Identifying Minerals  -- Earth Rocks!
Channel: Earth Rocks!
Date: 2014-06-26

For an introductory college-level physical geology lab class: a review of how to identify common rock-forming minerals. Includes a review of various diagnostic properties, such as cleavage and fractures; hardness; density; color; streak; crystal form; and optical properties such as luster, transparency, and double refraction. Minerals covered include: hornblende, micas (biotite and muscovite), feldspars (plagioclase and potassium feldspars), garnet, olivine, pyroxene, quartz, serpentine, talc, calcite, gypsum, graphite, galena, pyrite, fluorite, halite, hematite, and magnetite. Note: this video indicates over 300 known minerals on Earth; that number is now in the thousands!

**This video comes in the middle of the semester, so there may be terms with which the audience is unfamiliar. For a full playlist, refer to the Geology playlist on the EarthRocks! YouTube Channel.

Content within this video is based on information available in any standard introductory college geology textbook or lab manual, such as Essentials of Geology -- Tarbuck and Lutgens -- Pearson Publishing.

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