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GEOL 3014 MINERALOGY
FALL 2003 SYLLABUS

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INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Stephen W. Kline, Center for Energy, Natural Resources, and Environmental Studies. 

 OFFICE: My office is in the Energy Center Building (the section closest to the student apartments), Room 155. I also have a space in McEver Hall, room 6B. The phone numbers are 968-0202 and 968-0676 respectively.  Essentially any time outside of class is OK for office visits; "dropping in" is OK, and I will be in one of these places most of the time. Official office hours this semester are: 9-11 am M, W, F; 2-3 pm T, Th. However, just in case I have to be out of the office for library research, field work, or some other reason, it would be advisable to contact me ahead of time to make an appointment or call to see if I’m in. Email: stephen.kline@mail.atu.edu

 CLASS TIME (LECTURE/LAB COMBINED): 9:30-12:20, T/Th, Rms 2 & 6, McEver Hall. 

ATTENDANCE: You are expected to attend all scheduled class/lab time. Unexcused absences of more than a week’s-worth of class and/or lab time will put you in jeopardy of being dropped from the course with a grade of F. Students with truly extenuating circumstances necessitating absence should contact instructor as soon as possible to establish an excused absence, and any missed work must be made up promptly.

 FIELD TRIP: There is one required Saturday field trip (maybe Fri. pm + camp + Sat.), the date yet to be decided. Familiarity with geology in the field is of great importance in my opinion.

 TEXT: Nesse, W.D., 2000, Introduction to Mineralogy: Oxford University Press.

 ADDITIONAL READINGS: Obtaining a Geologic Dictionary would be advisable. Learning the scientific terms of any discipline is a major and very important task. Until you have all the vocabulary, this dictionary will be very helpful. I still look up terms from time to time.

 COURSE OBJECTIVES: My goal in this course is that (1) students would understand the basic classification of minerals; (2) that they would gain a fundamental knowledge of mineral chemistry as a basis for understanding the behavior of minerals in the geologic environment; (3) that they would be familiar with the rudiments of morphological crystallography, (4) that students would be familiar with some of the simpler optical properties of minerals and be able to identify the most common rock-forming minerals with a petrographic microscope; and (5) that they would be exposed to the basic role of the most important rock-forming minerals, and some "economic" minerals, in the geologic environment. A related major objective is that through laboratory exercises students will learn to identify the most common minerals with the kinds of simple tools that would be available in field work.

 

Schedule 

 

Date

 

Topic

 

Readings (pages)

 

Th 8/21

 

Introduction to mineralogy / Physical properties of minerals

 

3-5, 34-38, 97-110

 

T 8/26

     LAB

 

Intro to mineral chemistry

 Mineral ID Lab 1: Physical properties of minerals

 

39-46

 

Th 8/28

     LAB

 

Chemical bonding in minerals

Mineral ID Lab 1: Physical properties of minerals (continued)

 

46-53

 

T 9/2

     LAB

 

Controls on crystal structure: coordination of atoms in xl structure

Mineral ID Lab 2: Orthosilicates, disilicates, ring silicates

 

57-62

 

Th 9/4

     LAB

 

Isostructuralism, polymorphism; mineral classification system

Mineral ID Lab 2: Orthosilicates, disilicates, ring silicates (cont.)

 

65-69

 

T 9/9

     LAB

 

 Variation in mineral chemical composition: Principles of solid solution

Graphical plotting of mineral chemical compositions

 

69-73

 

Th 9/11

 

     LAB

 

Crystal nucleation & growth; effect of growth on crystal shape and chemical zoning

Lab Quiz: ID of orthosilicates, disilicates, ring silicates

 

74-75a,

77-79 skim

79-83, 87-89

 

T 9/16

     LAB

 

Lecture Test. Then: Crystal growth–growth twinning

Mineral ID Lab 3: Chain silicates, sheet silicates

 

87-89

 

Th 9/18

 

     LAB

 

Postcrystallization processes: transformation and glide twinning, recrystallization, exsolution, pseudomorphism

Mineral ID Lab 3: Chain silicates, sheet silicates

 

89-92

 

T 9/23

     LAB

 

Structure and classification of silicate minerals

Mineral ID Lab 4: Framework silicates

 

183-186

 

Th 9/25

     LAB

 

Important silicates: SiO2 minerals, feldspars

Mineral ID Lab 4: Framework silicates

 

201-214

 

T 9/30

     LAB

 

 Important silicates: Feldspathoids, zeolites, garnet, aluminosilicates

Lab Quiz. ID of chain silicates, sheet silicates, framework silicates

 

225-232, 310-311

314-315

 

Th 10/2

     LAB

 

