Syllabus EENS 2110 Mineralogy

EENS 2110	Mineralogy		Fall 2013
Dr. Stephen A. Nelson snelson@tulane.edu		Office: Rm 208 Blessey Hall Office Phone: 504-862-3194 Office Hours: MWF 1:00 -3:00 PM

I. COURSE GOALS & OBJECTIVESSince minerals are the basic building blocks of earth materials, this course is designed to give the student a fundamental background in minerals, necessary to understand processes. The student will learn the basic principles behind the arrangement of atoms to form crystal structures, how these atoms are coordinated and bonded and how this is reflected in the external form, chemical composition, and physical properties of the crystals.. The student will learn how to identify the most common minerals in hand specimen and, by using optical techniques, learn how to identify the common minerals in thin section.

II. TEXTBOOKS

There are two required textbooks for this course. The first is required reading for the course and the second is a general reference that you will also use in Petrology next semester.

Earth Materials , by Hefferan and O'Brien (H&O). This text covers crystallography, crystal structure, and crystal chemistry and has useful mineral identification tables. It will be used extensively for lectures at the beginning and end of the course.
An Introduction to the Rock Forming Minerals, 2nd Edition, by W.A. Deer, R.A. Howie, and J. Zussman (DHZ). This is a general reference text covering identification of minerals with the petrographic microscope. It will be used in the lab during the second half of the course and will serve as a reference book in EENS-2120 next semester.

III. COURSE GRADING
The course grade will be determined on the basis of the number of points scored out of a possible 1000 points. These points will be apportioned as follows:

Homework & Labs 15% Midterm Exam 20%

Lab Exam I 10% Lab Final Exam 20%

Lab Exam II 10% Final Exam 25%

NOTE: The pre-requisite for enrollment in EENS 2120, Petrology, is a grade of C- or better in EENS 2110, Mineralogy.

IV. WEB PAGE
Lecture notes and other course materials can be found on the EENS 2110 web page. This can be found at http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/

Handouts for the Laboratory exercises can be found on the My Tulane (Blackboard) site for EENS-2111-41, if for some reaon you don't get them in class.

V. LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THIS COURSE

The student will gain an understanding of how atoms interact to form minerals and how the structure and chemical composition of minerals determine the properties and occurrence of minerals.
The student will learn how to identify the common minerals in hand specimen.
The student will learn how to identify the common rock forming minerals in thin section.

