List of mineral tests
Mineral tests are simple physical and chemical methods of testing samples, which can help to identify the mineral type. This approach is used widely in mineralogy, ore geology and general geological mapping.
The following tests are some examples of those that are used on hand specimens, or on field samples, or on thin sections with the aid of a polarizing microscope.
- Color
- Streak
- Lustre
- Transparency
- Specific gravity
- Mineral habit
- Magnetism
- Cleavage
- * how well a mineral can be split to produce a flat plane, a process controlled by planes of weakness in the crystal structure.
- * the number of distinct directions of these cleavage planes
- * the angles between those directions.
- UV fluorescence
- Radioactivity
- Taste
- Bite Test
- Hardness
- Odor
- Electric resistance
- Relief
- Fracture
- Shape
- Birefringence
- Twinning
- Extinction angle
- Zoning
- Mineral texture
- Reactivity
- Associated rock type
- Degree of metamorphism and alteration
- Lattice structure and geochemistry