Chemistry
WebElements, Periodic Table of the Elements
where each chemical element contains a link to a page that explains its chemical properties, health effects, environmental effects, application data.

Crystal chemistry of some Common Mineral Groups
briefly discusses the crystal chemistry of the mineral groups like garnet, plagioclase, pyroxene, mica (muscovite and biotite), amphibole (mainly about hornblende). By Dave Waters, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford.



Crystallography
Crystallography Online
is an integral part of the International Union of Crystallography's (IUCr) information service

The International Union of Crystallography
The IUCr is an International Scientific Union. Its objectives are to promote international cooperation in crystallography and to contribute to all aspects of crystallography, to promote international publication of crystallographic research, to facilitate standardization of methods, units, nomenclatures and symbols, and to form a focus for the relations of crystallography to other sciences.

The Giant Crystal project Site
a project devoted to the monitoring and documentation of giant crystals and mineral aggregates

Atlas der Krystallformen
The classical work Atlas der Krystallformen by Victor Goldschmidt was one of the greatest works of morphological crystallography and consists of about 30000 crystal drawings and accompanying text. The complete atlas is available on this website



Physical Properties
Testing the Hardness of a Mineral
a short introduction.

Mineral Spectroscopy Server
provides information about color in minerals and access to data on Mineral Absorption Spectra in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum and Raman spectra of minerals

Minerals under the Microscope
with explanations of colour and pleochroism, interference colours, extinction angle, relief, opacity, etc. (Department of Geology at the University of Bristol)

Optical mineralogy
lecture notes, department of earth sciences at Brock University, Ontario, Canada

Optical Mineralogy
Review article on optical mineralogy by Mickey E. Gunter, (Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Idaho)

Indicatrix Project
on the design of indicatrix models for teaching optical mineralogy

Optical Mineralogy tools
tools that supplement conventional optical mineralogy course materials by Olaf Medenbach at the Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Geophysik

Atlas de Mineralogía Óptica
shows, mainly in a graphical way, examples of the optical properties of the most important rock-forming minerals, as well as methods for determining optical properties using the petrographic microscope. Includes a collection of more than 380 pictures and 16 video clips made specifically for this site



Analytical Techniques
The Electron Probe Technique
information on the microprobe and SEM techniques and a glossary of terms. (University of Oregon, microprobe lab)

Spindle Stage Short Course
an introduction to the spindle stage, and instructions on how to build one.