Rock Classification

[lizzieb]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have a list of the old numerical classification of rocks? Ours have two different systems - one's a number, and the other's a letter and number

I am back onto rocks again - trying to classifiy and organise the many, many rocks that are living in drawers in most of the Labs here. I'm sure they're multiplying! We're having a huge clean-out of the Faculty, and have far more of these beautiful specimens than are needed. Most of them are too big to use for class sets - what I plan to do is to break up enough for maybe 5 class sets of each, then the rest will go.

Since I've been here, I've reorganised the 40 or 50 drawers of rocks that were in my Prep Room - few years back we had a day where all the local labbies came to listen to a geology trained teacher, and we had some fun learning to identify & classify what was in all those drawers! That was a great start, and from there I was able to make up class sets of most things, that we've been using since.

However, a list of the numbers would be a great help with this much bigger job. There are old collections from staff long gone, plus boxes collected on field trips last century!
Here's a few examples of what I'm referring to:

Serpentine 41 M6
Granite 31 I4
Coal S6
Schist 73
Conglomerate 54

I'm presuming the M,I and S stand for Metamorphic, Igneous and Sedimentary?

I've done a search on the previous posts on here - Rhonda from Hornsby Girls High was sorting hers at one stage - would you be able to fax me your list please?
I also saw the post where Lorrae suggested Geological Specimen Supplies, so I'll give them a ring too.
It's worth asking again though, in case someone else recognises the system we've got here.

I promise to let you all know what's left over too - maybe someone wants some! But not an overnight job, this one......... (then there's all the fossils, too....)

Many thanks,

[sunray18]

I gave up on the old system last year .... We got an ex-geology teacher in for a day and he classified all the rocks..
I then used my own system to label them..

Igneous is 'I', then the 2 types are 'i' or 'e' .. then a number
Sedimentary are S..then nnumber
metamorphic ..yep are M
then we go to Rock forming Minerals are 'R'...
and so on..

I am no geologist - a rock is -well - a bit of stone to me
so this way it is simple for me, simple for the teachers who dont know rocks..
and
my motto " Keep it Simple"

[Lyn]

Just a word of advice. Keep enough rock samples to have at least ten of each and some extra for those samples that kids seem fond of pocketing. You might be able to donate what you don't need to other schools.
Some time back I went on long service leave at the same time as we got a new science coordinator. The temporary technician was told to chuck out a large quantity of the rock samples that I had bought over the years and to keep just three samples of each rock. Furious does little to describe how I felt when I returned. So it was an interesting time when teachers started asking for ten or twelve samples of each rock and they were being given just three.
Lyn.

[lizzieb]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I definitely agree with you, Lyn - that's already been the case since I did that last big sort out.

I'll happily offer any left-overs once we get to that point.