|
|
GEOL 330Mineralogy
Dr. Andrew H. Wulff Lecture: 9:10 – 10:05 am EST room 316
EST room 316 |
Textbook: Mineral Science; Klein; 22nd Edition, with
CD-ROM
Attendance: Come to class - ask questions - learn!!
Design and Purpose: This course is an introduction to the systematic study of minerals. Includes crystallography, crystal chemistry, mineral stability, the classification of minerals, and the origin, characteristics ad occurrences of the major mineral groups. Laboratory work includes crystal symmetry, mineral identification, and an introduction to the optical microscope.
Grades: The final grades will be calculated approximately this way:
1st in-term exams 15
2nd in-term exam 15
1 Final exam 15
Mineral Formula Average 15
Lab Quizzes 30
Projects/Misc
Assignments 10
100
The
format for the exams is mixed. There
will be some information that can be best conveyed by short answer or clear
graphs. Other material will require a
concise, well-constructed answer. I will make available a “To-Know”
list prior to each exam as a guide to your studying. Due dates will be given
for each assignment, and assignments are due on that date; late work will be corrected
and returned, but you get a "zero" in the grade book for it.
Assignments:
Assignments may be given concerning topical issues covered
during the course of the semester. Most of these will entail work outside of
class. . Lastly, understanding the use,
origin, and distribution of mineral resources is a strategic topic, and your
last assignment will treat the societal relevance and significance on human
welfare of certain mineral species. You
will prepare a (reasonably) comprehensive presentation on a mineral or mineral
group focusing on the industrial use, mining techniques, and occurrence/ mode
of formation.
Laboratory:
Mineralogy is the study of minerals. The STUDY.
Therefore, the laboratory is an essential part of the course. Students are expected
to be prepared before they come to the lab, and to remain in the lab for the
entire period, or until the exercise is completed. Labwork
will be assessed with a series of quizzes over the course.
**************************************
This page is primarily designed as a place to come for accessing some of the
resources available on the WWWeb. This is certainly
not an exhaustive list of possible resources, but should get you started.
Resources in the department
* Mineral collections - Any and all in the
department. You should be able to access the lab. If you study (or at the very
least look at) any minerals, please PUT THEM BACK so that we all will know
where to find them.
* Crystal models - They are located in the Mineralogy lab, and available
for your use. Please be careful in handling these, as they have been taking a
beating from frustrated mineralogists for some time now!! ....A sheet
with the correct symmetry content and forms and such will be posted after the
labs are turned in
* Crystal Movies - A collection of mineral structures will be added to
the Min Lab computers under the name "Crystal Movies" and may be
"played" using Simple Player which will turn on automatically when
you click on a particular movie. These were all made using the CrystalMaker or SHAPE programs. By the way, CrystalDesigner
is an example of such software (freeware for now) that sells itself as a
"complete tool for building, studying and visualising
all kinds of crystal structures on the Macintosh platform." You may want
to download if you have your own machine. This site includes a
42-page manual and sample plots. It is certainly not the only such
program out there (CrystalMaker and Shape being
notable additions). However, it's available and seems to be reasonably
intuitive in it's approach.
* WWW-Mineralogy resources include:
Chemical
Data
Optical Mineralogy
Mineral Databases
Mineral Resources
*********************************************
Latest Revision:
August 29, 2007