Oxide minerals
Oxygen, as the most common element on Earth, creates one of the biggest mineral group. Oxygen usualy bounds with one or two elements, in which one of the element must be non-metalic in character. Oxides are minerals, where the oxygen is bound with metal, but also can be bound with more elements simoutaneously. Then is hard to determine the boundary between salts and oxides.
The hydroxides from this group are easly recognized, because the molecule of oxygen in them is bind always with the molecule of hydrogen - OH. When those minerals are heated, they loose water and become oxides.
Oxide minerals
Info: Pyramidal shaped crystals of zincite are very rare. Most commonly zincite is found as grains or whole masses of orange red to bloody colour. Often is found near fenakite and willemite.
How to recognize: The typical colour of zincite is almost every time a sure way to recognize it....
Info: This name is used for the microcrystalical varieties of quartz with soft fibre structure. It can be translucent, but more often is opaque with wax shine. Chalcedony is very hard mineral. His colour may vary between opalic, milky or even blue colour.
How to recognize: When heated or...
Info: The most precious variant of chalcedony is the apple-green translucent chrysoprase. The crystal of chrysoprase have little enclousures, which are rich of nickel.
How to recognize: When heated or longly exposed to sunlight, the bright green colour of praseme becomes pale.
Found:...
Info: Magnetite is the most richest iron ore which contains up to 72% iron. It creates different cubical shapes and agregates. It is fragile, hard and heavy mineral. Magnetite have metalic shine.
How to recognize: The most famous quality of the magnetite is his natural magnetism, and...
Info: This amorphic mineral have no internal crystal structure. It have the same chemical formula as quartz, but it is softer and lighter than him. It is fragile mineral with typical dissolving of the light on the freshly cutted surface, reflecting various colours. When exposed to air it loses...
Info: Good developed crystals of this quartzite are rare. Praseme is most commonly found in microcrystalical masses. The green colour of praseme is because of the contamination of the quartz with amfibol and chlorite.
Found: The most important deposits of praseme were found on the islands...
Info: Quartz is one of the most common minerals on Earth. Quartz have many varieties, which are usually divided in two groups - typical for the first group is that the minerals in it are made by big crystals, for the second - that the minerals in it are made by tiny crystals of quartz. Members...
Info: Typical for the rainbow quartz is the forming of rainbows when the crystal is exposed to sunlight. This is because of miniature cracks in the crystal.
Found: Rainbow quartz were found in Brazil.
Crystal...
Info: Smoky quartz is one of the most common colour variety of quartz. His smoky grey to brown prismatic crystals cannot be mistaken. The biggest smoky quartz crystals reach up to several meters of lenght. The colour of the primarely quartz crystal was made by radioactive waves. Often small...
Info: For his beauty and hardness spinel is often used as precious gemstone. Spinel is found in different colours, depending on what chemical elements contains. Most commonly his colour is determined by iron, which in big quantity gives the spinel a ruby-red colour. Crystals of this mineral...
Info: This quartzite obtains its colour when little grains of sodalite, dumortierite, rutilite and magnetite are bound to his crystal structure.
Found: The most important deposits of blue quartz were found in Brazil and USA.
Crystal...
Info: This very common mineral have dark grey colour with strong metalic shine. It is very heavy and fragile mineral.
How to recognize: When heated hematite emmits magnetic waves and low magnetism can be observed arround him.
Found: In USA, Canada, Venezuela, Angola, Ukraine, Sweden,...
Info: This spindelide usually have black, dark green, blue, rarely yellow to brown colour.
How to recognize: It can be easly mistaken for other mineral from the spindelide group. Gahnite can only be recognized from magnetite, as it have no magnetic qualities.
Found: In USA, Brasil,...
Info: The crystals of corundum have a different shapes. In clear form corundum is colourless, but when mixed with other elements it becomes with different colours. The colour divides the corundum to several sub-mineral varieties: the not-transparent and mudy common corundum, the red ruby, the...
Info: This fragile mineral is usually found in the form of whole agregates or in grains. It can be translucent to transparent crystal with colouration from red to brown with diamond shine.
How to recognize: Cuprite is often covered with a layer of malachite.
Found: In Africa, USA,...
Info: The typical colour of citrine, yellow to orange, is because of little grains of iron hydroxide in the crystal structure of the mineral.
Found: The most famous deposits of citrine were found in Brazil, Russia and on Madagascar.
Crystal...
Info: Carnelian usually have orange to brown colour, the most precious of carnelians have homogeneus colours.
How to recognize: In UV-light the carnelian emits white-blue colour, only the carnelians from India emit green-yellow colour.
Found: The most famous deposits of carnelian were...
Info: Agate was used from ancient times. His colours are divided to different belts. The colouration of agate is usually gray, yellow and brown. Rare are the agates with green and blue tones. The red-white variant of agate is named sardonyx.
Found: The most famous deposits of agate were...
Info: Amethyst is a kind of quartz with purple colour. Often amethyst have bigger crystals then quartz. His colour is due to binding of little iron grains in the crystal structure of the mineral, or by radioactive waves.
How to recognize: When Amethyst is heated up to 400 - 500 degrees by...
Info: This variant of quartz is not found in crystals. Aventurine is often found in grain masses of colourless quartz, which crystal structure have little leaflets of mica. The reflection of the light in those leaflets gives the typical green colour of the aventurine.
Found: The most...
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