Links

Crystallography

    Crystallography - a very useful primer on crystallography.

Optical microscopy

  Nikon - Introduction to optical microscopy

    Olympus - Introduction to optical microscopy

Web sites maintained by microscope vendors that have tutorials on the optical microscope. Comprehensive discussions, many with active animations and illustrations.    

Mineral Identification

Mineralogy Database – Contains 4,281 individual mineral species descriptions with links. Information on physical properties, x-ray data, chemistry, pictures and links to other web sites. This is an excellent source for all sorts of information about minerals and a good place to start any search for mineral information.

MinDat Organization - Another data base rich with information on minerals.

XRD and Crystal Structure Data - A truly outstanding site courtesy of our Russian friends. Gives XRD data for over 6000 crystalline solids and shows three-dimensional rotatable crystal structures. A really cool site. Provides hours of entertainment.

Minerals in Thin Section

Minerals in Thin Section - Shows thin section images for various minerals. Minerals can be viewed in both plane polarized light and crossed polarizer light.

Catalog of Minerals in Thin Section – Gives optical properties and thin section images for a number of common rock-forming minerals.

Optical Mineralogy - Lots of information and numerous thin section photographs showing minerals in both plane polarized light and crossed polarized light. I found the site a bit slow to load.

Miscellaneous    

    Periodic table - Tells all you ever wanted to know.

   Uses for the chemical elements - From Bloomberg. Lists uses for the chemical elements. A fun site.