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, grossular vs. almandine), but by knowing the other minerals in the rock and their compositions, you can make a good guess in the field (because calcite is present, it's probably grossular, since both grossular and calcite contain Ca).

By the final exam, you should know the compositions and/or formulas for these minerals, and they will appear on the some quizzes as well. For those in which you are to know compositions only ("Gen. Comp."), 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, albite is a plagioclase). For the silicates, you should also know the structural group (quartz is a framework silicate).

Mineral Identification

Of course, a major objective of the course is learning to identify minerals. You must be able to identify all the minerals on the list indicated by "HS" using only the standard tools (streak plate, scratch kit, 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 by "TS".