The Great Courses - Practical Geology Set 2 (2023) Part 5 Collecting Minerals and Crystals

Taught by Professor James F. P. Cotter of the University of Minnesota, Morris, this course teaches you the fundamentals of field geology. You learn the basics of rocks, minerals, and landforms, and how to apply this knowledge to read an outcrop, find and prepare fossils, assess soil and groundwater, prospect for gems and ore, and much more. “Have you ever picked up a rock and admired its colors, crystals, and texture, and thought, “How did it get this way?” Or have you ever driven by an unusual landform and wondered, “Why is it like that?” These questions have surprisingly deep answers that can encompass a significant fraction of Earth's 4.6-billion-year history. Such revelations come from the science of geology, but you don't have to be a professional geologist to look at a rock or a landscape and read its amazing story. These and a multitude of other observations and insights are presented in fascinating detail in Practical Geology, 24 half-hour lectures that take you from your backyard to geologic sites around the world, through eons of time, and even to another planet. Geologist James F. P. Cotter of the University of Minnesota, Morris, is your instructor. A multi-award-winning teacher, James presents an enlightening guide to elementary geology, expertly conducting you through dozens of on-camera demonstrations, showing off scores of rock samples, and advising you where to go and what to take to make geology an exciting and integral part of your life.

Part 5 Collecting Minerals and Crystals

Rocks are made up of minerals, which give rocks their immense variety. For example, the mineral quartz has the crystalline clarity of ice, while graphite is opaque and slippery, and pyrite has a metallic sheen. Most rocks are a mix of different minerals. Survey the most common types, analyze their chemistry and molecular structure, and learn how to identify them through a series of simple tests.

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