Calcite (Mineral)

• Obvious Cleavage
• Usually white to colorless
• HCI Reaction
• Hardness 3
• Non Metalic

Potassium Feldspar (Mineral)

• Mineralized cleavage
• Scratches glass
• Can be white, grey, pink, or green
• Blocky looking
• Non-metalic

Plegioclase Feldspar (Mineral)

• Non Metallic
• Cleavage
• Scratches glass
• White, or grey to black

Galena (Mineral)

• Metallic
• Streak is grey to black
• Does not scratch glass
• Distinct cubic cleavage
• Heavy

Garnet (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• Scratches glass
• Color most commonly red to brown, also green or black
• Smooth fracture surfaces (may resemble cleavage)

Graphite (Mineral)

• Does not scratch glass
• Streak is grey to black
• Color is iron grey to black
• Greasy feel
• Marks paper
• Hardness 2

Gypsum (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• Obvious cleavage
• Maybe colorless, grey, white, brownish, or pinkish
• Habit is massive, fibrous, or crystalline
• Hardness 2

Halite (Mineral)

• Colorless to white
• Salty taste
• Obvious cleavage
• Non metallic
• Hardness 2.5

Hematite (Mineral)

• Streak is red brown/ red
• Metallic or sub metallic (can look metallic or rusted)
• Heavy
• Color is red or grey

Kaolinite

• Non metallic
• Does not have cleavage
• Greasy feeling
• Sticks to wet finger
• White or off white
• Hardness 2

Quartz (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• Scratches glass
• No cleavage
• Commonly massive, crystalline, or mircocrystalline
• Color variable but commonly colorless or white

Talc (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• No obvious cleavage
• Greasy feeling
• Color is white, grey, or greenish grey
• Hardness 1

Magnetite (Mineral)

• Scratches glass
• Color is black
• Strongly magnetic
• Heavy
• Hardness 6

Pyrite

• Metallic/sub metallic
• Scratches glass
• Color is brassy gold
• Hardness 6-6.5

Limonite

• Metallic or sub metallic
• Red brown/ red or yellow brown streak
• Color is dark brown to yellow brown
• Often earthy yellow to orange rusty
• May or may not scratch glass
• Hardness 1-5.5

Muscovite (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• Obvious cleavage
• Mineral is colorless, pale, silvery, very light brown
• Flaky elastic sheets

Biotite (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• Black or dark brown
• Flaky elastic sheets

Pyroxene (Mineral)

• Non Metallic
• Poor or no cleavage
• Mineral is dark green to black
• Blocky looking
• Hardness 5.5-6

Olivine (Mineral)

• Non metallic
• No obvious cleavage
• Scratches glass
• Is olive green 
• Granular
• Looks like green sugar

Gabbro (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritic
• Rock is dark, composed primarily of dark-colored mineral

Peridotite (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritc
• Rock contains pyroxene and olivine= greenish color

Dunite (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritic
• Olive green

Diorite (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritic
• Composed of half-and-half light and dark-colored minerals

Granite (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritc
• Composed primarily of light-colored minerals, with relatively few dark minerals, with K-feldspar being the most abundant component
• Contains abundant quartz

Syenite (Igneous Rock)

• Phaneritic
• Composed primarily of light-colored minerals, with relatively few dark minerals, with K-feldspar being the most abundant component
• Contains no observable quartz

Basalt (Igneous Rock)

• Aphanitic
• Rick is very dark (dark, grey, black or brick red), may contain phenocrysts of plagioclase, pyroxene, or olivine
• Without vesicles

Vesicular Basalt (Igneous Rock)

• Aphanitic
• Rock is very dark (dark grey, black, or brick red)
• Few vesicles (more rock than holes)

Scoria (Igneous Rock)

• Aphanitic
• Rock is very dark (dark grey, black, or brick red)
• Many vesicles (more holes than rock; low density)

Andesite (Igneous Rock)

