GEOL 110
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Final Exam Review Material
Spring 2010
Silicate Mineral Classes – be able to identify the classes of silicate minerals and give
examples of major minerals in each.
Optics – You should be up on all of the light paths and diagnostic tools associated
with petrographic microscopy used to identify major minerals including both
orthoscopic and conoscopic projections, and the concept of an indicatrix
Specific Mineral Groups – we have spent a lot of time on specific mineral groups
(feldspars for instance). You should know these well – for example the feldspars can
be divided into 2 series that differ in K, Na, Ca compositions – If I give you a ternary
plot you could fill it in for this group and tell me the end-members. Though I do not
expect you to memorize (for example) the 6 mineral phases of the plagioclase
feldspar series, you should know they trend between Albite and Anorthite as a
function of Na and Ca content, are framework silicates and know the alkali feldspars
can have exsolution lamellae that indicate cooler conditions or re-equilibration.
Expect several questions covering some detail on the minerals we have discussed –
interpret their structure, chemistry and interpret what conditions their presence
indicates.
Minerals / Mineral groups to know:
o Feldspars (plagioclase and alkali feldspars), feldspathoids, pyroxenes,
amphiboles, olivines, clays, micas, quartzes, calcite group, sulfates, halides,
serpentines, garnet, sulfides, oxides, chlorite, aluminosilicates
o Should have a sense of their structure, chemistry, diagnostic features, and
depositional/formational environment (example – what does the presence of
gypsum then halite tell you?)
Bowen’s reaction series and explanation for how magma becomes rock
Equilibrium – we have talked about energy of minerals and how that is affected by
the conditions they are put in (solution/melt composition, P/T conditions, etc.) – you
should know how to read a phase diagram and use it to figure out a mineral
composition from a melt and what a miscibility gap is responsible for.
Weathering  be able to describe physical and chemical weathering in detail.
Different ways to physically weather something, what controls chemical weathering
(solubility, different kinds of reactions – dissolution, hydrolysis, acid/base, oxidation)
Ore deposits – a sense of concentrating metals by some chemical mechanism (trap)
and the importance of this in concentrating metals to an economic value
Oil and coal formation – describe how organic materials essentially metamorphose
and move into traps to form oil / gas deposits
Gem minerals and how they form in different settings, how light goes through them
Mineral importance in environmental problems such as acid mine drainage and how
they can control metal transport
Metamorphism – Agents of change – P, T, fluids, stress/strain; types of
metamorphism and the tectonic environments associated with these changes (P/T,
fluids, etc.)
Metamorphic reactions – know the major types of metamorphic reactions – solidsolid phase transformation, solid-solid, dehydration/ hydration,
volatization/devolatization (esp. carbonation/decarbonation)
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Thermodynamics and phase diagrams  you should be able to read a phase diagram
and use it to figure out P/T conditions given a set of minerals coexisting in a rock
Meteorites – how to identify, what the major groups and compositions are, what
information they provide about the chemistry of a planet
Meteorite impact minerals – minerals indicative of a meteorite impact and why
Mantle composition – should have some idea of the composition of the earth’s mantle
and core!  Important mantle phases  olive, pyroxene, spinel, perovskite,
magneso-wustite (minor stishovite) and how we think we know this
Geodynamo and magnetic poles/magnetic field – how this occurs
Naming a new mineral – if you were to characterize a new mineral, how would you
do it?