Dizney Court

GEO-1010-405-805-F19
November 13th 2019
Natural History Museum University of Utah
 This is a Priscacara liops (temperate bass) fossils found in Lincoln County
Wyoming discovered by rick hebden. This fish dates to the eocene part of the cenozoic
era, about 50 million years ago. Large mountain-lakes covered parts of Colorado,
Wyoming, and Utah during Eocene. Fossils are one of the key principles to dating rocks
and geological structures. There are two principles to relative dating that involve
fossiles. The first being the principal of fossil succession which says sedimentary rock
and be recognised and dated by their fossil contents, and principal of index fossils
which is dating sedimentary rock based on the age of the index fossil. An index fossil
comes from an organism that lived a short amount of geological time and was
geologically wide spread.

Source: Plaque provided, class lecture notes

 This is Halite or rock salt. Its chemical composition is NacL or sodium chloride.
This specimen was gifted from the Great Salt Lake in Utah from Lloyed Gunther. Salt
plays an important role in our state's culture and history. The technique of evaporating
brind to collect salt has been practiced for centuries. As the water evaporates the brine
becomes supersaturated. When it has reached a density of at least 26 percent, the
sodium chloride grows crystals. Solar evaporation is the oldest technique for extracting
salt. Held in shallow concentrating ponds, the sun and wind cause water to evaporate,
leaving salt crystals behind. Harvested from the bottom of evaporation ponds, the salt is
rinsed, washed, dried, and screened to produce various products. Halite is a mineral
formed by the process of evaporation, which is when a water soluble mineral sediment
evaporates leaving the mineral behind.
Sources: Plaque provided, class lecture notes.
 Igneous rock is formed by magma.The contents of magma are liquid melt
composed of mobile ions, silicate minerals already crystalized, and violites or gasses
dissolved in the melt. Plutonic rock forms slowly then rises while volcanic rock forms
quickly. Igneous rocks can be categorized by the grain size or if it’s more felsic or mafic.
Felsic igneous rock has higher feldspar and silica contents and has a lighter color, while
mafic igneous rock has magnesium and iron content giving it a darker color. The grain
size varies depending on how quicking the rock formed. The smaller the grain size the
faster the rock cooled.

Source: Class lecture notes.

 Sedimentary rocks cover 75 percent of the earth’s surface. There are three types
of sedimentary rocks; detrital, chemical, and organic. Detrital rocks are composed of
rock fragments and are classified by grain size. Chemical rocks are composed of
mineral crystals formed by precipitation and evaporation and are classified by chemical
composition. Biochemical rock is composed of organic material like coal. The process to
make sedimentary rock begins with weathering of the rock to break it down, then
erosion moves the rock fragments to its deposition site. After that compaction begins
because the layers compress under the weight, and last step is lithification; where water
dissolves then cements the sediments.

Sources: Class lecture notes.

 Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have gone through the process of
metamorphism. This change is caused by high temperatures (between 200° and 1000°),
high pressure, and interaction with chemically active fluids. Metamorphosis changes the
protolish’s (or parent rock) mineralogy, texture, and chemical composition. For a rock to
be a metamorphic, the rock must remain solid through the process. Metamorphic rocks
are classified by foliation or non-foliation. Foliation is increased pressure pulling the rock
causing the alignment of crystals.

Sources: Class lecture notes.

 Limestone is a sedimentary rock often rich with fossils. Laid down layer by layer
in sea or lake beds, it is composed of primarily the bones and shells of organisms that
once lived in the water. Limestone can be found throughout Utah. A large outcropping of
Twin Creeks Limestone formation can be seen at the mouth of Parley’s Canyon. Fossils
from ancient seas are embedded in high mountain rocks. The rocks that became the
rocky mountains were once sediments at the bottom of an ancient sea. For hundreds of
millions of years, Utah was covered by ocean, then became dry as sea levels rose and
fell, leaving layers of rocks laced with the fossils of corals, clam-like brachiopods and
other marine life. Then between 40 and 70 million years ago the Rockies rose as
colliding plates of the earth's crust buckled the land, thrusting up the fossil-rich rocks.

Sources: Plaque provided.

 This is a glacial striae. An alpine glacier cute the fine grooves (or Striae) in this
rock. Glaciers act as natures junk collectors, picking up rocks and other debris as they
advanced downhill. As it moves the glacier’s collection of rocks scrape and gouge the
bedrock beneath. During the last Ice Age, Utah’s mountains lay under a thick blanket of
snow and glacial ice. Cycles of freezing and thawing began to sculpt the land, fracturing
rocks and trapping them in the ice. Pulled by gravity, the glaciers moved down the
mountainsides. Over thousands of years, they carved high basins, knife edged ridges,
narrow passes, and wide U-shaped valleys like Little cottonwood Canyon.

Sources: Plaque provided.

 This is a Zebra Rock. Contact metamorphism is greater at the site of the
intrusions, dissipating outward through the surrounding rock. Marble is produced by the
metamorphism of limestone, but zebra rock is both limestone and marble. It wasn't
completely altered at the outer edge of the expanding circle of metamorphism. This rock
is a partial melt similar to migmatite.

Sources: Plaque provided.

 This is a 1,630 carrot Opal found in Andamooka opal field, Australia. Its chemical
composition Sio2 nH2O or water and silica. Opal is not a mineral, but instead is a
mineraloid; a naturally occurring mineral like substance that does not demonstrate
crystality, because its crystal system is amorphis. It is deposited at a relatively low
temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most
commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl, and basalt. Opal has no
cleavage, fractures unevenly, is a 5.5-6 on the hardness scale, waxy luster, white
streak, and has an opalescent appearance. Opal is my favorite gemstone, and luckily
for me is more affordable than diamond for engagement and wedding rings.

Sources: Plaque provide, ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opal

 This is a Elbaite found in Mina Gerais, Brazil. Its chemical composition is
Na(Li,Al)3AI6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4 and is a sodium, lithium, aluminium boro-silicate
belonging to the six-member ring cyclosilicate tourmaline group.It has a trigonal crystal
structure, poor cleavage, and is a 7.5 on the hardness scale. Elbaite forms in igneous
and metamorphic rocks and veins in association with lepidolite, microcline, and
spodumene in granite pegmatites; with andalusite and biotite in schist; and with
molybdenite and cassiterite in massive hydrothermal replacement deposits.

Sources: Plaque provided, ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbaite

 This is Amethyst, which is a variation of quartz so it has the same chemical
composition SiO2. Like other varieties of quartz, amethyst develops in open cavities
where each crystal grows in nearly perfect six-sided shape. Amethyst is a purple variety
of quartz and owes its violet color to irradiation, impurities of iron and in some cases
other transition metals, and the presence of other trace elements, which result in
complex crystal lattice substitutions. I actually remember growing up and watching a tv
show about troll dolls for girls. It was called Trollz girls and one of the main character's
name was amethyst.

Sources: Plaque provided, ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst

 This is Quartz or SiO2 found in Mount Ida, Hot Springs, Arkansas. The atoms are
linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen
being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO2.
Earth's crust is dominated by Oxygen & Silicon. 92% of earth's crust is composed of 7
silicate groups, one of which is Quartz. Quartz is the most abundant mineral found next
to feldspar. Quartz is one of my favorite gemstones next to opal and pearl. Even though
new age healing contains a lot of information about the vibrations and properties of
crystals that can affect your life are not grounded in science, quartz is known to be a
very grounding crystal and is often sold in aesthetically pretty towers and other shapes
which I think is really cool.

Sources: Plaque provided, Class lecture notes.