Lecture Test. Then Important silicates: Micas & clay minerals

Mineral ID Lab 5: Native elements and some sulfide minerals

 

235-239, 252-257

 

T 10/7

     LAB

 

Important silicates: (finish micas & clays) + Pyroxenes & amphiboles

Mineral ID Lab 5: Native elements and some sulfide minerals

 

261-265, 277-280

 

Th 10/9

     LAB

 

Important economic minerals: Gold, sulfide minerals

Mineral ID Lab 6: Other sulfides + oxide and hydroxide minerals

 

397-399, 378-382

 

T 10/14

     LAB

 

Important economic minerals: Gold, sulfide minerals (continued)

Mineral ID Lab 6: Other sulfides + oxide and hydroxide minerals

 

397-399, 378-382

 

Th 10/16

    LAB

 

Important economic minerals: Magmatic ores

Lab Quiz. ID of native elements, sulfides, oxides, and hydroxides

 

189-190

 

T 10/21

     LAB

 

NO CLASS—DR. KLINE AT ARKANSAS ENVINONMENTAL FEDERATION  MEETING

 

 

 

Th 10/23

     LAB

 

NO CLASS—DR. KLINE AT ARKANSAS ENVINONMENTAL FEDERATION  MEETING

 

 

 

T 10/28

LAB

Lecture Test. Then: Econ. minerals: Diamonds, heavy mineral sands,

Bauxite, barite, gypsum, halite

Mineral ID Lab 7: Halides and carbonates

403-404, 372, 346, 344

375-376

 

Th 10/30

     LAB

 

Minerals with important roles in environmental quality

Mineral ID Lab 7: Halides and carbonates

 

242

 

T 11/4

     LAB

 

Introduction to crystallography: crystal lattice, unit cell, crystal systems

Mineral ID Lab 8: Sulfates, phosphates, and others

 

3-12

 

Th 11/6

     LAB

 

Crystallography: point symmetry

Mineral ID Lab 8: Sulfates, phosphates, and others

 

12-13

 

T 11/11

     LAB

 

Crystallography: point symmetry

Lab Quiz. ID of halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, + others

 

12-13

 

Th 11/13

     LAB

 

Crystallography : Crystal systems and crystallographic reference axes

Crystal systems & crystallographic reference axes in model crystals

 

14-16

 

T 11/18

     LAB

 

Crystallography: Miller indices for crystallographic planes

Miller indices of crystal faces of model crystals

 

19-23

 

Th 11/20    

 

Lecture/Lab: Crystallography: “Zones”, crystal “forms”

Lecture Test.

 

23-36

 

T 11/25

     LAB

 

Lecture/Lab: Optical mineralogy: Behavior of light, index of refraction, isotropic vs anisotropic, petrographic microscope

 

114-121,

151-155

 

Th 11/27

     LAB

 

NO CLASS—THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS

 

 

 

T 12/2

     LAB

 

Lecture/Lab: Optical mineralogy: Birefringence and interference colors, color & pleochroism, extinction angle

 

122-129,

136-139

 

Th 12/4

LAB

 

Lecture/Lab: Optical mineralogy: Recognition of common minerals in thin section using properties we have learned

 

 


GRADES: Grades will be calculated based on the following: 

Lecture Tests: 4 @ 12 pts each

48

Lab Quizzes: 4 @ 7 pts each

28

Lab Homework: 1 @ 2 pt

2

Graded labs: 3 @ 1 pt each

3

Field Trip: 1 @ 4 pts

4

Final Exam: 1 @ 15 pts

15

 TOTAL

  100

 “Pop Quizzes”: Besides the “Lecture Tests”, etc. listed in the table above, there will be “pop quizzes” given at the beginning of each lecture. At 9:30 each day class meets, a brief quiz will be given consisting of two or three questions of which you will choose to answer one or two. The questions for these quizzes will come from a list of study questions that I will post on the web immediately after each of our classes. The quiz will cover study questions from the previous lecture. The quiz will go from 9:30 to 9:35 (by my watch, which will be set very close to time announced on the radio). If you are late, you have less time to take the quiz or miss the quiz altogether. No make ups unless genuinely extenuating circumstances can be clearly demonstrated. Grades from these questions will be factored into the Lecture Test that covers the same material. 

I was a student once, so I know having such quizzes is not the way for a teacher to win a popularity contest.  However, after I began to incorporate this procedure into some of my classes, I eventually had a number of students tell me that this actually helped them. I know that, given the way the concepts build in this course, you will have a much better understanding of the subject matter if you will study the previous lecture’s material before we start the next lecture. These quizzes will force you to do it. This will also make preparing for lecture tests much easier, because the questions for the lecture tests will also come from the same set of study questions.