Minerals, mineral identification and mineralogy.
Quickly find more than 100 different minerals, plus 16 special picture galleries.
This question has several answers, depending on what a mineral is and what part of the Earth we're talking about.
Here are the ten standard minerals in the scale.
Thomas Krassmann is devoted to extra-large specimens of minerals; part of the extraordinary
strahlen.org family of sites.
This highly unusual bicolored form of quartz—half citrine, half amethyst—is treated in detail by the Caltech Mineral Spectroscopy group.
A photo gallery of amphibole minerals.
This common mineral is being used as a gauge of tectonic stress and strain.
Two very important minerals and a flock of minor, but popular minerals.
This precious and useful mineral comes to us directly from the base of the lithosphere.
Notable elements that are found in nature in native form.
Introducing the halides and evaporite minerals.
Feldspar is the commonest mineral in the Earth's crust, but identifying it can be tricky.
Get to know this family of common minerals.
Pictures of this important group of accessory minerals (and gemstones).
The micas include several notable mineral species.
This distinctive set of minerals is easy to master.
A few intriguing minerals are actually pure elements: metals and nonmetals.
A diverse group with simple formulas.
Minerals that include this important element.
The pyroxene minerals are major parts of the crust and mantle.
Quartz is essential to the land as we know it.
Familiarize yourself with this most common mineral.
A handful of very abundant minerals account for the great majority of the Earth's rocks.
Chemical formulas for the minerals that form the majority of rocks.
An introduction to the geology of salt.
The great majority of rocks are made of silicate minerals.
Sulfate minerals form near the Earth's surface.
Pictures of these important ore minerals and collectibles.
An article on this strategic mineral and the scramble for it in central Africa.
A cryptic and important group of low-temperature silicate minerals.
The zirconium minerals zircon, baddeleyite and zirconolite are a close family.
The thousands of minerals known in rocks become a mere handful at the Earth's surface.
The Mineral Spectroscopy Group at Caltech presents a fascinating exploration of exactly which impurities create the colors in minerals. Profusely illustrated.
An excellent introduction to mineral optics and thin-section studies, from the University of Bristol in England.
This page from the Mineral Gallery site gives basic information on minerals that naturally form pairs (or triplets), with links to each one.
You need a plug-in to see and manipulate the molecular models of common minerals from the University of Wisconsin, but the results are worth it.
The largest mineral database and mineralogical reference site on the Web, with worldwide data on minerals, mineral localities and other mineralogical information.
Created by David Barthelmy, webmineral.com lets you search for thousands of minerals by crystallography, classification, composition, color, or name. Good photos, too.
Prof. Walter Franke of the Freie Universität Berlin produced this thorough guide (PDF) to something they don't teach at college any more: quick tests of minerals using blowpipe and simple chemistry-lab supplies.
This huge, well-organized list at the University of Würzburg has everything. It should always be your last resort, if not your first.
