Guías de Mineralogía
Guías completas para entusiastas y coleccionistas de minerales.
Mineral Identification Guide
Learn systematic approaches to identifying minerals using physical properties, chemical tests, and field techniques.
Visual Identification: Color, Luster, and Crystal Form
How to use visual properties — color, streak, luster, crystal habit, and transparency — as first-pass identification criteria for minerals.
Hardness and Cleavage: The Definitive Physical Tests
Practical techniques for Mohs hardness testing, scratch tests, and interpreting cleavage versus fracture patterns and tenacity.
Specific Gravity and Density Testing
How to measure specific gravity using heavy liquids, hydrostatic weighing, and heft estimation to distinguish minerals with similar appearances.
Chemical Tests for Mineral Identification
Using acid tests, flame tests, blowpipe analysis, and UV fluorescence to confirm mineral identity through chemical reactions.
Field Identification: A Systematic Approach
Combining all identification techniques into practical decision trees, field kit recommendations, and strategies for handling common look-alike mineral pairs.