I read this book (bought online from the glorious Book Outlet) and then took notes on the parts I didn't want to forget, and ones I want to research further. They are below the photo.
Gems & Rocks
- streak is the colour of the mineral when it is ground into a fine powder -- many mineral ID kits will contain porcelain plates called streak plates
There types of rocks are --
- igneous rocks: formed when molten material (magma) cools and solidifies
- sedimentary rocks: form from an accumulation of sediments
- metamorphic rocks: form when preexisting rocks are transformed by heat and pressure
- parent rock that becomes a metamorphic rock is called a protolith
- Smoky quartz contains trace amounts of aluminum
- chalcedony (microcrystalline quartz) is the outer shell of geodes and the material replacing plant parts in petrified wood
- nepheline (most common feldspathoid) can be difficult to distinguish from quartz but is slightly softer and cannot coexist with quartz in the same rock
- transparent or translucent crystals of olivine (primary component of Earth's upper mantle) are known as the gem peridot
- calcite, unlike quartz, can be scratched by a knife (hardness: 3) and will fizz in dilute acids
- pyrite is commonly found in distinctive crystal cubes, or crystals with 12 sides in the shape of pentagons
- garnet can be distinguished by its well-formed 12-sided crystals
- obsidian is volcanic glass that forms from viscous lava that cools too rapidly for minerals to crystallize
- basalt is one of the most common rock types -- common dark-coloured volcanic rock
- shales are common sources of fossils
- marble is white when it is pure calcite
- quartzite forms when quartz grains as the protolith are heated and squeezed together until they form new grains -- green aventurine is a quartzite, coloured by the chromium-rich mica fuchsite
- petrified wood is the fossilization of ancient plants when pore spaces around and within the plant's organic material are filled by minerals, usually quartz or calcite
- trilobites are ancient animals, now extinct, that dominated the oceans during the Cambrian period, 540 - 20 million years ago. Fossils are common and widespread.
- fossil bivalves are common
- ammonites are an extinct group of mollusks known for their distinctive spiral shells, existed 400 - 65 million years ago, fossils are amongst the most common on Earth
- sharks shed thousands of replaceable teeth in their lifetime, so these become an abundant source for fossilization in ocean sediment; most teeth become fossilized by filling in the pores around the tooth material, a process that takes thousands of years, and often darkens the tooth
Research:
- mineral identification kit
- gem faceting
- rock microscope / hand lens
- cleavage and fracture
- moss agate
Original goal list posted here
