Petrography
GEOL 3235 : Introduction to Petrography


Laboratory 1 - Review of Hand Specimen Characteristics of Rock Forming Minerals

During the next two weeks you will review the hand specimen characteristics of the common rock forming minerals. You will need a hand lens (5X or 10X), a pocket knife or sharp needle and HCl (which we will provide).

A good first step would be to write down, from memory, how you recognize, olivine, pyroxene, mica, amphibole, quartz, plagioclase, alkali feldspar, calcite, dolomite, and other common minerals that you are likely to encounter in hand samples. Hand this in at the end of the second week of the semester.

I encourage you to work in groups. All samples will be kept in the two rock cabinents furthest to the left -- closest to the windows. Please return all materials to the cabinets when you finish working.

There may be an unannounced quiz during one of the laboratory sessions.

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