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    Mineral Identification in Hand Specimen Mubas

    Uploaded by

    Charles Kankuzi
    Basic mineral identification

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Mineral Identification in Hand Specimen Mubas

    Uploaded by

    Charles Kankuzi
    1 views4 pages
    Basic mineral identification

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

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    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

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    Basic mineral identification

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    1 views4 pages

    Mineral Identification in Hand Specimen Mubas

    Uploaded by

    Charles Kankuzi
    Basic mineral identification

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Mineral

    Identification
    MINERAL IDENTIFICATION IN HAND SPECIMEN
    Mineral identification in hand-specimen, particularly in igneous rocks, looks
    tricky since there is usually little information to go on. However, one needs
    to have the following:

    A. The Right Tools


    A good hand lens is invaluable in identifying minerals in igneous rocks. Most
    of the little plastic varieties are practically useless. In the field (i.e. not in
    practicals) a good pen knife is also useful for testing hardness.

    B. Make the Most of the Minerals Properties


    Remember the Basic Properties
    i. Colour – often with fine-grained minerals there is not much except
    colour to go on. The problem is colour is perhaps the least distinctive
    property of a mineral, however, together with other evidence (such as
    a general idea of the type of rock) it can be invaluable.
    ii. Hardness – is useful mostly for coarse-grained minerals and can’t usually
    be applied to most igneous rocks.
    iii. Transparency – this refers to whether you can see through the mineral.
    Is it transparent, translucent or opaque?
    iv. Cleavage and fracture – Sometimes cleavage (planes of weakness) and
    fracture style (e.g., shell-like conchoidal) are dead giveaways for some
    minerals. Pyroxenes and amphiboles have very characteristic cleavages.
    v. Lustre – how the mineral reflects light can be important especially when
    there is little else to go on. Remember we have the following types of
    lustre:
    1
    1) Adamantine - very gemmy crystals
    2) Dull - just a non-reflective surface of any kind
    3) Earthy - the look of dirt or dried mud
    4) Fibrous - the look of fibers
    5) Greasy - the look of grease
    6) Metallic - the look of metals
    7) Pearly - the look of a pearl
    8) Pitchy - the look of tar
    9) Resinous - the look of resins such as dried glue or chewing gum
    10) Silky - the look of silk, similar to fibrous but more compact
    11) Submetallic - a poor metallic luster, opaque but reflecting
    little light
    12) Vitreous - the most common luster, it simply means the look
    of glass
    13) Waxy - the look of wax.
    vi. Crystal System – This is a tricky property but very useful for euhedral
    (well-shaped) crystals.
    vii. Crystal Habit – This is a subtly different way of describing crystal shape
    that can be useful in identifying certain minerals which can have
    characteristic crystal habits.
    viii. Density – Only really useful with large masses of a single mineral.

    C. Knowing What to Expect Where!


    Probably the best advice in identifying minerals in hand-specimen is having
    an idea what minerals you’d expect to find in a particular rock. Although
    there are an enormous number of minerals that can be found important rock
    2
    forming minerals, which allow us to give a rock a name, are few in number
    and more important in certain rock types than in others.
    This sounds like you need to know the rock type before you can identify the
    minerals. However, it is much easier than this. Two properties of rocks, colour
    index and grain-size, must be identified. These are enough to allow us to
    narrow down the identity of the rock forming minerals.

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