Education

Mineralogy posters

Phase Equilibrium Modelling workshop (May 2021)

An on-line phase equilibrium modelling workshop was held Monday-Friday May 10-14, 2021. The workshop was co-organized by Dave Pattison and Jacob Forshaw (both of University of Calgary, Canada) and Pierre Lanari (University of Bern, Switzerland). Presenters included these three plus Dave Waters (University of Oxford, UK), Mark Caddick (Virginia Tech, USA) and Doug Tinkham (Laurentian University, Canada). A total of 638 scientists from 47 countries registered for the on-line workshop, compared with 35 registrants for the equivalent COVID-cancelled in-person workshop at the May 2020 Geoconvention meeting in Calgary.

The rationale for the workshop was that all practicing and up-and-coming metamorphic geoscientists need to have a nuanced understanding of the potential and the pitfalls of phase equilibrium modelling. The first two days of the workshop focused on thermodynamic databases and three of the most commonly-used metamorphic phase equilibrium modelling software packages currently available (THERMOCALC, Perple_X, Theriak-Domino). Days three and four focused on factors influencing the interpretation of phase equilibrium modelling, including uncertainties and best practices in phase equilibrium modelling, reactive bulk composition, the interplay between equilibrium kinetics in petrological interpretation, and an assessment of predicted phase equilbria vs. natural constraints. Day 5 consisted of shorter presentations addressing topics requested by registrants.

The lectures and associated question-and-answer sessions were recorded. These, along with pdf documents of the presentations, are available for public access and downloading from the workshop website: http://e-thermo-workshop-2021.petrochronology.org/.

Geological Society of London

Podcasts of Society lectures

Mineralogical Society of America

Guide to thin-section microscopy

Teaching Mineralogy

Teaching support

  • Earth Science Teachers’ Association – the aim of the association is to encourage and support the teaching of Earth Sciences whether as a single subject such as geology or as part of science or geography courses. ESTA also sells reference sets of rock samples for teaching.
  • Teaching Mineralogy: A Digital Collection of Teaching Materials

Websites for children

Clubs and Societies

  • Rockwatch – a UK-wide club for school children

Other