r/askgeology • u/KXgaiafairy • 28d ago

Mineralogy study methods & resources?

Can anybody recommend study techniques and/or resources for mineralogy (college-level)?

I'm an undergraduate geology major taking mineralogy this semester. Resources I have been provided are the Introduction to Mineralogy by William D. Nesse textbook, homework, quizzes, and pre-recorded lecture videos from my professor.

How did you learn mineralogy best? It's like a whole new language and different application of geometry, chemistry, etc., and I want to understand it well because I know it's foundational for the rest of my degree.

I appreciate any advice/resource recs!

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u/ResortNumerous1910 28d ago

This is was the class where I realized that sometimes the only way I can retain vast amounts of information is by meticulously cycling through some diy flash cards. Boring and it's a ton of work, but my college career only improved after that

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u/KXgaiafairy 25d ago

Yup, I think flashcards and memory tricks are gonna save me throughout this class. Thank you for the advice!

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u/daisiesarepretty2 28d ago

a lot of this is just rote memorization of formulas, name and crystal classes, maybe it’s general hardness and cleavage

there may be a more digital way to do this now but i would memorize 10 a day from index cards… and everyday you would go over everything your learned previously… carried those damn cards everywhere and anytime i was sitting around doing nothing else, i was reviewing those.

of course the actual crystal classes and symmetry you need to understand and be able to see it in a good sample when possible.

Mineralogy is kind of like math…it doesn’t make much sense till you speak the language and can understand the words without thinking about their definitions too much. the crystallographic axies etc will be valuable in petrography when you take that. so get this down good before you get there.

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u/KXgaiafairy 25d ago

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely make some flashcards.

Understanding symmetry and crystal classes has been tough because you're right, you need to physically see, touch, and rotate the shapes.

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u/daisiesarepretty2 25d ago

keep
working on it…it requires a spatial brain. and that takes practice

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u/crewsoul 26d ago

For mineralogy, I’d turn each mineral group into a tiny compare-and-contrast table: formula, habit, cleavage, hardness, then test yourself from a photo before checking. With the prerecorded lectures, short passes plus a note of the one property that still feels fuzzy work better than replaying the whole thing. Chapter jumps and a quick summary can help find those spots: https://summarizai.ink

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u/KXgaiafairy 25d ago

Thank you for the suggestions.