (harder than calcite, but softer than quartz or apatite), fluorescence and especially the octahedral cleavage.
Gypsum (Alabastor)
-A fine grained massive material is called "alabaster" and is an ornamental stone used in fine carvings for centuries, even eons.
-Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
-Luster is vitreous to pearly especially on cleavage surfaces.
-Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
-Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
-Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
-Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
-Streak is white.
-Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
Chalcopyrite
# Color is brassy yellow, tarnishes to irredescent blues, greens, yellows and purples.
# Luster is metallic.
# Transparency: Crystals are opaque.
# Cleavage is rather poor in one direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal and brittle.
# Hardness is 3.5-4
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.2 (average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is dark green.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, tarnish, softness and brittleness.
Apatite
# Color is typically green but also yellow, blue, reddish brown and purple.
# Luster is vitreous to greasy and gumdrop.
# Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent.
# Cleavage is indistinct in one basal direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 5.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 3.1 - 3.2 (average for translucent minerals)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, hardness and look.
Hematite
# Color is steel or silver gray to black in some forms and red to brown in earthy forms. Sometimes tarnished with irredescent colors when in a hydrated form (called Turgite).
# Luster is metallic or dull in earthy and oolitic forms.
# Cleavage is absent however there is a parting on two planes.
# Fracture is uneven.
# Hardness is 5 - 6
# Specific Gravity is 5.3 (slightly above average for metallic minerals)
# Streak is blood red to brownish red for earthy forms.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, streak and hardness.
Barite
# Color is variable but is commonly found colorless or white, also blue, green, yellow and red shades.
# Luster is vitreous.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction, less so in another direction.
# Fracture is conchoidal.
# Hardness is 3 - 3.5
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.5 (heavy for translucent minerals)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flame test and density.
Hematite (red ochre)
- Oolitic Hematite is a sedimentary formation that has a reddish brown color and an earthy luster and is composed of small rounded grains.
- Hematite is an important ore of iron and it's blood red color (in the powdered form) lends itself well in use as a pigment.
Biotite (black Mica)
# Color is black to brown and yellow with weathering.
# Luster is vitreous to pearly.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction producing thin sheets or flakes.
# Fracture is not readily observed due to cleavage but is uneven.
# Hardness is 2.5.
# Specific Gravity is approximately 2.9 - 3.4+ (slightly above average)
# Streak is white.
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, cleavage, elastic sheets and associations.
Sphalerite
# Color is typically black but can be brown, yellow, reddish, green, and less commonly white or colorless.
# Luster is adamantine or resinous or submetallic to earthy in massive forms.
# Cleavage is perfect in six directions forming dodecahedrons.
# Fracture is conchoidal, but rarely seen because of frequent cleavage.
# Hardness is 3.5-4
# Specific Gravity is approximately 4.0 (heavier than average, but light when compared to most metallic minerals)
# Streak is yellow to light brown (unusually light colored for a normally dark mineral).
# Best Field Indicators are crystal habits, streak, cleavage, high luster, softness and twinning.
Talc
# Color is green, gray and white to almost silver.
# Luster is dull to pearly or greasy.
# Cleavage is perfect in one direction, basal.
# Fracture is uneven to lamellar.
# Hardness is 1 (can leave mark on paper)
# Specific Gravity is 2.7 - 2.8 (average)
# Streak is white.
# Other Characteristics: cleavage flakes are slightly flexible but not elastic and talc has a soapy feel to the touch.
# Best Field Indicators softness, color, soapy feel, luster and cleavage.
Pyrite (Fool's Gold)
- Color is brassy yellow.
- Luster is metallic.
- Cleavage is very indistinct.
- Fracture is conchoidal.
- Hardness is 6 - 6.5
- Specific Gravity is approximately 5.1+ (heavier than average for metallic minerals)
- Streak is greenish black.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, hardness, streak, luster and brittleness.
Galena
- Color is lead to silver gray sometimes with a bluish tint.
- Luster is metallic to dull in weathered faces.
- Crystal Habits include the cube, octahedron and combinations of the two. Spinel twinning is possible forming flattened crystals. Also massive and granular.
- Cleavage is perfect in four direction forming cubes.
- Fracture is uneven and rarely seen because of the perfect cleavage.
- Hardness is 2.5+
- Specific Gravity is approximately 7.5+ (heavy even for metallic minerals)
- Streak is lead gray
- Other Characteristics: brighter metallic luster on cleavage surfaces than on crystal faces.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, cleavage and, perhaps most importantly, density.
Gypsum (satin spar)
- Another variety is a compact fiberous aggregate called "satin spar" . This variety has a very satin like look that gives a play of light up and down the fiberous crystals.
- Color is usually white, colorless or gray, but can also be shades of red, brown and yellow.
- Luster is vitreous to pearly.
- Cleavage is good in one direction and distinct in two others..
- Fracture is uneven but rarely seen.
- Hardness is 2 and can be scratched by a fingernail.
- Specific Gravity is approximately 2.3+ (light)
- Streak is white.
- Other Characteristics: thin crystals are flexible but not elastic, meaning they can be bent but will not bend back on their own. -Also some samples are fluorescent. Gypsum has a very low thermal conductivity (hence it's use in drywall as an insulating filler). A crystal of Gypsum will feel noticeably warmer than a like crystal of quartz.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, flexible crystals, cleavage and hardness.
P.S. If you live in the south, especially Texas, the cost of gasoline is supposed to reach over $3 a gallon after midnight. So tonite would be a good time to fill up, methinks.