Wikipedia:WikiProject Rocks and minerals

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This WikiProject's goal is to define a standard infobox for using in rock and mineral entries. Eventually, after general agreement, project's focus will change to facilitating the conversion of the existing rock and mineral articles to the agreed upon format discussed in Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Rocks and Minerals.

Contents

[edit] Similar Wikiprojects

  • Also see the various discussions on infoboxes, currently broken into at least two areas (as usual, I suppose)--infobox and the infobox talk page.

[edit] Participants

  • A.Grace - Amature collector
  • elf
  • Hadal - naturally.
  • I'll start notifying people... Elf 17:46, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)
  • mav (amateur geologist)
  • Muriel - although with reluctance, due to my geo-job
  • User:Syntax Materials scientist and amateur lapidary
  • User:Ktsquare (Chemist in the making and amateur geologist)
  • Greudin, sporadically.
  • Gaucho, most of the time at the german wikipedia.
  • chd, most of the time at the german wikipedia.
  • Jll, periodically
  • Vsmith 01:40, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC) I have been working on mineral, rock & geology entries. Just found this project. Geologist and chemistry teacher.
  • fiveless Sometimes, when I'm not doing something else on Wikipedia.
  • DanielCD
  • Ballista I enjoy adding geological info to articles and editing geological articles, so I join here, despite lack of time and special expertise.
  • Riffsyphon1024, geology student, also working on geologic formations and planetary geology articles.
  • Ixfd64 - as noted on my user page, geology has always been one of my interests, so count me in! (on hiatus)
  • Afrotrance
  • Belovedfreakand adam really like chicken

[edit] General Strategy and Discussion forum

[edit] Template

Quartz
Photo of quartz
General
Category Mineral
Chemical formula (or Composition) Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2)
Identification
Color Clear (if no impurities); also see Varieties
Crystal habit 6-sided prism ending in 6-sided pyramid (typical)
Crystal system Trigonal
Cleavage None
Fracture Conchoidal
Mohs Scale hardness 7 - lower in impure varieties
Luster Vitreous
Refractive index 1.544-1.553 - DR +0.009 (B-G interval)
Pleochroism Most varieties weak; definite in smoky quartz
Streak White
Specific gravity 2.65 constant; variable in impure varieties
Melting point
Solubility
Major varieties (or Related minerals )
One way to do it:
Chalcedony, Agate, Onyx, Jasper, Aventurine, Tiger's eye, Rock Crystal, Amethyst, Citrine, Rose quartz, Milk quartz (or snow quartz), Carnelian
Another way to do it (preferences?):
Chalcedony Any cryptocrystalline quartz, although generally only used for white or lightly coloured material. Otherwise more specific names are used.
Agate Banded Chalcedony, translucent
Onyx Agate where the bands are staight, parallel and consistent in size.
Jasper Opaque chalcedony, impure
Aventurine Translucent chalcedony with small inclusions (usually mica) that shimmer.
Tiger's eye Fibrous quartz, exhibiting chatoyancy.
Rock Crystal Clear, colourless
Amethyst Purple, transparent
Citrine Yellow to reddish orange, greenish yellow
Rose quartz Pink, translucent, may display diasterism
Milk quartz, or snow quartz White, translucent to opaque, may display diasterism
Carnelian Reddish orange chalcedony, translucent


I based the content of this table on information found in various places:

I based the format in part on the table used for chemical compounds such as:

[edit] Explanations

  • There's much discussion about colors in the infobox discussion. I don't see that, in this topic, more than one color adds any significant or obvious information. (E.g., we could do one for metamorphic rocks, one for sedimentary rocks, etc., but I don't know that it's particularly useful to do so.) Elf
  • The compounds table doesn't have a title with the name of the compound; instead it's listed as a small item under General. I think it's clearer to have the name at the top, as with animals and several other table categories. Elf

[edit] Comment history from original location

Good choice of colour. It really stands out. Is it possible to condense it a bit? Maybe this should be moved to a Project space. mydogategodshat 09:45, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Examples: rock templates

Here are possible rock infobox templates.

Igneous rock template

Metamorphic rock template

Sedimentary rock template

infobox template

International template below.

[edit] Template (international)

Quartz
Photo of quartz
General
Category Mineral
Chemical formula (or Composition) Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2)
Crystal system Trigonal
Crystal class  ?
Color Clear (if no impurities); also see Varieties
Streak White
Mohs Scale hardness 7 - lower in impure varieties
Specific gravity 2.65 constant; variable in impure varieties
Luster Vitreous
Opacity  ?
Fracture Conchoidal
Cleavage None
Crystal habit 6-sided prism ending in 6-sided pyramid (typical)
common Crystal face  ?
Twinning yes
Crystall optics
Refractive index 1.544-1.553 - DR +0.009 (B-G interval)
Birefringence  ?
Pleochroism Most varieties weak; definite in smoky quartz
Optic orientation  ?
Angle of the optic axis  ?
further characteristics
chemical behavior  ?
Magnetism  ?
Melting point  ?
Solubility  ?
special characteristics  ?
Major varieties (or Related minerals )
Chalcedony, Agate, Onyx, Jasper, Aventurine, Tiger's eye, Rock Crystal, Amethyst, Citrine, Rose quartz, Milk quartz (or snow quartz), Carnelian

This would be my suggestion. There are two reasons:

  • 1. common charactaristics into more details
  • 2. it will be easier if to translate if its the same in all languages, as there are allready some in german.

In the german project there are there missing:

I hope the translation is correct. Please have a look at it. For example:

Crystal class is a classification by C. Hermann und Ch. Mauguin or Schoenflies.

Gaucho 15:57, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

(Discussion moved to talk page. Elf 18:28, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC))

[edit] Pages needing attention

[edit] Geology