Common rock-forming minerals

These are specimens of minerals from the University of Auckland's collection. Along with the common rock-forming minerals, we have included apatite, corundum, diamond, fluorite, topaz and talc to illustrate minerals used in Moh's Scale of Hardness.

Click on either a thumbnail, or the name in the list at the side, for details and larger photographs of each mineral.

apatite
apatite
augite
augite
biotite
biotite
calcite
calcite
chlorite
chlorite
corundum
corundum
diamond
diamond
fluorite
fluorite
garnet
garnet
gypsum
gypsum
hornblende
hornblende
ilmenite
ilmenite
magnetite
magnetite
muscovite
muscovite
olivine
olivine
orthoclase
orthoclase
plagioclase
plagioclase
pyrite
pyrite
quartz
quartz
talc
talc
topaz
topaz