Category: Rock and Mineral Posts

There are quite a few examples of volcanic rock and ash.  Two of the more common and popular examples are scoria and pumice.  Scoria and pumice are both igneous extrusive rocks. For a reference...

We see plenty of common looking rocks everywhere.  Some have very interesting looking patterns, while others don’t look like much at all.  Rocks however, are very import in our daily lives no matter how...

Copper has been extracted from ore for many years.  This metal has proven quite useful throughout history and in many current uses today.  Getting to the copper from those minerals with copper does require...

For thousands of years people have been chasing after gold.  Finding gold has been a part of life for many civilizations for centuries.  Rocks are obviously where you find gold, but many do not...

Weathering rocks is most often called the breaking down of rocks or the dissolving of rocks.  This process of weathering involves larger rocks being broken down into smaller rocks.  Only natural occurrences on the...

There are many rocks and minerals on this earth that express different physical properties.  Some of those physical properties will make rocks and minerals look like glass.  In this article I want to go...

All minerals have luster as one of their properties.  The definition of a minerals luster is the general ability to reflect light from its surface.  The smother and clearer the surface of a mineral,...

Crystals are formed by the presence of elements in the form of solids, liquids, and gases.  These elements are subject to heat which eventually leads to cooling.  This cooling creates crystals as ordered chemical...

There are quite a few physical properties of minerals.  Many of those physical properties I have found in my years as a rockhounder/amateur geologist, do not draw as much curiosity as other properties.  I...

There are a few different varieties of minerals on our planet.  One of the most popular and abundant of those varieties are those that consist of silicon and oxygen.  These types of minerals are...