By studying this course you have been introduced to the most common technique used by geologists to study minerals in rocks in order to understand geological processes such as rock formation, rock deformation, weathering and metamorphism. It's a science known as mineralogy. Mineral composition, structure and microtextures all contain clues to the processes of rock formation, and the recognition, identification and classification of minerals is a key skill for geologists.
This course should have helped you to understand the background to mineral formation, recognition and classification, and introduced the use of the polarising microscope, a tool that still forms the bedrock of many geologiacl investigations. Activities using the microscope, delivered using a virtual microiscope system, provided the opportunity to acquire some of the skills that are taught at greater length and in more detail in the second level Open University course.