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GeneralQuartz

14th Feb 2018 16:43 UTCDonald B Peck Expert

Today I had occasion to look at the Mindat Quartz page. WOW!!! I nave no idea how long it has been as it is now or who is the author; but to whomever put it together, It is a fantastic piece of work, fabulously well done. Thank you!

Don

14th Feb 2018 20:33 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

It is really wonderful, mostly done by Amir Akhavan, who has set a standard few of us could match!

14th Feb 2018 23:27 UTCScott Rider

He is also the one responsible for the Quartz Page, a must see if you want to know anything quartz related... Its helped me quite a bit understanding this important mineral.

http://www.quartzpage.de/index.html

15th Feb 2018 04:35 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

Yes, Amir (one of our managers) has done a fantastic job with this page.

Amir explains so much about Quartz - easily understood and well illustrated, as is his website.

15th Feb 2018 09:02 UTCTimothy Greenland

Very impressive and instructive. I learnt much from a rapid read, and surely will learn more with closer attention as it is easily understandable - even for concepts that I was unclear about before.

Thank you Amir

Sincerely

Tim

16th Feb 2018 02:57 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

Yeah, what they said! The quartz page is excellent.

The wealth of general information about the species on the quartz page points up a weakness in other Mindat species pages. For all the numerical data and individual specimen info that Mindat so expertly makes available, most species pages include relatively little general text info to give the non-academic user a qualitative feel for the mineral the page represents.

For example, I especially like John Sinkankas's observation that datolite tends to occur in "glassy, faintly greenish, wedge-shaped crystals with odd-shaped faces seemingly placed at random" (Mineralogy for Amateurs, p. 547). Not rigorously quantitative, but in a few words it sure captures the character of datolite crystals! More info like that on species pages (vs. in individual photo captions that most users may never see) would help the more casual user like me who can't look at a table of unit cell parameters and Miller indices and say, "Wow, that would produce crystals with odd-shaped faces seemingly placed at random!"

We can't expect the volume of info presented on the quartz page for every last "whateverite" in the database, but a little more authoritative, qualitative commentary than most species pages presently include would be welcome. That would also be a good way to include curatorial information such as light sensitivity and thermal stability.

16th Feb 2018 12:39 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Re datolite, yes it would be nice, and I added this snippet. This sort of information tends be be added sporadically and thanklessly, too few of us have the time, references or enthusiasm to do it well. But if anyone is keen to add more info like this to any page we will do our best to assist!

16th Feb 2018 14:45 UTCAlfred L. Ostrander

Amir has done an excellent job. My sincere compliments!

I do have a comment related more to what might be considered editorial consistency. Amir uses the modified Miller indices known correctly as the Miller-Bravais indices for trigonal/hexagonal mineral forms. Lower in the quartz page the crystallographic models use just the Miller indices. Many of us know what the difference is and how to move back and forth between the two. Many do not. Somewhere, there should be a note helping those who are not aware what is happening to help avoid confusion. It is my opinion that novices don't need anything added to the potential confusion of learning crystallography.

I have also noted that in many of the crystallographic projections for many minerals, only one or two forms are indexed and named while the model also shows other forms. If the form is present, I am of the opinion it should be named and properly indexed. More of a matter of incomplete work, perhaps.

And to be clear, Amir is not responsible for this inconsistency. Personally, I prefer the Miller-Bravais indices and am glad Amir used them. Still, it is important to be aware of the two types.

19th Feb 2018 01:02 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

Amir,

Had to add my comments too. Very, very nice and a great help with information on quartz. Loved what you helped with on the mindat quartz page.

I know I will use the page more with this wealth of information now.

Best to you

Rolf

20th Feb 2018 14:09 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Indeed great work.

We should have such a page on all the minerals with multiple form like calcite, fluorite, pyrite and many more.

20th Feb 2018 17:43 UTCJohn R. Montgomery 🌟 Expert

FANTASTIC info on Quartz. Thank you Amir. I especially liked the detailed info on Sceptres. How did I miss this page, I'm glad I saw this thread!

BTW... how does one access this page from the Mindat Home Page... ???

21st Feb 2018 15:39 UTCDonald B Peck Expert

Go to the bottom of the page, type Quartz in the Hineral Box, and click Search

22nd Feb 2018 01:41 UTCJohn R. Montgomery 🌟 Expert

Thanks Donald, but although this gives a lot of info, I can' seem to find here Amir's page as given above by Scott, which has much greater detail.

John

22nd Feb 2018 02:51 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

John

The link certainly works. Just go to Scott's post and click on the link.

The whole of that site is by Emir.

Just a matter of working your way through it.

Cheers

22nd Feb 2018 12:02 UTCJohn R. Montgomery 🌟 Expert

Yea Keith, thx, I opened the link from Scott alright and it is thorough to say the least. My issue is where on Mindat did Scott get that link. And are there other links to other minerals articles like the quartz done by Amir.

ps I sent Scott a PM so hopefully he will tell me how he found that link

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