VI. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF LECTURES & LABS

Date	Topic	Reading
Aug. 30	Lecture: Introduction to Symmetry Operations	H&O pp. 75- 84
Aug. 30	Lab: Elements of Crystal Symmetry	Lab handout
Sept. 1	Lecture: The 32 Crystal Classes	H&O pp. 75- 84
Sept. 1	Lab: Elements of Crystal Symmetry (continued)	Lab handout
Sept. 6	Lecture: Crystal Morphology, Crystal Symmetry, Crystallographic axes	H&O pp. 84- 89
Sept. 6	Lab: Crystallographic Axes and Introduction to Crystal forms	Lab handout
Sept. 8	Lecture: Axial Ratios, Weiss parameters, Miller Indices	H&O pp. 89- 96
Sept. 8	Lab: Miller Indices of Crystal Faces and Crystal Forms	Lab handout
Sept.13	Lecture: Crystal Form, Zones, Crystal Habit, 32 Crystal Classes	H&O pp.96-100
Sept.13	Lab: Stereographic Projection of Crystal Faces, Crystal angles, and Zones	Lecture Notes on web
Sept. 15	Lecture: Crystallographic Calculations	Lecture notes on web
Sept. 15	Lab: Crystallographic Angles and Axial Ratio Calculations	Lab handout
Sept. 20	Lecture: X-ray crystallography: the powder method	Lecture Notes
Sept. 20	Lab: X-ray Powder diffraction demonstration Ionic Spacing in Halite	Lab handout
Sept. 22	Lecture: Twinning in crystals, Polymorphism, Polytypism, Pseudomorphism	H&O pp. 100-101
Sept. 22	Lab: Twinning and physical properties of Minerals	Lab handout
Sept. 27	Lecture: Physical Properties of Minerals	H&O pp. 111-128
Sept. 27	Lab: LAB EXAM I - Crystallography
Sept. 29	Lecture: Crystal Chemistry	H&O pp. 19-39
Sept. 29	Lab: Mineral Identification - native elements, sulfates, sulfides, oxides, hydroxides, halides	FG. Lab handout
Oct. 4	Lecture: Coordination and Pauling's Rules	H&O pp. 39-43
Oct. 4	Lab: Mineral Identification - halides, carbonates, tungstates, molybdates, borates, chromates, phosphates, and arsenates	FG, Lab handout
Oct. 6	Lecture: Mineral Chemistry	H&O pp. 42-50
Oct. 6	Lab: Mineral Identification - Neso-, soro-, and ino- silicates	FG, Lab handout
Oct. 11	Lecture: Mineral Stability, phase diagrams	H&O pp. 50-65 Lecture Notes
Oct. 11	Lab: Mineral Identification - cyclo- and phyllo- silicates	FG, Lab handout
Oct. 13	Fall Break - no class
Oct. 18	Lecture: Binary phase diagrams, congruent melting	H&O pp. 50-65 Lecture Notes
Oct. 18	Lab: Mineral Identification - tectosilicates	FG, Lab handout
Oct. 20	Lecture: Binary phase diagrams, incongruent melting, solid solution, and exsolution	H&O pp. 50-65 Lecture Notes
Oct. 20	Lab: Phase Diagrams	Lecture Notes
Oct. 25	Lecture: Properties of Light: reflection, refraction, dispersion, and refractive indices, Isotropic Minerals, the immersion method, isotropic indicatrix	H&O pp.145-164 Lecture Notes
Oct. 25	Lab: LAB EXAM II Mineral Identification
Oct. 27	Lecture: MIDTERM EXAM
Oct. 27	Lab: Optics Lab I. Properties of Light and Introduction to Isotropic Materials	Lecture Notes Lab handout
Nov. 1	Lecture: Uniaxial minerals, uniaxial indicatrix, optic sign, & ray path	H&O pp. 164-167 Lecture Notes
Nov. 1	Lab: Optics Lab II. Introduction to Anisotropic Substances	Lab handout
Nov. 3	Lecture: Interference phenomena, compensation & optic sign	Lecture Notes
Nov. 3	Lab:Optics Lab III. Interference and Compensation	Lab handout
Nov. 8	Lecture: Uniaxial Interference Figures	H&O pp. 167-172 Lecture Notes
Nov. 8	Lab: Optics Lab IV. Uniaxial Interference Figures and Summary of Uniaxial Optical Properties	Lab handout
Nov. 10	Lecture: Biaxial Minerals	H&O pp. 172-181 Lecture Notes
Nov. 10	Lab: Optics Lab V. Biaxial Minerals	Lab handout
Nov. 15	Lecture: Silicate Structures	H&O pp. 42-45 Lecture Notes
Nov. 15	Lab: Optics Lab VI. Identification of Olivines and Pyroxenes - Calculation of mineral formulae.	DHZ
Nov. 17	Lecture: Olivines, Garnets, Aluminosilicates, Pyroxenes and Amphiboles	H&O pp. 128-140 Lecture Notes
Nov. 17	Lab: Optics Lab VII. Identification of Al₂SiO₅ minerals and amphiboles.	DHZ
Nov. 22	Lecture: Micas, serpentine, and chlorite	H&O pp. 128-140 Lecture Notes
Nov. 22	Lab: Optics Lab VIII. Identification of Phyllosilicates	DHZ
Nov. 24	Thanksgiving Holiday - no class
Nov. 29	Lecture: Clay Minerals	Lecture Notes
Nov. 29	Lab: Optics Lab IX. Identification of Feldspars and Feldspathoids,	DHZ, Handout
Dec. 1	Lecture: Tectosilicates	Lecture Notes
Dec. 1	Optics Lab X. Determination of Plagioclase Composition	DHZ, Handout
Dec. 6	Lecture: Carbonates, oxides, & accessory minerals	H&) p. 140 -144 Lecture Notes
Dec. 6	Lab: Optics Lab XI. Identification of Common Metamorphic and Accessory Minerals	DHZ
Dec. 8	Lecture: Catch-up and Review Session
Dec. 8	Lab: Catch-up and Review
Dec. 12	Lecture Final Examination 1:00 to 5:00 PM
Dec. 15	Lab Final Examination 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

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Homework & Labs	15%	Midterm Exam	20%
Lab Exam I	10%	Lab Final Exam	20%
Lab Exam II	10%	Final Exam	25%