Books:
Text:
Klein, Mineral Science, 23d edition
Reference: Bloss, Crystallography and Crystal
Chemistry
Optical: Nesse, Introduction
to Optical Mineralogy, 3d edition
Instructor: George Rossman
A lecture and laboratory course offered with two laboratory
options:
Ge 114a) 9 units with a mineral hand specimen
laboratory that gives the student familiarity with the common
minerals.
Ge 114b) 3 additional units of laboratory work on
optical microscopy of minerals. The combined Ge 114ab
option is designed for geology majors and geochemistry majors who
will need to learn how to use the petrographic microscope.
Materials science students who will work with optical materials
will also find the additional 3 units of value.
Composition of the Earth
Abundance of the elements
Ways of expressing mineral analyses
Corundum
hexagonal close packing, minor and trace
components
Spinel
cubic close packing, inverse and normal
spinels
Crystal-field stabilization
Iron oxides
defect spinel, magnetism, polymorphs,
pseudomorphs
Perovskite
coordination polydedra, coordination number,
piezoelectricity, Pauling's rules
Manganese oxides
polymorphs, electron microscopy
Garnets
solid solutions, end member names, geological
environments, technological garnets
Olivine series
chemistry, solid solution, structure, phase
diagram for melting, ordering, geological environments
Crystal systems
symmetry, Miller indices, crystal faces,
morphology, unit cell
Pyroxenes
nomenclature, phase diagrams class notes,
structural origin of polymorphs, incongruent melting, jadeite
Amphiboles
chemistry and structure, site distributions,
cleavage properties, biopyrobles
Sheet silicates
7, 10, and 12 Å layer silicates, micas,
polytypes, serpentine, asbestos
Silica
reconstructive transformation, colored
varieties, opal, high pressure polymorphs
Feldspars
chemistry, exsolution phenomena
High Pressure Minerals
methods to generate high pressure, high
pressure polymorphs, six-coordinated silicon, perovskite phases,
diamond
Zeolites
evaporites
Other topics
color, biominerals, gem minerals, metamict minerals
revised 13-Jul-2009