Showing posts with label Industrial Minerals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Industrial Minerals. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Monday, January 3, 2011
A Follow-up to the Mineral Videos [Original Post Date 01/04/09]
on minerals, just a few additional words on the subject to review clarify this issue for non-geologists (normal people). [Being on the road when those two videos were posted, I didn't have time to watch much of either, so if I repeat any of what was said, it is because what I wrote below is just part of my standard opening to the Physical Geology chapter on minerals.]
By definition, minerals are:
Naturally occurring, solid (at normal temperatures), inorganic (though they may be formed by organic processes), they have a definite chemical composition (or range), they have an orderly internal structure, and they have definite characteristics, e.g., crystal habit, cleavage, hardness, color (though color may be unreliable because of trace elements).
Minerals are important because they are the "building blocks of rocks". Most rocks are composed of two or more diffrent minerals, though there are a few rocks that are only composed of a single mineral, e.g., pure marble, pure quartzite, pure limestone...
Geology students generally learn to recognize individual minerals first, then they usually learn to recognize them in igneous rocks, as igneous rocks are the original source of most minerals, including the minerals that make up sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
Some of the most common minerals that we come in contact with are salts - Halite (NaCl) being the most common of these and Sylvite (KCl) if you use Morton Lite Salt. There are other salts - potassium iodide (KI), etc. that are used for various reason in foods to deliver various trace elements that we need (or that enhance flavors).
Other minerals we encounter are quartz (the most common mineral on Earth), diamond (the hardest), perhaps some other gemstones, gypsum, and for anybody that still uses black-and-white camera film, some silver salts (I am clueless as to the chemistry of color film emulsions). [Sadly, IMHO, film photography is slipping further into history, which some folks will regret as digital images themselves are lost over time.]
BTW, for the beautiful crystals that some folks like to marvel over, for those nice crystals to form, they have to have "room to grow", perhaps into a fracture zone, or some other cavity or open space, or they were among the first minerals to crystallize in a cooling magma. Sometimes those growing crystals include (surround) other minerals as the crystal grows or in the case of gypsum (or other salts) in sediments associated with salt lakes, sometimes the crystals will include small rock fragments, sand grains, and other stuff.
Usually, geologists are not lucky enough to have good, well-shaped crystals for the purpose of identification. That is why we learn the other characteristics of individual minerals. There are high-tech ways of analyzing rocks, but they take time and cost money, so field geologists are still required to make a quick-and-dirty assessment of what minerals are present in a rock and uses the proportions of major minerals to define the rock itself.
[As I think of other examples, I may include them.]
By definition, minerals are:
Naturally occurring, solid (at normal temperatures), inorganic (though they may be formed by organic processes), they have a definite chemical composition (or range), they have an orderly internal structure, and they have definite characteristics, e.g., crystal habit, cleavage, hardness, color (though color may be unreliable because of trace elements).
Minerals are important because they are the "building blocks of rocks". Most rocks are composed of two or more diffrent minerals, though there are a few rocks that are only composed of a single mineral, e.g., pure marble, pure quartzite, pure limestone...
Geology students generally learn to recognize individual minerals first, then they usually learn to recognize them in igneous rocks, as igneous rocks are the original source of most minerals, including the minerals that make up sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
Some of the most common minerals that we come in contact with are salts - Halite (NaCl) being the most common of these and Sylvite (KCl) if you use Morton Lite Salt. There are other salts - potassium iodide (KI), etc. that are used for various reason in foods to deliver various trace elements that we need (or that enhance flavors).
Other minerals we encounter are quartz (the most common mineral on Earth), diamond (the hardest), perhaps some other gemstones, gypsum, and for anybody that still uses black-and-white camera film, some silver salts (I am clueless as to the chemistry of color film emulsions). [Sadly, IMHO, film photography is slipping further into history, which some folks will regret as digital images themselves are lost over time.]
BTW, for the beautiful crystals that some folks like to marvel over, for those nice crystals to form, they have to have "room to grow", perhaps into a fracture zone, or some other cavity or open space, or they were among the first minerals to crystallize in a cooling magma. Sometimes those growing crystals include (surround) other minerals as the crystal grows or in the case of gypsum (or other salts) in sediments associated with salt lakes, sometimes the crystals will include small rock fragments, sand grains, and other stuff.
Usually, geologists are not lucky enough to have good, well-shaped crystals for the purpose of identification. That is why we learn the other characteristics of individual minerals. There are high-tech ways of analyzing rocks, but they take time and cost money, so field geologists are still required to make a quick-and-dirty assessment of what minerals are present in a rock and uses the proportions of major minerals to define the rock itself.
[As I think of other examples, I may include them.]
Minerals - Part 2 of 6 [Original Post Date 12/30/2008]
YouTube poster: mineguy101
Part 2 of a 1976 Series.
Mineral Video - Part 1 of 6 [Original Post Date 12/30/2008]
From mineguy101.
This is part 1 of a 1976 series. If it is good, will add more.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Minerals That I Would Like to Collect [Original Post Date 8/22/08]
[Yeah, this would only appeal to the occasional geologist visitor.]
Having been involved with Geology for more than 35 years, there are a few minerals that I would like the experience of having "dug" myself or at least to have found them on a mine dump. Some of these I do own specimens of, having bought them or traded for them. But I would like the "wow" experience of having found at least a recognizable specimen, by my own hand.
In no specific order, they are:
1) Topaz - it has been reported from Graves Mt., GA and I have a mystery crystal from that locality that I would like for someone to verify, yes or no.
2) Garnets - with good crystal faces, at least 3/8 inch in diameter.
3) Biotite mica - some thin "books", at least 2 inches by 2 inches square.
