A big part of being able to understand mineral processes, and to think intelligently about rocks you come across is to understand the mineral compositions. For example, you might not be able to identify a mineral in a rock conclusively without lab tests (say, talc vs. pyrophyllite), but by knowing the other minerals in the rock and their compositions, you can make a good guess in the field (because phlogopite is present, it's probably talc, since both phlogopite and talc have Mg).

By the final exam, you should know the compositions and/or formulas for these minerals. For those in which you are to know compositions only, I want you to know which elements or ions are in the structure, but not necessarily the relative amounts of each. For all the minerals you should also know the chemical group (e.g., borate, silicate, sulfide), the mineral group if it is a member of one (e.g., magnetite is a spinel, forsterite is an olivine, phlogopite is a biotite). For the silicates, you should also know the structural group (quartz is a framework silicate).

Mineral Identification

Of course, a big part of the course is learning to identify minerals. You must be able to identify all the minerals on the list below in "hand specimen," using only the standard tools (streak plate, scratch kit, acid, hand lens & your eyes/brain. For the most common rock-forming minerals, and a few others, you should also be able to identify them in thin section - these are indicated below.