Mineral Structures
Compiled by John McDaris (SERC).
These images and animations can be used in a lecture and/or lab setting to introduce students to silicate mineral structures.
GeoWall Visualizations (more info) Interactive 3D models of common silicate minerals. Models viewing requires a web browse and MDL's Chime plug-in. To view in stereo, set browser to full screen on a GeoWall running in horizontal span mode. The file index.html launches the stereo version with a list of models. Clicking "Basic Tetrahedral Structures" on this page leads into a stepwise tour of basic mineral structures with an example mineral of each. The file web-index.html launches a non-stereo version that can be used on desktop computers and non-stereo displays.