MATERIALS RELATED TO LAB:
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #1 (9/6/07) handout (28 kB).
Click here for a pdf with notes on what you should have observed in Lab #1 (248 kB).
Click here for notes on what to avoid in your revised lab #1 (19 kB pdf).
Click here for a pdf handout on mineral habits (533 kB--updated 9/17).
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #2 (9/20/07) handout (28 kB).
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #3 (9/27/07) handout (34 kB).
Click here for some helpful things to consider when examining minerals in rocks (11 kB pdf).
Don't forget to get time off for Friday 10/12 to Sunday 10/14: GEO 310+330 field trip. It's mandatory, and it's spectacular!
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #4 (10/4/07) handout (31 kB).
Note: this includes some helpful notes on the samples that were not given on lab day.
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #5 (10/11/07) handout (24 kB).
Click here for more helpful tips on achieving the most effective descriptions of rocks and minerals (37 kB pdf).
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #6 (10/18/07) handouts (33 kB).
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #7 (10/25/07) handouts (28 kB).
Click here for a page of hints on physical properties to use in identifying some easily confused minerals (21 kB pdf).
Click here for a pictorial pdf guide to our SUNY-Oswego petrographic microscopes. (99 kB)
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #8 (11/1/07) handout. (24 kB)
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #9 (11/8/07) handouts. (42 kB)
Click here for a pdf version of the lab #10 (11/15/07) handouts. (20 kB)
Click here for a one-page pdf summary of key optical properties of minerals you will be expected to identify petrographically. (24 kB)
In Lab 11/29/07: LAST LAB! Petrographic Microscopy, Part 4 (thin sections).
There will be a quiz at the beginning of this lab, and you will be asked things about the microscopes.
Lab Final Exam, 12/6/07 (note: will begin at around 3:30):
- identify basic symmetry elements (axes & planes) and crystal system of ideal examples
- deal with Miller indices, given appropriate information
- identify & understand major chemical and physical properties of the “shaded” minerals from Labs 4-7
- classify unknown minerals in thin section as isotropic, uniaxial or biaxial
- characterize/measure pleochroism, birefringence, extinction properties of unknown minerals in thin sections & determine optic character (uniaxial/biaxial) and sign of appropriately-oriented anisotropic minerals in thin section
- estimate the 2V angle of appropriately-oriented biaxial minerals in thin section
- given petrographic thin sections of rocks, accurately estimate proportions of specific minerals
- identify specified minerals in thin section from the list included with Lab #10
- The Lab Final Exam will have at least some portions that are time-sensitive. If you expect that time will be a significant issue in your demonstrating comprehension of the material, you must see me immediately in order to investigate possibilities.
Useful web sites for the course:
journal web sites:
The American Mineralogist
The Canadian Mineralogist
European Journal of Mineralogy
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Meteoritics and Planetary Science
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Chemical Geology
Journal of Petrology
other resources:
Mineralogical Society of America
The Geochemical Society
The Radiochemistry Society
Theo Kloprogge's photo atlas of minerals, and much more
webmineral.com, an online mineralogy database
Dr. John Winter's igneous/metamorphic petrology web site
The Union College petrology web page (contains good petrography images)
Mineralogy links from the University of Wuerzburg
The largest crystals (article published in the American Mineralogist in 1981 by P.C. Rickwood)
GERM: the Geochemical Earth Reference Model (includes data and links to a vast array of planetary geochemical data)
Earthchem: portal to solid earth geochemistry data
Making Matter (3D crystal structures and related info)
Animations of rocks in 3D from the Univ. of Texas lab for X-ray computed tomography
The American Museum of Natural History
Rock and mineral images from the New York State Museum
Univ. of North Carolina's igneous/metamorphic mineral/microtexture atlas
For a list of Science Today lectures
click
here. (Fall 2007, Tuesdays during College Hour -- 12:35 p.m. --
in Snygg Hall, rm. 102).
For Earth Sciences News
click here.
updated material: 11/16/07, 11:56 a.m.