MINERALS

Color

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Minerals have the same chemical composition but small variations of the quantity and distribution of some elements will give the same mineral different colors.

Mineral Bulk Color and Streak Test Video

Colors of quartz


Pink quartz	Smoky quartz

Milky quartz	Clear quartz

Colors of calcite


Blue calcite	Clear calcite

Yellow calcite	Pink calcite

Colors of feldspar


Labradorite (gray feldspar)	Amazonite (green feldspar)

K-feldspar (pink/salmon)	Albite (white feldspar)

Do you think that one can identify a mineral on the basis of its color alone? Why or why not?

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Some minerals have constant colors. Knowing these specific colors may be considerable help in identifying them.......


Malachite - always bluish/green	Pyrite - always gold

Garnet - always deep red	Magnetite - always black

Olivine - always green	Limonite - always yellow-orange

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