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Mineral collecting is the hobby of systematically collecting, identifying and displaying mineral specimens. Mineral collecting can also be a part of the profession of mineralogy and allied geologic specialties. Individual collectors often specialize in certain areas, for example collecting samples of several varieties of the mineral calcite ...
Kunzite from Afghanistan, which was named in honor of George Frederick Kunz. Amateur geology or rock collecting (also referred to as rockhounding in the United States and Canada) is the non-professional study and hobby of collecting rocks and minerals or fossil specimens from the natural environment.
Fossil collecting (sometimes, in a non-scientific sense, fossil hunting) is the collection of the fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs. Professionals and amateurs alike collect fossils ...
Mineralogy applies principles of chemistry, geology, physics and materials science to the study of minerals. Mineralogy [n 1] is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts.
Mineralogy museums — natural history museums with collections of minerals. Mineral collections are often part of the displays at regional and local geology and mining museums . See also: Category:Mining museums
In mineralogy, the type specimen, also known as type material, is a reference sample by which a mineral is defined. [1] Similar to the biology type methods, a mineral type specimen is a sample (or in some cases a group of samples) of a mineral to which the scientific name of that mineral is formally attached. In other words, a type specimen is ...
Use of old mineral names is also discontinued, for example when a name is no longer considered valid. Therefore, a list of recognised mineral species is never complete. Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various species.
A micromount is permanently mounted in some kind of box and labelled with the name of the mineral and the location from which it came. Proper mounting both preserves delicate crystals, and facilitates their handling. Micromount specimen collecting has a number of advantages over collecting larger specimens.