I am going to start studying mineralogy again, on my own… I think the reason I have been putting it off for so long is how traumatized I was in that class! hehehe
So I am going to study my minerals and then add some gem names and some of the association that go with them! And pictures, I’ll try and get some hand sample as well as thin section pictures. I usually don’t use minerals much in my works but I am thinking I might start trying it out. I will most likely add my thoughts on associations based on my experiences with them. I am going to try and find a nice long list of all the different varieties and gem names for each of these minerals, some of these lists will be very long and I might go back and edit these so do not in any way consider any post “done” I’ll try and make a note on the bottom when I update them. I am adding a tag “mineralogy” to all of these blog posts so you can find them and what you are looking for quickly in my random babbles and craziness!
I might move on to some petrology eventually as well, or assemblages of minerals and what associations you might use for each of them, I haven’t seen much in the way of rocks, but in nature mostly you get minerals from a rock so its good to know where the minerals come from and what other minerals are usually associated with it. But thats just my opinion!
I am going to go through the minerals from my list in mineralogy undergrad and I am going to use the text Introduction to Mineralogy by William D. Nesse
Feel free to add any associations or magical uses that I dont mention! I am coming at this from a geologic familiarity so any additions would be welcome!
So to start off some definitions and the first set of minerals: Sheet silicates and carbonates
definitions from my dictionary of geologic terms
mineral-
1. A naturally occurring inorganic element or compound having an orderly internal structure and characteristic chemical composition, crystal form, and physical properties. those who include the requirement of crystalline form in the definition would consider an amorphous compound such as opal to be a mineraloid.
2. any naturally formed inorganic material i.e. a member of the mineral kingdom as opposed to the plant and animal kingdom.
hand sample-
a piece of rock trimmed to a convenient size for megascopic study and for preservation in a reference or study collection.
thin section-
a fragment of rock or mineral mechanically ground to a thickness of approximately .03 mm and mounted between glasses as a microscope slide. this reduction renders most rocks and minerals transparent or translucent, thus making it possible to study their optical properties. Syn: section.
The first section of minerals:
– Quartz
– Opal
– Microcline
– Orthoclase
– Sanidine
– Plagioclase (Albite)
– Plagioclase (Anorthite)
– Nepheline
– sodalite
– stilbite
– Aragonite
– Dolomite
– Calcite
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