Minerals with Willsey: Mineral Properties 

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. A practical approach to deciphering what I see out in the world. And, welcome home.

Good start. I like the approach of what will be important in viewing minerals in a rock and not on being a collector. The drop of food coloring in a bucket of water, I like that.

The color in amethyst comes from color centers in the quartz. These are created when trace amounts of iron are irradiated. The color of amethyst is the result from substitution by irradiation of trivalent iron (Fe+3) for silicon in the structure, in the presence of trace elements of large ionic radius, and, to a certain extent, the amethyst color can naturally result from displacement of transition elements even if the iron concentration is low. Best to lay it out as the Professor is doing in portraying minerals : in steps. When analyzing how amethyst are formed, it is important to consider three important factors, or “ingredients in the recipe " of formation. The first of these is a hollow rock. Amethyst needs a hollow space in which a crystal crater can form and grow. Amethyst crystals are formed inside pyrogenic volcanic rocks referred to as basalts. These are the direct result of volcanic lava. These rocks then become the very vessels for creating the formation of amethyst by way of minerals and water combining over time. Amethyst crystals form against the inside rocks of the basalt, from where it is then later extracted and mined. The second ingredient in the formation process is the actual environment in which the amethyst is formed. In order for amethyst to form, both silica and ferric iron must be present in the water. To this particular end, because of its rock-forming properties, silicon dioxide is a key ingredient in the formation of this beautiful purple crystal. I haven't seen Siberian Amythest, but I've seen Brazilian Amythest. I've been to one location of where it's mined in both Brazil and Uraguay. My Uraguan material was really exceptional. I've looked for other quartz crystal forms in Colorado, Arkansas and New York. Before the Shah was ousted, I was in N Iran with my grandfather and saw some of the most beautiful aquamarine removed from the earth. We bought some. To this day my most prized piece of jewelry is Persian Aqua and the famed blue Persian Turquoise with diamonds. That was before the Persian citizens of Iran lost their freedoms. They dressed like Americans, Europeans. I was in a short outfit since it was early summer.

I'm so thrilled to have found this series. I'm a nature lover, hiker, kayaker, etc. Although I can name most plants, I'm lost when it comes to rocks & minerals. Excited to get through this over time. Thank you!

Shawn, thanks for your tutorials. I reside in the UK and get out into the hills, walking, scrambling and climbing. I sometimes wish I hade someone like you around to explain what I'm seeing. These tutorials are the next best thing.

Great start to this series.

You pointed out the Magnetite. The Cuillin on Skye are a bit of a problem when using a compass for navigation. It would appear the rock is iron rich. Have never seen what you demonstrated with the magnet. Impressive

I've learned more in your videos than I did a semester of geology at my uni.

Classroom! Cool. I'm game. Thx so much kind Sir.

In spite of my name (Stone) geology has always made my head hurt. Finally, a tutorial in rocks & minerals 101. Wow! There is a method to this madness. Thanks for all the practical information.

Thank you, Shawn! All of your videos are highly informative and I look forward to your next episode. 😀

Excellent lesson! Thank you for sharing!

Great for an enthusiastic amateur. Really appreciate your approach.

Great video. Thank you for teaching this. You probably plan to cover this, but I'm very interested in how to identify specific minerals in rocks such as granitic rocks, schists, etc. Thanks again!

Glad I found this series, thanks for sharing all this. I could do with a crash course on the basics again. Off to find my mineral collection and go and play… 😊

Very helpful, and I'm glad it's recorded. Thanks, Shawn.

Great content! Thanks Shawn.

Excellent! 'Looking forward to this series. Thanks!

Very cool class on minerals.

Pleased to find today this very enjoyable first video in the classroom series. Thanks Shawn.

Makes me want to go back to school. Thank you for your effort.

great stuff Shawn i'm always mesmerized by stones.

You are a Good teacher. Well described. Thanks.

Thank you. Super well done. Makes me want to learn more!

You explain everything perfectly!!!

Anther good one and educational.

Wonderful. Thank you. I’m looking forward ti the episode on igneous rocks. I have difficulty differentiating some of the extrusive from the intrusive rocks.

Shawn, I had a little trouble finding this one. Might I make a suggestion? When you're doing a series, number the episodes 01, 02, etc. That way I'm sure I'm starting at the initial one. Just some food for thought. Otherwise, great! :)

Great! Thanks for doing this for us.

I'm enjoying going back through your videos. Would it be possible to do a video on minerals that fluoresce? Whenever we head underground, we always carry a 365 nm black light with us to see what we can find. It was great fun when we got into a seam of fluorite. 😊

Thank you! I already learned quite a bit

I had 2 geology courses. Great field of study!!

Great videos, thank you

Great job, possible suggestion, show some examples of good rock and mineral guide books for references Enjoyed your Iceland videos, very informative and well done

The hardness scale was introduced in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, 9:57 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale

Great video thanks !

Excellent, well done in starting the series so promptly. Just off on a day's geologising looking at the boundary between the Lewisian and Torridonian around Kinlochbervie in the far North West of Scotland with the Geopark.

