Rocks & Minerals B/C

[kate!]

I agree with Kate, I got first place regionals following her advice. I'm quite an experienced Rocks and Minerals competitor.

PSA: This guy did not ask for my advice, nor has he competed in Rocks and Minerals more than once. He was a stand-in at regionals and got a free medal. Check his signature.

Ah, but did this guy carry, or was he carried?

He was carried by a guy who got 5th at nationals last year.

[nicksalanitri]

PSA: This guy did not ask for my advice, nor has he competed in Rocks and Minerals more than once. He was a stand-in at regionals and got a free medal. Check his signature.

Ah, but did this guy carry, or was he carried?

He was carried by a guy who got 5th at nationals last year.

I don't know what you're talking about, he did everything.

[arv101]

Yay this should be my 100th post! Many of you have suggested minerals.net. However some of the information isn't very accurate. Should I still use it?

[dxu46]

Yay this should be my 100th post! Many of you have suggested minerals.net. However some of the information isn't very accurate. Should I still use it?

I do agree with you: minerals.net is inaccurate. But it also has good information, which you can corroborate with other websites such as weikipedia and mindat.org. In short, only trust info if you can cross-check it.

[shubhsuper]

What are some good sources for studying the rock cycle, grades of metamorphism and Bowen's reaction series? I am very new to the event and an struggling to fully understand these concepts in depth for the state level.

[dxu46]

What are some good sources for studying the rock cycle, grades of metamorphism and Bowen's reaction series? I am very new to the event and an struggling to fully understand these concepts in depth for the state level.

The wikipedia page for the rock cycle page is really good (and by extension the scioly wiki page because it's copied from wikipedia).
Grade of metamorphism is just how much heat and pressure and how it was applied, basically.
I'm not actually sure about the Bowen's Reaction series. I just learned it by looking at the real thing and reading the wikipedia page.

[kate!]

What are some good sources for studying the rock cycle, grades of metamorphism and Bowen's reaction series? I am very new to the event and an struggling to fully understand these concepts in depth for the state level.

The wikipedia page for the rock cycle page is really good (and by extension the scioly wiki page because it's copied from wikipedia).
Grade of metamorphism is just how much heat and pressure and how it was applied, basically.
I'm not actually sure about the Bowen's Reaction series. I just learned it by looking at the real thing and reading the wikipedia page.

To add on to the part about Bowen's Reaction Series, if you find a good chart like

this, (Click to Show Hidden Text)

[img]http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Geophys/imggeo/bowen.gif[/img]

it explains what everything means.

[nicksalanitri]

What are some good sources for studying the rock cycle, grades of metamorphism and Bowen's reaction series? I am very new to the event and an struggling to fully understand these concepts in depth for the state level.

Just have like a few charts like suggested below and print out the NYS ESRT pages on it, they show increasing grades of metamorphism and organize them by types of metamorphism and foliation vs non foliated.

[towers32]

Does anyone know a good way to tell apart chalk and diatomite? Thanks.

[ScottMaurer19]

Does anyone know a good way to tell apart chalk and diatomite? Thanks.

Well if you have physical specimens it's very easy (density and relative hardness). Through pictures, as far as I can tell, you kinda just have to decide whether or not the specimen "looks" hard. If it does, then it is most likely chalk.