A To Z Challenge: Mineralogy And Missions To Mars

Jarosite on quartz.
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

Mineralogy is what it sounds like: The study of minerals, such as their physical properties, distribution, and identification. A mineral is a naturally occurring crystal of a chemical compound or an element that has a set (unchanging and predictable) chemical composition.

Last August, mineralogy expanded to a new planet--Mars. The Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, also known as CheMin, onboard the Curiosity Rover, has already detected several different minerals including jarosite, a mineral formed when water evaporates. CheMin works by drilling a hole in a rock in question, collecting the dust produced by the drilling, and firing a beam of X-rays through the dust. X-rays cause specific atoms to either absorb or emit light--these patterns indicate exactly which elements are present in the sample.

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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mineralogy
http://webmineral.com/Mineral_Definition.shtml
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/instruments/spectrometers/chemin/

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If you could send a machine like CheMin anywhere in the Solar System, what would you choose to explore? 


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Lithology

Public domain image. SOURCE.

Lithology is the study, description, and classification of rocks. It is closely related to petrology, another branch of geology.

The field developed from geology during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Lithology is tied to many other disciplines of science including stratigraphy, tectonics, paleogeography, geochemistry, paleontology, and climatology. An important theory to lithology is lithogenesis (the formation and change in sedimentary rocks), of which there are four kinds: glacial, humid, arid, and volcanogenic-sedimentary.

Current lithological research looks into the formation, composition, and structure of sediments on both land and sea. Data are gathered by field research, laboratory work, and generalization. Field research includes detailed description of the composition and structure of rocks; laboratory work depends on analysis and experiments (such as thermal analysis, electron microscopy, and observation of optical properties of rocks); and generalization is the expression of collected data (to see an example of technology used in the display of lithology data, go HERE).
 

CC-BY-SA-3.0. SOURCE.

 Notable scientist in the related field of petrology:

James D. Myers

James Myers is a professor at the University of Wyoming who graduated from John Hopkins University with Ph.D. in Geology. His research involves the petrogenesis (origins) of island arcs created by magma, the petrography (lithology) of volcanic rocks, and thermal and fluid dynamics (see yesterday's post) of magma.

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Sources:
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/lithogenesis
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Lithology
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=lithology
http://geology.uwyo.edu/jamesmyers
http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Metadata.do?Portal=GCMD&KeywordPath=DataCenters%7CU.S.+STATE%2FREGIONAL%2FLOCAL+AGENCIES%7CMASSACHUSETTS%7CMA%2FMASSGIS&OrigMetadataNode=MOP&EntryId=MassGIS_GISDATA.BEDROCKLITHOLOGY_POLY&MetadataView=Full&MetadataType=0&lbnode=mdlb1
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lithology
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lithology

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Do you have any favorite rock characteristics? Color, texture, hardness, crystalline form?


-----The Golden Eagle