4) Millerite - a fibrous nickel sulfide, found in small geodes near Halls Gap, KY.
5) Zircon - a decent crystal, at least 3/8 inch on any particular side.
6) Brookite - a titanium dioxide mineral from Magnet Cove, AR.
7) Wulfenite - have a number of purchased crystal specimens, would like to find one.
8) Apatite - a decent, recognizable crystal. I think I have some small apatite crystals in marble from Tate, GA and in some pegmatite material from Maine, but they are all in matrix.
9) Lazulite - some decent crystals from Graves Mt., GA. I have some weathered and broken specimens, but no decent ones.
10) Spodumene - a lithium silicate, I have been to one locality in NC, but didn't find any.
11) Selenite (gypsum) - from Jet, OK, for instance. I have found gypsum in several localities, but not any decent crystals.
12) Barite - crystals from Cartersville, GA. I have barite crystals collected from Graves Mt., and the Bishop Cap Hills in southern New Mexico. But I have missed field trip opportunities for the Cartersville area.
13) Vivianite - a nickel phosphate. Some small masses of vivianite have been found inside of fossil oyster shells on the Georgia Coastal Plain, near Providence Canyons. The vivianite was deposited inside the shells by groundwater action.
14) Talc - just some decent, light colored masses of the mineral, not the metamorphic rock (which I already have).
15) Epidote - just a decent sized, 1/2 inch length or longer crystal. I have smaller crystals, but not big enough for non-collectors to appreciate.
Having been involved with Geology for more than 35 years, there are a few minerals that I would like the experience of having "dug" myself or at least to have found them on a mine dump. Some of these I do own specimens of, having bought them or traded for them. But I would like the "wow" experience of having found at least a recognizable specimen, by my own hand.
In no specific order, they are:
1) Topaz - it has been reported from Graves Mt., GA and I have a mystery crystal from that locality that I would like for someone to verify, yes or no.
2) Garnets - with good crystal faces, at least 3/8 inch in diameter.
3) Biotite mica - some thin "books", at least 2 inches by 2 inches square.
4) Millerite - a fibrous nickel sulfide, found in small geodes near Halls Gap, KY.
5) Zircon - a decent crystal, at least 3/8 inch on any particular side.
6) Brookite - a titanium dioxide mineral from Magnet Cove, AR.
7) Wulfenite - have a number of purchased crystal specimens, would like to find one.
8) Apatite - a decent, recognizable crystal. I think I have some small apatite crystals in marble from Tate, GA and in some pegmatite material from Maine, but they are all in matrix.
9) Lazulite - some decent crystals from Graves Mt., GA. I have some weathered and broken specimens, but no decent ones.
10) Spodumene - a lithium silicate, I have been to one locality in NC, but didn't find any.
11) Selenite (gypsum) - from Jet, OK, for instance. I have found gypsum in several localities, but not any decent crystals.
12) Barite - crystals from Cartersville, GA. I have barite crystals collected from Graves Mt., and the Bishop Cap Hills in southern New Mexico. But I have missed field trip opportunities for the Cartersville area.
13) Vivianite - a nickel phosphate. Some small masses of vivianite have been found inside of fossil oyster shells on the Georgia Coastal Plain, near Providence Canyons. The vivianite was deposited inside the shells by groundwater action.
14) Talc - just some decent, light colored masses of the mineral, not the metamorphic rock (which I already have).
15) Epidote - just a decent sized, 1/2 inch length or longer crystal. I have smaller crystals, but not big enough for non-collectors to appreciate.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
What a Geologist Sees - Part 16 [Original Post Date 2/28/08]
Before you conclude that I have completely lost my mind, it is an old toaster, circa 1930s.
I included this photo in this series to show the sheets of muscovite mica behind the center electrodes. This illustrates one of the uses of muscovite, as an electrical insulator. You can also find mica used in the newer, vertical-type toasters.
[While showing this to one of the teachers at my junior college campus, he remarked that there is an organization devoted to collecting old toasters. I asked him whether the toaster collectors got "toasted" during their social events at their shows.]
In general, if you have a rock with small, aligned mica flakes, it is probably a metamorphic rock, such as a schist. If the mica flakes are larger than 3/4 inch across, it is probably an igneous rock.
Because of the "flaky" nature of mica, large pieces are known as "books" and they usually occur in irregular igneous intrusions called "pegmatites". Mica books 5 feet in diameter have been mined in Georgia pegmatites in the past. If memory serves me correctly, mica has been mined in the Ball Ground, Thomaston, and La Grange areas of Georgia, as well as several places in western North Carolina. Pegmatites also include many other interesting minerals.
Synthetic mica has been in production for more than 50 years, making mining mica less of a necessity.
I included this photo in this series to show the sheets of muscovite mica behind the center electrodes. This illustrates one of the uses of muscovite, as an electrical insulator. You can also find mica used in the newer, vertical-type toasters.
[While showing this to one of the teachers at my junior college campus, he remarked that there is an organization devoted to collecting old toasters. I asked him whether the toaster collectors got "toasted" during their social events at their shows.]
In general, if you have a rock with small, aligned mica flakes, it is probably a metamorphic rock, such as a schist. If the mica flakes are larger than 3/4 inch across, it is probably an igneous rock.
Because of the "flaky" nature of mica, large pieces are known as "books" and they usually occur in irregular igneous intrusions called "pegmatites". Mica books 5 feet in diameter have been mined in Georgia pegmatites in the past. If memory serves me correctly, mica has been mined in the Ball Ground, Thomaston, and La Grange areas of Georgia, as well as several places in western North Carolina. Pegmatites also include many other interesting minerals.
Synthetic mica has been in production for more than 50 years, making mining mica less of a necessity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)