Minerals are used by humans in their day-to-day lives. Minerals are used in medicines, as gems, in industries, and in chemical laboratories. Minerals form an extremely precious natural resource and ...

Most people know some very basic information about minerals, crystals, and gemstones, but likely wouldn’t be sure about what ...

Photograph by blickwinkel/Alamy Rocks themselves are made of clusters ... explaining why diamond is the hardest mineral and graphite (used in pencil lead) is one of the softest.

Use the navigation TAB or the BACK button to return to the list of 24 drawers. Or click on the text below each picture to advance to the next drawer. Be sure to also check out the Rock & Mineral KITS ...

Some minerals in rocks and organic matter (e.g., wood, bones, and shells) can contain radioactive isotopes. The abundances of parent and daughter isotopes in a sample can be measured and used to ...

A secure, green, and innovation-filled future awaits us, but only with the help of rocks buried deep in the ground ... Some of these minerals are well known for their more common uses—while others ...

Some minerals in rocks and organic matter (e.g., wood, bones, and shells) can contain radioactive isotopes. The abundances of parent and daughter isotopes in a sample can be measured and used to ...

At CU Boulder, we use petrology to study the formation of volcanoes and their magmatic sources, the evolution of continental crust during the growth and destruction of mountain belts, the genesis of ...