Mineral Identification Flowchart
Magnetitie
Magnetic
Metallic Luster
Silver Color
Softer Than
Fingernail
Harder Than
Fingernail
Non-Magnetic
Graphite
Black
Streak
Galena
Red-Brown
Streak
Hematite
Bright, Brassy
Pyrite
Tarnished
Chalcopyrite
Two Directions
56o & 124o Angles
Hornblende
Two Directions
o
o
87 & 93 Angles
Augite
Red to Brown
in Color
Garnet
Dark to
Light Green
Olivine
Gold Color
Good Cleavage
Harder Than
Steel Nail
No Cleavage
Non-Metallic Luster
(Dark Color)
Biotite
Good Cleavage
Softer Than
Steel Nail
No Cleavage
Yellow-Brown
Streak
Limonite
Red-Brown
Streak
Hematite
Green Streak
Malachite
White Streak
Bauxite
Striations
Plagioclase
No Striations
Orthoclase
Cleavage
Harder Than
Steel Nail
Non-Metallic Luster
(Light Color)
Softer Than Nail
Harder Than
Fingernail
No Cleavage
Quartz
Cubic Cleavage
Halite
Non-Cubic
Cleavage
No Cleavage
Reacts with HCL
Calcite
Yellow Brown
Limonite
Bright
Yellow
Sulfur
Green
Malachite
Contains
Nodules
Bauxite
Thin “Sheets”
Muscovite
Thick
“Sheets”
Selenite
(Gypsum)
Good Cleavage
Softer Than
Fingernail
“Slippery”
Feeling
No Cleavage
“Nonslippery”
Feeling
Pure
White
Kaolinite
Light
Colored
Talc
White
Alabaster
(Gypsum)