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