Learning Goals
Students should be able to:
- Describe the modal mineralogy and texture of a rock in a hand specimen,
- Use fundamental petrographic observations to identify minerals and rock textures in thin section,
- Classify (assign complete names to) rocks, using published schemes employed by professionals,
- Describe rock-forming processes,
- Evaluate the petrogenesis of rocks and rock associations in a plate tectonic context.
Instructors
Instructors: Maya Kopylova and Stuart Sutherland
Textbook
Required:
1. Blatt, H., Tracy, R., Owens, B. 2006. Petrology, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, 3rd ed. Freeman and Company, New York
2. Perkins and Henke (2000) Minerals in thin section, Prentice Hall
Recommended and optional:
- Guide to Thin Section Microscopy by Michael M. Raith, Peter Raase and Jurgen Reingardt (provided electronically)
- MacKenzie and Adams (1994) A color atlas of rocks and minerals in thin section, J. Wiley.
- Nesse (2003) Introduction to Optical Mineralogy
Lecture Topics
Module 1 Composition, classification and structures of igneous rocks. Igneous processes.
Module 2 Composition, classification and structures of sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary processes.
Module 3 Composition, classification and structures of metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic processes.