|
Crystallography and Mineralogy sites
David A. Barthemy's Mineralogy
database concentrates on the science of mineralogy and
crystallography. Lists and tables of data are also provided to aid in
mineral identification. In addition, this page includes numerous links to
other science-weighted web pages.
Mike and Darcy Howard's Introduction
to Crystallography and Mineral Crystal Systems covers some of the basic
topics in crystallography, including crystal classes and the six crystal
systems. This website is easy to read, with graphics that aid
understanding.
Crystallography
101, created by Dr. Bernhard Rupp of The University of California
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, presents a considerably more advance treatment of
crystallography.
Minerals
under the Microscope, designed by Dr. Charlotte Gladstone of The
University of Bristol, covers the basic principles of optical mineralogy.
The Mineral
Spectroscopy Server, created by Dr. George R. Rossman of the Cal
Tech Mineral Spectroscopy Lab, provides information on the causes of color in
minerals, mineral absorption spectra in the visible and infrared regions of the
spectrum, and Raman spectra of minerals. This web site includes
photographs of minerals in hand sample, scanning electron microscope photographs
taken at very high magnification, and thin sections or thin slices of minerals
viewed with an polarizing microscope. It is designed for the advanced
student.
Museum Mineral and Gemstone Sites
The American
Museum of Natural History web site is large and challenging to
navigate, but well worth exploring. The Rose
Center for Earth and Planetary Science pages provide a wealth of
beautifully illustrated information on exhibits, collections, and research
projects in the field of mineralogy and petrology. Among the many
interesting things to be found here are information about the sources of Burmese
rubies, an exhibit titled "The Nature of Diamonds", images of diamond
jewelry and crown jewels from several countries, and sections on meteorites,
black smokers, Guatemalan jade, the chemistry of magmas trapped in crystals, tin
deposits, and the geochemistry of platinum.
The pages presented by the Department
of Mineral Sciences of the Smithsonian Institution give only a
hint of the the size and beauty of this collection, which consists of over
375,000 specimens, including the Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia
Sapphire. A large part of the Smithsonian collection is used for
scientific research.
The Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County web site provides
photographs and information about a selection of the minerals and gemstones in
this collection which is the third or forth largest in the country. California
minerals, specimens of native gold, and gem crystals are particularly well
represented, although the collection includes minerals from around the
world.
The San Diego Natural History
Museum's Department
of Mineralogy provides information on its collection of 26,000
catalogued specimens of minerals, meteorites, and precious gems. The
emphasis of this collection is the many valuable minerals found in San Diego
County pegmatites, and minerals from other localities in southern California.
The Department
of Mineralogy of the Natural
History Museum of London has interesting information on current research
projects in mineralogy and petrology, but only a few pictures of minerals.
The Mineralogy
and Petrology Section of the Museum of Victoria, Australia, has
beautiful photographs of minerals that are found in Victoria and other parts of
Australia.
The Bureau de Recherches
Géologiques et Minières, in cooperation with the French Ministry of Education
and the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris, maintains WebMineral:
Atlas Mineralogique, one of the most exhaustive web sites on minerals
and mineralogy. Currently the site is in French, with English translations
of only a few portions, but an English-language version is in the works.
The Albert
Chapman Mineral Collection of
the Australian Museum has photographs of some of this great collection of
minerals, many of which are from Broken Hill, Australia (one of the most
important mining districts in the world). The minerals in this collection
were collected by Albert Chapman, a self-trained mineralogist.
Mineral Locality Sites
The Mont
Saint-Hilaire site has information on many of the over 320
mineral species identified from the Mont Saint-Hilaire alkaline magmatic
intrusion in Quebec, Canada. Unfortunately, there are not many mineral
photographs available its pages at this time.
The Franklin
Mineral Museum web site is short, but interesting if you are
intrigued by fluorescent minerals. If you are in the area of Franklin, New
Jersey, consider visiting this small mining town museum and the Sterling Hill
Mining Museum, which gives guided tours of the Sterling Hill mine.
The
Sterling Hill Mining Museum in
Ogdensburg, New Jersey is dedicated to mining preservation, scientific research,
and earth science education. This museum is located on the site of the
Sterling Hill mine and tours of the underground mine are available. This
web site is recommended for those who are interested enough in fluorescent
minerals or mining to take the mine tour.
Rob's
Granite Page provides a
wealth of information on granites in general and more specifically the granites
of the Llano Uplift of central Texas. A direct quotation from this
page: "The Llano Uplift is the igneous and metamorphic heart of
Texas. An island of rock excitement adrift in a sea of Cretaceous limestones
whose only redeeming value is the oil in them. (A heretical view
hereabouts)". Even if you are not interested in granite or the Llano
Uplift you will probably enjoy Rob's Granite Page.
University and Society Mineral and Gemstone Sites
GEO
347K Gem Notes was designed
by Dr. Mark Helper of the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of
Texas at Austin for his course on gemology. It is an excellent source of
information, and very readable for anyone interested in gemstones or minerals.
The Walter Geology Library of the University of Texas at Austin lists
numerous gem and gemology references, including internet resources,
dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks, videos, and books. Books are
categorized by mineral or gemstone.
Principles
of Mineralogy, maintained by
Dr. Jill Banfield of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The
Univeristy of California at Berkely, includes a wealth of mineral photographs,
crystal structures movies, and other information.
