Choose from:

• Mineral Mission
• Igneous Investigation
• Metamorphic Mystery
• Sedimentary Sleuthing
• Crystal Experiments
• Crystal Geometry

Visit Mini Me Geology where you can find sandstone as an individual sample as well as a part of our My Rockin Collection Deluxe Sedimentary Rock Kit, our Junior Sedimentary Rock kit, and in our Sedimentary Sleuthing Rock Detectives kit.

The November birthstone is topaz.  Topaz is a unique gemstone which comes in a huge variety of colors such as orange-yellow, colorless, light blue, pink, brown and green.

Topaz has a hardness of 8 on the Mohs Hardness Scale and a glassy luster.  Igneous rocks are the most common type in which to find topaz gemstones.  Topaz is used for jewelry in its variety of colors.

Question: Is being a geologist fun, or is it drudgery? Do you have to stay away from your family for long periods of time?

Answer: I think that being a geologist is a lot of fun.  One cool thing about geology is that there are many different types of jobs you can have.  For example you can be:

• a hydrogeologist studying groundwater
• an petroleum geologist working in the oil industry
• a paleontologist studying dinosaurs, or
• a vulcanologist studying volcanoes.

These are just a few of the jobs that you can have as a geologist.  The amount of time you have to stay away from home on research trips depends on the type of job that you have and sometimes how long you have worked.

If you are geologist, please let us know about your job!  We would love to hear what you like and don’t like about your positions and what you would recommend for all of these budding young geologists out there.

Be as creative as you want to be.  Make sure your costumes say “Mini Me Geology” on the front and snap a picture.

Send us your pictures and the best costume (as chosen by our little geologists here) will win a new Rock Detectives kit!

All pictures become the property of Giverny, Inc. and may be featured on our blog and/or costume promotions.  Email your photos to us at rockinfo@minimegeology.com or mail them to us at PO Box 342, Huger, SC  29450.

All entries must be received by November 10, 2010.  Please include your name and phone number or email address so we can contact you if you win!  The prize will be awarded as a rock detectives kit only, no other substitutions can be made.

Other fun activities on the CD include creating your own adventure story, making a personal geologist’s field notebook and your very own rock collection box!

The CD requires free Adobe Reader 9.0 which can be downloaded at www.adobe.com.  This software is easy to download and use so please use version 9.0 which makes the CD very fun to view!  The Mini CD in the kit may not play in slot drives without an adapter.  Consult computer manufacturer’s recommendations before inserting the mini CD into a slot drive.

You will need:

• One or more mineral samples
• White streak plate
• Black streak plate
• Pencil
• Paper

How to Perform a Streak Test:

1. Gather the mineral samples that you wish to test.
2. Choose at least one streak plate (white or black) for the test.  Typically, dark minerals work well with white streak plates and light minerals work best with black streak plates.
3. Place the streak plate on a table and scratch the mineral across the plate.  You may have to scratch really hard to see the color.  The harder the mineral, the harder you will likely have to scratch.  Young children may need an adult to help scratch the mineral on the streak plate.
4. Observe the color of the streak on the plate.

Record your results on your paper.  List the mineral name, outer color and streak color.  Which minerals have the same streak and outer color?  Which minerals have a different streak color from the outer color?

Check out our website for more information on rocks, minerals and geology.

Question: What is the name of sand grains cemented together?

Answer: Sandstone is the rock which consists of sand grains that are cemented together.  This photo of a sandstone nicely shows the layered formation of the sand grains.

Keep your questions coming.  Submit them to us here and look for a reply from us here on our blog and on our website!

Garnets are actually a family of minerals which are all very similar.  These minerals are often found in metamorphic rocks such as schist.  Garnet is fairly hard and is a 6.5 to 7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale which has a range from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest).  These minerals often form as dodecahedrons and trapezohedrons but can also form in groups or masses of crystals.  Garnets have a colorless , a glassy luster, and will fracture if broken.  There are actually six types of garnets:

• almandine (red to violet red color)
• spessartite (yellowish orange to reddish brown color)
• pyrope (dark red color)
• grossular (green yellow, reddish orange color)
• andradite (colorless, yellow, green, or brown to black color)
• uvarovite (brilliant green color)

The garnets which are often used as gemstones are typically a dark red color; however, the brilliant green of uvarovite is rare and very prized.  Garnet is the birthstone of January and the gemstone of the second wedding anniversary.

Shop now for your new grossular garnet crystals!

Sapphires are a blue form of the mineral corundum.  When corundum is red, it is called a ruby.  Corundum is one of the hardest known minerals with a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale.  The gemstone sapphire is usually known for its spectacular blue color, but can also come in many other colors, except for red.  Sapphires have a glassy luster which makes them shiny and are are most commonly used for jewelry.

One of the largest sapphires in the world is called the “Logan Sapphire” and is over 422 carats.  Many beautiful specimens of sapphire are mined in Myanmar, Madagascar, Kashmire, and Sri Lanka, and Australia.  In the United States, sapphires and rubies can be found in the area of Franklin, North Carolina, which is a popular area for mines.