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Halides, carbonates, and sulfites are considered sedimentary minerals. In this article, you will learn about evaporites and how these three…

Some species of the oxide and hydroxide classes are important ore minerals while others are valuable gemstones. We will explore these diverse…

After studying native elements, we will move on to a more complex class of minerals: sulfides and sulfosalts. These minerals are crucial in ore…

This article covers eight rare mineral classes not commonly studied in gemology: phosphates, arsenates, vanadates, wolframates, molybdates,…

Native elements are minerals composed entirely of one element. Traditionally, they’re one of the first subjects mineralogy students…

In crystallography, mineral habits refer to the way crystals form within a specific mineral. In A Guide to Gem Classification, I mentioned that,…

Crystallography is the study of the formation and structure of crystalline solids. Mineralogists deal with many crystalline minerals and use…

Pleochroism means “more colors.” Pleochroic minerals show two or three colors when viewed from different angles. This property appears…

Minerals that polarize light and split it into two different directions are said to be doubly refractive. Birefringence is a measure of a mineral’s…