Geology Sample Sets

Here are links to collections of high-resolution explorable images of samples analogous to the sample sets available in the SLC. Many of the samples are those pictured in the classification practice sets, but not all of them.

MINERALS

36 common minerals

Blue kyanite, red garnet, white albite, and goldish pyrite

Minerals 1-9 are the first nine minerals on the Mohs hardness scale in increasing order of hardness. (Diamond, with a Mohs hardness of 10, is unrepresented here.) Minerals 10-24 are common rock-forming minerals. Minerals 25-36 are important economic minerals and ores.

 

Mineral identification practice set

Euhedral fluorite

A set of 44 unidentified minerals.  Hardness, streak, and any special properties you can only test for in person are listed in each image’s description pane.
Worksheet
Helpful identification chart
Answer key

GOL 106 Mineral identification worksheet

A mineral ID set which also asks you to identify silicate, non-silicate, mafic, felsic, carbonate, and evaporite minerals. Hardness, streak, and special properties are listed in each image’s description pane.
Worksheet
Helpful identification chart
Answer key


IGNEOUS ROCKS

Igneous rocks

Contact between basalt and amygdule

A handful of common igneous rocks.

 

 

 

Igneous rocks classification practice set

Red Bluff granite

A set of 24 unidentified igneous rocks.
Worksheet
Answer key

 

 

GOL 106 Igneous rock identification worksheet

An igneous rock ID set which also asks you to identify composition, texture, cooling rate, and environment of formation.
Worksheet
Answer key

 


METAMORPHIC ROCKS

Metamorphic rocks

Augen gneiss

A handful of common metamorphic rocks.

 

 

 

Metamorphic rocks classification practice set

Muscovite-biotite gneiss of the Columbia pluton

A set of 20 unidentified metamorphic rocks.
Worksheet
Answer key

 

 

GOL 106 Metamorphic rock identification worksheet

A metamorphic rock set which also asks you to identify texture, composition, and protolith.
Worksheet
Answer key

 


SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Sedimentary rocks

Gros Ventre flat pebble conglomerate

A handful of common sedimentary rocks.

 

 

 

Sedimentary rocks classification practice set

Banded iron formation (BIF)

A set of 34 unidentified sedimentary rocks.
Worksheet
Answer key

 

 

GOL 106 Sedimentary rock identification & interpretation

Conglomerate

Practice identifying sedimentary rocks and their environments of deposition.
Worksheet

Answer key

 

Sedimentary structures and environments

A different conglomerate
The author really likes conglomerates

 

Worksheet
Answer key

 

 

 


FOSSILS

Geology 106 fossil study set

Brachiopod from the Needmore shale

Various unidentified fossils and types of fossilization.
Worksheet
Answer key