• Aphanitic
• Gray or greenish-gray

Rhyolite (Igneous Rock)

• Aphanitic
• Tan, pink, or purlple

Tuff (Igneous Rock)

• Pyroclastic
• Course to fine-grained fragmental rock, may bubble in water

Welded Tuff (Igneous Rock)

• Pyroclastic
• Contains streaks of glass, fragments fused

Obsidian (Igneous Rock)

• Glassy
• Hard, shiny, black and/or red with conchoidal fracture

Pumice (Igneous Rock)

• Glassy or vesicular
• Very light-colored (commonly gray) when fresh; weathered samples are stained with iron oxide and have a dull luster
• Frothy (very vesicular)
• Usually floats in water

Fossiliferous Limestone (Sedimentary Rock)

• HCI reaction
• Fossils visible
• Fossils contained within either a microscopic texture cement, or a fine to course-grained crystalline cement

Coquina (Sedimentary Rock)

• HCI reaction
• Fossils visible
• Abundant calcite shell fragments with some minor cement (looks like granola)

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Crystalline Limestone (Sedimentary Rock)

• HCI reactive
• No fossils visible
• Crystalline, interlocking texture, visible crystal grains
• Hard (cannot be scratched with fingernail)
• Color gray, sometimes pinkish

Micrite (Sedimentary Rock)

• HCI reactive
• No fossils visible
• Microscopic texture
• Hard (cannot be scratched with fingernail)
• Color variable
• Homogeneous, usually has conchoidal fracture

Chalk (Sedimentary Rock)

• HCI reaction
• No fossils visible
• Chalky, soft (can be scratched with fingernail)
• White fine-grained (contains microscopic fossils)

Conglomerate (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Grains gravel-sized and unbroken
• Grains rounded, especially along grain boundaries
• The ugly one

Breccia (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Grains gravel-sized and unbroken
• All grains boundaries are sharply angular, looks shattered

Quartz Sandstone (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Grains sand-sized and often feels like sandpaper
• Grains almost all quartz

Greywacke Sandstone (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Grains sand-sized, separated by much clay matrix
• May have feldspar and/or mica fragments
• Usually gray or dark green

Rock Gypsum (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Crystalline texture grains interlocking, with little or no other bonding material
• Hardness 2, white, buff, gray, reddish; fibrous or granular habit

Chert (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Microscopic texture
• Hard (H>5.5), color varies, dull, usually opaque, conchoidal fracture

Bituminous Coal (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Microscopic texture
• Medium (H, black, shiny, blocky fracture, low density, often crumbly)

Shale (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Microscopic texture
• Soft (H<2.5), dull luster, gray, black, green, or red
• Fissile (split into thin layers)

Mudstone (Sedimentary Rock)

• No HCI reaction
• Microscopic texture
• Soft (H<2.5), dull luster, gray, black, green, or red
• Not fissile; massive or thick-layered

Slate (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Microscopic
• Can split parallel to slaty cleavage, has dull luster

Phyllite (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Microscopic
• Wrinkly with a satiny sheen

Serpentinite (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Microscopic
• Composed of greenish yellow to dark green mineral serpentine

Anthracite Coal (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Microscopic
• Black with conchoidal fracture, low density, may sometimes appear shiny and/or banded

Schist (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Medium to course-grained
• Displays parallel orientation of platy or acicular (needle-like) mineral grains

Gneiss (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Medium to course-grained
• Minerals are segregated into distinct light and dark bands; not dominated by micas

Marble (Metamorphic Rock)

• Foliated
• Medium to course-grained
• Composed of calcite (fizzed vigorously in HCI), translucent on a thin edge

Hornfels (Metamorphic Rock)

• Non-foliated
• Will not scratch glass
• Fine-grained, black, and dense
• Commonly spotted

Quartzite (Metamorphic Rock)

• Non-foliated
• Will scratch glass
• Fine to course-grained and composed of quartz, is smoother than sandstone