To expand and collapse the navigation please click on the headings
Go to other Related Subject areas
Rocks and Minerals
Welcome to our Minerals and Rocks collection. You can click on any image to go to a page all about the mineral or rock. Alternatively you can click on a link to navigate to a rock or mineral.
Calcite
Calcite is a very common mineral. However, most of the time it occurs as microscopic crystals that make up limestones and marble. It is most easily seen though, when it forms stalactites in caves or when forming large crystals in mineral veins.
Calcite 2
Calcite is a very common mineral. However, most of the time it occurs as microscopic crystals that make up limestones and marble. It is most easily seen though, when it forms stalactites in caves or when forming large crystals in mineral veins.
Calcite is usually whiteish in colour, but can be colourless, green, blue, yellow, red, brown or even black. It can be identified by its relatively low hardness and, by the way that it will fizz when vinegar is poured on to it, (something that the similar minerals quartz and fluorite will not do).
Conglomerate
Name: Conglomerate Size:135mm long x 90mm wide x 75mm deep Key Features Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks that are composed of rounded pebbles of pre-existing rocks. They form when older rocks are eroded and the fragments become rounded in fast flowing rivers as they are carried away from their source. Eventually these pebbles are deposited and then cemented together over time. Distribution Worldwide
Fluorite
Fluorite or fluorspar is a widely occuring mineral often found in veins between other rocks, along side quartz, calcite and barytes. It often has well formed cubic crystals and varies in colour from purple or violet to green, yellow, white or even black. It is slightly harder than calcite with which it is often confused.
Fluorite 2
Fluorite or fluorspar is a widely occuring mineral often found in veins between other rocks, along side quartz, calcite and barytes. It often has well formed cubic crystals and varies in colour from purple or violet to green, yellow, white or even black. It is slightly harder than calcite with which it is often confused.
Galena
This grey, dense mineral is the most important ore of lead. It is usually found in veins between other rocks and is commonly found along side other minerals such as quartz, calcite, fluorite and baryte.
When fresh the surface has a bright silver appearance but when weathered becomes dull and grey. It is a soft mineral and can be easily scratched with an steel knife. This and its high density make it easy to identify.
Granite
Granites are igneous rocks that form deep under ground when rising magma crystallises. Only after millions of years of erosion do we find them at the surface although none are known in Shropshire.
They usually have large visible crystals of feldspar, quartz and smaller amounts of platy minerals such as biotite, muscovite.
Haematite
Haematite is the most important mineral ore of iron and occurs in two forms. The first is kidney ore which appears as rounded dark red masses with a metallic sheen. The second is specular iron that consists of tabular black crystals.
Marble, Landscape
This type of rock is sometimes called landscape marble because of the way in which tree-like growths appear within the lighter-coloured sediment.
These have nothing to do with trees but, it has been suggested that they may be the result of algal growths or that bituminous material has been forced into the light surrounding layers.
Pyrite
Pyrite, otherwise known as "Fools Gold" is a shiny brassy-coloured mineral that frequently occurs in small cubes like these. It is made up of iron and sulphur and if it is exposed to moisture the crystals become dull and will eventually be destroyed
Quartz
Quartz is one of the commonest minerals and occurs in many types of rocks as microscopic grains. It is a hard mineral that cannot be scratched with a steel knife, unlike calcite with which it is sometimes confused.
It is usually found as a vein mineral between other rocks and has a milky white colour with no individual crystals visible. However, larger crystals like this specimen do occur in mineral veins and cavities between rocks and typically these crystals form hexagonal prisms with pyramid like ends.
Sandstone
Sandstones are sedimentary rocks, formed by sand grains that have been cemented together over time. These are usually quartz grains, but other minerals such as feldspar or mica may be present. The type of minerals that occur between these grains often affect the overall colour of the rock with, for instance, iron oxide giving a very red colour.
Sandstones can be formed by material deposited in water, like a modern day beach, or in hot and dry conditions such as a desert.
Snowflake Obsidian
Obsidian is a volcanic rock with a black glassy apearance. It forms when lava cools very quickly and crystals do not have time to develop.
Occassionally, as in this specimen, patchy white crystals do form that give the rock the name Snowflake Obsidian.
Sphalerite
This is a common mineral ore of zinc and is usually a reddish-brown or black colour. It is often associated with galena and pyrite (fools gold) in mineral veins that occur between other rocks.
This specimen occurs with chalcopyrite (a brassy coloured ore of copper) and calcite. It was found at the Stiperstones in Shropshire where mining once occurred for such minerals.
Gypsum
Gypsum is a mineral associated with deposits that form where the evaporation of water leads to the growth of various crystals. These can include salt (or halite), as well as gypsum.
This specimen is a type of gypsum called a Desert Rose because of the shape in which the platy crystals have grown as the water was evaporated. It was collected in Saudi Arabia.