EENS 2110

Mineralogy
Revised 9/18/2017

Fall 2017

Dr. Stephen A. Nelson   
snelson@tulane.edu

  Office:  Rm 208 Blessey Hall
   Office Phone: 504-862-3194
Office Hours: by appointment

I.  COURSE GOALS & OBJECTIVES 

Since minerals are the basic building blocks of earth materials, this course is designed to give the student a fundamental background in minerals, necessary to understand processes.  The student will learn the basic principles behind the arrangement of atoms to form crystal structures, how these atoms are coordinated and bonded and how this is reflected in the external form, chemical composition, and physical properties of the crystals..  The student will learn how to identify the most common minerals in hand specimen and, by using optical techniques, learn how to identify the common minerals in thin section.

II. TEXTBOOKS

There are two required textbooks for this course. The first is required reading for the course and the second is a general reference that you will also use in Petrology next semester.

  1. Manual of Mineral Science 23rd Edition, by Klein and Dutrow This text covers crystallography, crystal structure, and crystal chemistry and has useful mineral identification tables. It will be used extensively for lectures at the beginning and end of the course. The text is available from the Tulane Bookstore

  2. An Introduction to the Rock Forming Minerals, 2nd Edition, by W.A. Deer, R.A. Howie, and J. Zussman (DHZ). This is a general reference text covering identification of minerals with the petrographic microscope. It will be used in the lab during the second half of the course and will serve as a reference book in EENS-2120 next semester.
     

III. COURSE GRADING
The course grade will be determined on the basis of the number of points scored out of a possible 1000 points. These points will be apportioned as follows:

Homework & Labs 15% Midterm Exam 20%
Lab Exam I  10% Lab Final Exam  20%
Lab Exam II 10% Final Exam 25%


NOTE: The pre-requisite for enrollment in EENS 2120, Petrology, is a grade of C- or better in EENS 2110.

IV.  WEB PAGE
Lecture notes and other course materials can be found on the EENS 2110 web page at http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/ 

PDF versions of the lecture notes and PowerPoinnt presentations will be available on Canvas .

V. LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THIS COURSE

  1. The student will gain an understanding of how atoms interact to form minerals and how the structure and chemical composition of minerals determine the properties and occurrence of minerals.
  2. The student will learn how to identify the common minerals in hand specimen.
  3. The student will learn how to identify the common rock forming minerals in thin section.

     

VI. REVISED SCHEDULE OF LECTURES & LABS

Date

Topic

Reading

Aug. 31 Lecture: Introduction to Symmetry Operations Klein  p. 1-18,            109-128
Lab: Elements of Crystal Symmetry Klein p. 109-128
Sept. 5 Lecture: The 32 Crystal Classes Klein p.109-128
Lab: Elements of Crystal Symmetry (continued) Klein p. 109-128
Sept. 7 Lecture: Crystal Morphology, Crystal Symmetry, Crystallographic axes Klein p. 129-131
Lab: Crystallographic Axes and Introduction to Crystal forms Klein p. 134-142
Sept. 12 Lecture: Axial Ratios, Weiss parameters, Miller Indices Klein p.131-134
Lab: Miller Indices of Crystal Faces and Crystal Forms Klein p.131-134
Sept. 14 Lecture: Crystal Form, Zones, Crystal Habit, 32 Crystal Classes Klein p. 134-142
               182-208
Lab: Stereographic Projection of Crystal Faces, Crystal angles, and Zones Klein p. 169-181
Sept. 19 Lecture: Crystallographic Calculations Klein p. 182-208
Lab: Crystallographic Angles and Axial Ratio Calculations Klein p.  182-208
Sept. 21 Lecture: X-ray crystallography: the powder method Klein p.  307-321
Lab: X-ray Powder diffraction demonstration
        Ionic Spacing in Halite
Klein p.  307-321
Sept. 26 Lecture: Twinning in crystals, Polymorphism, Polytypism, Pseudomorphism Klein p.  227-234
              266-285 
Lab: Twinning and physical properties of Minerals Klein pp.      19-36
Sept. 28 Lecture: Physical Properties of Minerals Klein p.     19-36 
Lab: LAB EXAM I - Crystallography  
Oct. 3 Lecture: Crystal Chemistry Klein p.     37-65
Lab: Mineral Identification -  native elements, sulfates, sulfides, oxides, hydroxides, halides

