Azurite is a beautiful, deep blue colored mineral. Relatively soft, azurite has a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs scale. The deep blue color in its natural form and its light blue colored streak are strong identifying properties of the mineral.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on November 24th, 2009 | No Comments »
The November birthstone is topaz. Topaz is a unique gemstone which comes in a huge varitey of colors such as orange-yellow, colorless, light blue, pink, brown and green.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on November 13th, 2009 | No Comments »
We received this interesting question from a 10-year old who is interested in what is it like to work as a geologist.
Question: Is being a geologist fun? Or is it drudgery? Do you have to stay away from your family for long periods of time?
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on November 9th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Ask-a-Geologist Q&A about Metamorphic Rocks. What rocks are changed by high pressure and high temperature?
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on September 21st, 2009 | No Comments »
A streak test is one tool that geologists use to determine the identity of a mineral. The “streak” is the color of the mineral in powdered form. Some minerals will have a streak color that is the same as the outer color of the mineral while others will have a streak color that is very different from the outer color.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on September 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
A new shipment of wonderful grossular garnet crystals have arrived. Beautiful grossular garnet mineral from Mexico is one of six varieties of garnet. Each single crystal shows the natural dodecahedral form of the garnet group. These samples, from Mexico, are approximately 0.75 to 1 inch in size.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on September 10th, 2009 | No Comments »
Sapphires are a blue form of the mineral corundum. When corundum is red, it is called a ruby.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on September 9th, 2009 | No Comments »
50% off at www.MiniMeGeology.com this weekend with coupon code “LABORDAY”
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals, Rocks on September 4th, 2009 | No Comments »
Aragonite is a white to colorless minerals which has shades of red, yellow, orange, or brown. Aragonite is made of calcium carbonate, like calcite, and will fizz in an acid. Nice specimens of aragonite can be found in Spain, Morroco, Englad, France, Mexico and the United States, to name a few places.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals on July 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »
July’s birthstone is the ruby. Rubies are one of the hardest known minerals. With a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, it is only softer than a diamond. Rubies are known for their beautiful red color.
Filed under: Geology / Earth Science, Minerals on July 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
