Mineralogy links

Perkins online mineralogy open-source textbook

Dyar and Gunter textbook previously used for the course, including links to each animation/video
Mineral database app: microsoft, iOS, Mac
Johnson et al. optical mineralogy / petrology interactive e-book and tutorial
Raith et al. open-access Guide to Thin Section Microscopy
Optional book on reserve in the library: DHZ Introduction to the Rock-Forming-Minerals – summaries of mineral diagnostic properties, excellent summary of chemical variations, summaries of geological occurrences, etc.
Nesse optical mineralogy book
Nesse mineralogy textbook (formerly used as main textbook for the course)

Mindat.org – amazing resource for mineral stats, localities, photos, wow!
Mineralogical Society of America Crystal Structure Database
This is my go-to resource for downloading free crystal structures (.amc/.cif) and powder X-ray diffraction data (list of d-spacings and intensities, etc.)
Mincryst crystallographic database
RRUFF database designed for Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The CrystalSleuth program is useful for matching Raman spectra to minerals.
Webmineral is another general mineral info website similar to Mindat. Includes useful X-ray search function. Also a page that will allow you to search minerals by physical and optical properties.
Hand sample mineral identification key from the Mineralogical Society of America.

Raith et al. open-access Guide to Thin Section Microscopy
Interactive book chapter to learn thin section petrography (by Elizabeth Johnson and Juhong Christie Liu)

Overview video presentations for optical mineralogy

Great optical mineralogy introduction by GeoGirl part 1 ,part 2 (optical indicatrix, unixial vs biaxial, interference figures);
Will Snellius optical mineralogy overview video playlist
Matt Kohn’s awesome YouTube channel with tutorial videos for various minerals in thin section, etc. I the way he shows multiple examples and provides the voice-overs for what to look for is really helpful.
Earth Optics petrography skills video tutorials
GeoHub Liverpool Intro to looking at rocks in thin section

Guides and notes for identifying minerals once you collect data

Name that mineral useful interactive tool to help identify unkonwn minerals in thin section
ATHENA OpticMin searchable database
Identification Tables for Common Minerals in Thin Section — John Faithful, Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow; comprehensive and easy to use tables of optical properties of the rock-forming minerals.

Photo atlases of minerals in thin section:

microckscopic.ro. ; igneous minerals (Hollacher); metamorphic minerals(Oxford); NOVA mineralogy; Perkins optical mineralogy website with mineral details; Siddell;
MAGIC GigaPan image collection of rock and mineral thin sections and video channel.; Mid-Atlantic Geo-Image Collection (M.A.G.I.C.)
Oxford image collection of rocks in thin section (not interactive)
Alex Strekeisen great examples of minerals in thin section and also their context in Earth. Also a great channel to follow on social media with awesome frequent images of gorgeous rocks and minerals in thin section.

Video atlas of minerals in thin section:

Interactive

virtual microscope of rocks in thin section, with photos of hand samples also
refraction ‘bending light‘ simulation
Virtual interference figures allows you to display calculated interference figures based on properties you enter

Photo atlas of rocks in thin section, with links to minerals:
- alexstrekeisen.it/ many thin section photos of rocks and minerals, best for petrology. Good pages for individual minerals – if you click on a rock type then the constituent minerals appear on the side you can click on.
- MAGIC GigaPan image collection of rock and mineral thin sections and video channel; Mid-Atlantic Geo-Image Collection (M.A.G.I.C.)
- Oxford image collection of rocks in thin section (not interactive)
General petrography video tutorials
- Earth Optics petrography skills video tutorials
- GeoHub Liverpool Intro to looking at rocks in thin section
- Matt Kohn playlists with optics examples
- Matt Kohn Pleochroism and color tutorial

How thin sections are made: Hirsch, Spectrum Petrographic

Maintenance and care of petrographic microscopes: how to clean optics

A practical online study guide to mineral ID (hand samples)
Mineralogical Society of America hosted hand sample ID key (direct link), with Mindat
YouTube channel for a different mineralogy course with helpful playlists on mineral ID
Nova mineralogy site with mineral data, hand sample high resolution photos, and videos of thin sections

EscherSketch! point group drawing
Smorf 3D drawing of crystal forms
Miller index interactive visualizer
Sketchfab collection that includes great crystal forms
Symmetry of crystals detailed introduction with useful reference tables and figures
WVU sketchfab crystallography and crystal structure collection
Visible Geology online Stereonet app

CrystalMaker is the professional program (unfortunately paid) I use for research and teaching with crystal structures. They used to have a free CrystalViewer, but I think it’s discontinued. This is also the program the authors used to generate the structures and illustrations from our textbook.
Vesta open-source program that opens .amc files from the Mineralogical Society of America Crystal Structure Database or .cif files. Works on any operating system platform.
XtalDraw and CrystalSleuth are older but still good programs for displaying crystal structures and analyzing Raman data, for Windows systems.

Recommended books:

Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section (Second edition) by W.S. MacKenzie, A.E. Adams & K.H.Brodie (2017). A concise, illustrated introduction to observation, description and identification of geological samples in thin section. Aimed at undergraduate level.
etc. will add

U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources program has a range of amazing data on minerals that are used in society for a whole range of purposes
How rocks power your iphone story of how minerals are used to obtain critical elements needed fo all types of devices including phones.
The story of silver in the United States interesting and helpful article about gold’s sibling – silver, and the fascinating history of silver mining in the US (thank you Penny and Matthew Wood for finding this!)
hoping to add more in this category soon…a very interesting and important topic.

many others in the future!