Klein p.  331-398

Oct. 5 Lecture: Coordination and Pauling's Rules Klein p.      66-89
Lab: Mineral Identification - halides, carbonates, tungstates, molybdates, borates, chromates, phosphates, and arsenates Klein p.  399-433
Oct. 10 Lecture: Mineral Chemistry Klein p.   90-108
               321-330
Lab: Mineral Identification - Neso-, soro-, and ino- silicates Klein p.  483-518
Oct. 12 Fall Break - No Class  
Oct. 17 Lecture: Mineral Stability, phase diagrams

Klein p.  245-256

Lecture Notes

Lab: Mineral Identification - cyclo- and phyllo- silicates Klein p.  518-534
Oct. 19 Lecture: Binary phase diagrams, congruent melting

Klein p.  245-256

Lecture Notes

Lab: Mineral Identification - tectosilicates Klein p.  534-553
Oct. 24 Lecture: Binary phase diagrams, incongruent melting, solid solution, and exsolution

Klein p.  276-282
               143-148

Lecture Notes

Lab: Phase Diagrams Lecture Notes
Oct. 26

Lecture: Properties of Light: reflection, refraction, dispersion, and refractive indices, Isotropic Minerals, the immersion method, isotropic indicatrix

Lecture Notes

Lab: LAB EXAM II Mineral Identification  
Oct.  31 Lecture: MIDTERM EXAM  
Lab: Optics Lab I. Properties of Light and Introduction to Isotropic Materials

Lecture Notes

Lab handout

Nov. 2 Lecture: Uniaxial minerals, uniaxial indicatrix, optic sign, & ray path 

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab II. Introduction to Anisotropic Substances

Lecture Notes

Lab handout

Nov. 7 Lecture: Interference phenomena, compensation & optic sign

Lecture Notes

Lab:Optics Lab III. Interference and Compensation

Lab handout

Lab handout

Nov. 9 Lecture: Uniaxial Interference Figures

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab IV. Uniaxial Interference Figures and Summary of Uniaxial Optical Properties Lab handout
Nov. 14 Lecture: Biaxial Minerals

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab V. Biaxial Minerals Lab handout
Nov. 16 Lecture: Silicate Structures

Klein p.  434-482

Lab: Optics Lab VI. Identification of Olivines and Pyroxenes - Calculation of mineral formulae. DHZ
Nov. 21 Lecture: Olivines, Garnets, Aluminosilicates, Pyroxenes and Amphiboles Klein p.  484-519
Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab VII. Identification of Al2SiO5 minerals and amphiboles.

DHZ
Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Holiday  
Nov. 28 Lecture: Micas, serpentine, and chlorite
 

Klein p.  519-534

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab VIII. Identification of Phyllosilicates DHZ
Nov. 30 Lecture: Clay Minerals

Klein p. 521-525

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab IX. Identification of Feldspars and Feldspathoids, DHZ, Handout
Dec. 5 Lecture: Tectosilicates Klein p.  534-553
Optics Lab X. Determination of Plagioclase Composition DHZ, Handout
Dec. 7 Lecture: Carbonates, oxides, & accessory minerals

Klein p. 368-416

Lecture Notes

Lab: Optics Lab XI. Identification of Common Metamorphic and Accessory Minerals DHZ
Dec. 13 Lecture Final Examination 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Dec. 16 Lab Final Examination 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Obtain a PDF version of the syllabus 

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