The "drop of food colouring in a bucket of water" made me think of an essence.

Good job. Thanks!

Thanks a bunch for this masterful narration. I've already watched your Quartz presentation, very cool. Cheers from Borat's Kazakhstan famous with its exceptiomally good potassium 😆

Awesome stuff

Excellent for me thanks

I'm excited! This is going to be great. Looking forward to the next video. BTW. I've tried vinegar on limestone but it doesn't work very well. Store bought vinegar contains about 4 or 5 percent acetic acid which, apparently, isn't enough to dissolve very well. Great intro. Thanks.

thanks for sharing

Only just discovered your fantastic vids Shawn. I have been looking for material on geology and this is great. I am living on a pile of Sydney sandstone - not sure if that is what it is called - and would like to understand more about the rocks i pass on my walks. Cheers from Aus Trish

Love this

Love it!

Welcome back!

Excellent.

I've been learning up on Feldspars recently. We have a bunch of it down here in So Ca. Your K-Spar specimen looks really nice, as are your other specimens. And wow, the Galena is pretty crazy too.

So as I begin here (again), my first further investigation is going to be (from the very beginning of the video) understanding better/accurately what it is, and why and how it is, that the Earth/Cosmos took us from elements to minerals. I know crudely that it was heat from its sources that acted upon space constituents, but I want to complete that puzzle. Any links, etc. welcome. Thanks, and now back to the video...

Finally I understand Cleavage planes! But you left me hanging, what’s has 5 and 6 cleavage planes?? I guess I have to do some foot work now…. PS in future tell us how we know it is a cleavage plane vs it was cut that way by the stonecutter. Just the reflection?? Thank you

Thanks!

first course done :)

Thanks

I had no idea that there were so many different minerals! Or that a "rock" I may find could actually be a mineral and not a rock.. that idea sure never occured to me. And I had always thought of quartz as a rock even though its a crystal... but I never knew it was a mineral! how strange. I have noticed rocks that seem to have strange right angles on them...strange to me that is. makes me think "was someone cutting on this with a saw or something?" But I guess this mineral stuff explains it. I went to the beach today and was looking at rocks right at the area where the waves were coming in. found a few interesting ones. saw lots of basalt + granite! then a woman came along with a few kids. I tried to tell her about the basalt (since her kids earlier seemed to be looking down at the rocks) and how it was volcanic in nature and that the other rocks were granite. it just seemed to go right over her head even though I used simple words. avoided "igneous" on purpose. volcano is more easy to understand. anyway she seemed very "spacey" and I don't think she had any idea what I was talking about! it apparently didn't even click in her head that the lake here is filled with volcanic rocks while there is no volcanoes anywhere near here! maybe she doesn't even know what a volcano is?? but this is a common problem when you have autism. you just don't connect with people at all... I might as well have been discussing EMS and cleaning frogs and colic + foundering! poor Toby has EMS. 😞 equine metabolic syndrome. and horses have so much problems with that coffin bone. but people just don't know that stuff either. at the moment I am thinking that maybe my mystery purple rock is marble. i was looking up limestone (pics) and I ended up with pics of marble too and I thought "woah! that looks a lot like my rock!" the texture looks right and a few pics are close to the color too, sort of? but now I have a mystery white sparkly rock! 😅 plus a few other weird looking things. this hobby keeps you busy. and while I was walking to the supermarket this morning I was looking at big decorative boulders in people's front yards and was thinking "granite. granite. basalt. basalt. basalt. granite." those two seem to be the most common. and they are easy to ID too! I am going to play a "trick" on my yoga teacher. i found basalt in different colors. i am going to bring different colors of it to yoga on Thursday and ask her "what do these rocks have in common?" 😅 I suppose she will say they have a common shape? and I think I found 2 agate today. plus a quartz!

Why are those Herkimer diamonds pulled out of mud instead of a stone?

All the comments celebrate job well done. I kind of wish i didn't take up civil engineering instead of geology, and natural studies in school....

Most minerals are tiny or only found in one location anyway.

I am in your class Shawn 😂

❤

👍

That magnetite has a scary face in it.

Musovite Cleavage planes Mica Gypsum Reflective surfaces of minerals Non parallel surface Potassium feldspar Quartz Aggregate of minerals Galena Shiny and cube Three non planar cleavage plane Calcite Planar 90 degree intersection Squished Rhombhohedral Colourless Pink Fluorite Four cleavage planes Mouh scale 1 through 10 Granite Hcl Vinegar To identify mineral Sedimentary rocks Kremlin Kremlin Kremlin Geology professor Siva murthy reddy

Please don't let me accidentally watch this AGAIN!!! 😭😭😭

Ha, I grew up next door to a dude named mater.

7:58 Looks like a face.

What's the difference between cleavage planes and crystallization? For example the fluorite has 4 cleavage planes, but quartz has none. However, when crystallized, quarts looks a lot like fluorite (shape/reflective wise). So why do we say fluorite has 4 cleavage planes instead of being a crystal? Same for quartz, why do we say it has no cleavage planes when it can look like fluorite?

Thanks!