This site contains a mineral database with access to 4,339 individual mineral species descriptions with links and a comprehensive image library. Mineral data on individual species are linked to a mineral table by crystallography, X-Ray powder diffraction, chemical composition, physical and optical properties, Danas new classification, Strunz classification, mineral specimen images, and alphabetical ... Full description.

This activity is designed to demystify rock identification by illustrating how most common rocks can easily be classified and named by asking and answering simple scientific questions. Students will discover that the formation of rocks occurs by processes that take place over different timescales, and that the mode of formation determines their texture and the minerals they contain. Students will ... Full description.

This activity relates to the process of igneous rock formation by the cooling of magma. It can be used to illustrate how the rate at which molten rock cools affects the size of the crystals that form within the solid rock - rapid cooling producing small crystals, slower cooling producing larger ones. Hot, saturated solutions of lead iodide are cooled at different rates. The solution that cools faster ... Full description.

In this activity, students match photographs of igneous rocks with descriptions of their formation. There are also two teacher demonstrations that will help students to identify pumice and volcanic ash with graded bedding. Other pictures and descriptions are of breccia, columnar jointing in a basaltic lava flow, coarse grained granite, and phenocrysts in a porphyry. At the end of the activity students ... Full description.

These activities are aimed at simulating metamorphic rock formation, and explain how increased pressure and heat affect such formation. The first activity, which can also be performed as a teacher demonstration, simulates the idea of contact metamorphism by investigating the effect of heat from a beaker of hot water on egg white. The other two laboratory activities simulate the formation of slate ... Full description.

This activity will allow students to simulate the formation of sedimentary rocks by compressing sand, water, and other materials in a syringe. The products are allowed to dry, and students will investigate how the properties of the samples of sedimentary rocks so formed are dependent on the extent of their compaction and cementation. The activity will help to explain that for most sediments to become ... Full description.

This site contains 93 mineral photographs. It consists of a list containing the item number, mineral name and type of image. Users can click on the mineral name to view a good-sized picture, or on JPEG to view a larger image. Some minerals have more than one photograph in order to show different crystal shapes. Full description.

This site contains photographs of pseudomorph minerals and an explanation of the formation of pseudomorphs. Pseudomorph literally means false form and is used in mineralogy to indicate that a mineral has the outward appearance of a different mineral. Pseudomorph photographs at this site include filling pseudomorphs, replacement pseudomorphs, and encrustation pseudomorphs. Some examples shown include ... Full description.

This presentation provides a detailed explanation of the physical properties of minerals. It covers the classic four-part definition of "mineral" and provides an overview of the physical properties by which minerals are identified. Each property is illustrated with one or more photographs. Full description.

This presentation describes the six crystal systems used for classifying minerals. Each of the systems is represented by a diagram showing the angles and proportions of the crystallographic axes, a physical model showing the possible arrangements of faces and one or more photos of actual specimens displaying the described symmetry and some possible modifications. Full description.