The
A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum of
the Michigan Technological University is recognized worldwide for having the
world's finest collection and display of minerals from the Lake Superior Copper
District. The collection also contains many minerals from other localities
around the world. The web page has some great photographs of very
beautiful minerals.
The
Mineral Museum at James
Madison University has photographs of some of the minerals in this small
collection but very little information or science. The current version of
this web page is a pale shadow of the former site, which provided information on
mineral genesis.
The
University of Florence Museum of Natural History has
a section on mineralogy (reachable from the menu on its home page), which
contains a nice mixture of spectacular minerals and scientific explanations.
The University of Bremen's Fachgebiet
Mineralogie (Mineral Gallery) offers superb photographs of 272
minerals organized by mineral structure. Even most of the common minerals are
included.
The
Institute for Mineralogy and Mineral Resources at
The Technical University of Clausthal displays images of 93 of the minerals from
its collection. Although much of the text and all of the mineral names are
in German, most of the names are similar to English mineral names, and English
names of the less readily identifiable minerals are provided.
Links
for Mineralogists at The
University of Würzburg is a good place to find links to other websites on
minerals, mineralogy and geology in general. The text is in English.
The Athena
Mineralogy web site, designed by Pierre Perroud of the Department
of Mineralogy of the University of Geneva, has links to sites in most fields of
earth science, and is designed primarily for scientists.
Drs. Robert A. Ixer and Paul R.
Duller of the Department of Geological Sciences, Birmingham University, England,
have created the Virtual Atlas of
Opaque and Ore Minerals in Their Associations . This site,
which is sponsored by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME),
has a solid emphasis on the science of opaque and ore minerals. Minerals
are shown in reflected light. This page is provided for professional
mining engineers and geologists, but if you have an interest in ore minerals you
will find it to be very informative.
The Mineralogical Societies of
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria joined
forces to create the Australian
Mineral Collection web site. This site has mineral photographs,
news stories on mineral finds in Australia (Australian Mineral News), general
information on minerals, and information about where to see minerals on display
in Australia.
The Bancroft Mineral Collection The collection is a mineral and gem collection donated to the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara by Edward Bancroft. The site has a description of each mineral, images of the specimen, along with maps of the source locality, and interesting images of the mine.
Sites Maintained by Private Individuals
The Mineralogy Club of Antwerp,
Belgium's Mineral Collectors Page has
an interesting mix of beautiful photographs and links to pages that concentrate
on the science of mineralogy and crystallography, as well as helpful information
on photographing minerals.
The
Canadian Rockhound web site
is a free online educational service for mineral, gemstone and fossil
enthusiasts, and collectors. It contains articles and resources of
interest to professional and amateur collectors, children, and teachers.
Steve Sorrell's Main
Adit is dedicated to the minerals of
Tasmania (Australia). If you are interested in rare lead minerals, this may be the
site for you.
Sites Maintained by Rock Shops, Galleries, and Private
Dealers
Rob's
Rock Shop has a link to
every imaginable mineral website, including the scientific, the
pseudoscientific, and off-the-wall.
Amethyst
Galleries provides very good
information on the science of mineralogy and beautiful photographs.
The Image's Mineral
Gallery has photographs and diagnostic properties of most common
minerals. This is a good resource if you want to know how to identify
minerals.
John
Betts and Lawrence
H. Conklin, both of whom are private mineral dealers, have sites
with excellent photographs of minerals.
National
Gemstone provides
descriptions and location information on the world's rarest and most valuable
gemstones. It is primarily meant for individuals who buy minerals for
investment.
Volcanoes
and Volcanology
Volcano
World has a great webpage providing authoritative information about
volcanoes and the science of volcanology for a general audience (this web site
was initially financed by a NASA). Professional volcanologists answer
questions and write about topics in volcanology. Other features include
"Interviews with Volcanologists" and "Volcano Adventures!"
The website of the Volcano
Information Center (VIC) was designed by Professor Emeritus Richard V.
Fisher of the University of California Santa Barbara. This website
provides links to other websites and provides information about general
volcanology in an organized way, including features of volcanoes, volcanic
eruptions, and volcanic hazards.
The Cascades
Volcano Observatory website of the United States Geological Survey has a
wealth of information on volcanoes, volcanology, volcanic hazards, features, and
terminology.
The Global
Volcanism Program (GVP) of the Smithsonian Institute provides
information on volcanoes and volcanism by documenting all volcanic eruptions
during the past 10,000 years. This website contains comprehensive computer
databases and an archive of relevant maps, photos, and documents.
Chemistry
The Los Alamos National
Laboratory CST Division provides an on line Periodic
Table of the Elements.
The
Chemical Society also
maintains a web page on the elements.
Yogi's
Behemoth Chemistry and Environmental Dictionary is
very basic but may be of use to grade and high school children. Terms such
as beta particle, mole, and molar mass are defined, antineutrino and quark are
not.
Physics
Princeton
Plasma Physics Laboratory provides
an interactive web page tutorial on basic electricity and magnetism.
The
University of Colorado at Boulder Physics 2000 web
page is an interactive journey through modern physics. Visitors to this site
should have "fun learning visually and conceptually about 20th Century
science and high-tech devices".
Astronomy
and Astrophysics
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) has web pages on astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, the
Sun, spaceflight and spacecraft that are well worth exploring. These web
pages can all be reached through the From
Stargazers to Starships web page. The main page of NASA
also contains a wealth of information and images, plus links to other sites of
interest.
| 
