When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
Andrea Reitan
May 2025
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When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
headstart.create.ab.ca/term/biosphere/
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Paperback / $14.00 / 200 Pages
When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
headstart.create.ab.ca/term/biosphere/
Order Online
Hardcover / $18.00 / 94 Pages / full colour
When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
headstart.create.ab.ca/term/biosphere/
Order Online
DVD / $16.00 / 44 Minutes
When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
headstart.create.ab.ca/term/biosphere/
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Paperback / $22.00 / 171 Pages / black and white illustrations
When I started university, I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil and gas laboratory company. Originally, I thought I would focus on chemistry. The university didn’t have a chemistry major in their science programs, so I enrolled in the general science degree program. Later, as a full-time student, I decided to explore other fields of science and became fascinated with astronomy, but God had other plans. It took a while for me to admit that math and physics are not my strongest subjects. Geology, on the other hand, was easy for me. Halfway through my degree, I decided I like rocks!
So, what are rocks, and what is so amazing about them? Well, rocks make up the hard surface of Earth, the moon, asteroids, and other solid bodies in our solar system and beyond. Mountains are made of rock, and so is the loose sand on the beach and the gravel in back alleys.
Geologists generally classify rocks into three main groups based on how they formed. Igneous rocks are formed from magma. Magma is hot, melted rock that originates deep below the Earth’s crust and rises toward the surface. When it erupts onto the surface through volcanoes, it is called lava. Cooled magma and lava form igneous rocks.
Another type of rock is sedimentary rock. This is formed when pre-existing rocks become broken up by weathering and erosion. The continents are covered in layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down during the Genesis Flood. These layers include sandstones, mudstones, limestones, and coal.
The third rock type is metamorphic rock. This name comes from the same Greek word as metamorphosis which describes a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to extra heat and pressure. This causes the mineral crystals in the rock to change shape and squeeze together more tightly, possibly even melting a bit in the process. When magma intrudes into the rocks from below, it causes contact metamorphism. It can change sandstone made of mostly quartz grains into quartzite and limestone into marble. Regional metamorphism is a result of mountain-building forces (Bishop, Hamilton, and Woolley 2007, Firefly Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils pp. 152-153) like those that resulted from the catastrophic plate tectonics of the Flood. This changes some rocks into schist or gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
I still have the rock and mineral sample sets that were included in the lab kit for my physical geology course. I also have several rock, mineral, and fossil samples I bought at rock shows over the last few years. One of my favourite things about rocks is the variety of minerals. Most rocks are made of mixtures of minerals. David McQueen explains minerals this way in The Mineral Book:
- A mineral is a special group of compounds created by God.
- A mineral has a fixed chemistry.
- A mineral contains a crystalline structure.
- A mineral is inorganic.
- A mineral exists as a solid (p. 26).
Not only is there a variety of minerals, but there are varieties of the same mineral. A common example of a mineral is table salt (NaCl), also called halite. Most table salt is white because it has been purified, but halite can also be pink or other colours, depending on what other minerals or chemical elements might be naturally included (Bishop et al. p. 58). Halite is a kind of sedimentary rock known as an evaporite. Evaporites generally form when mineral-rich water—in this case, saltwater—evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. I have a pretty pink chunk of halite I bought at a rock show. Some vendors also sell lamps and tea light holders made of halite.
Another common mineral is quartz (SiO2). Quartz usually starts as a mineral in igneous rocks. Another name for it is silica. The amount of silica in lava determines how viscous or runny it is. Less silica produces a runnier lava like at Kilauea in Hawai’i. More silica produces a thicker, often explosive lava like at Mount St. Helens. Milky quartz is the white quartz often used in landscaping, but quartz comes in other colours, too. Rose quartz is pink to rose-red. Citrine is yellow to orange. Smoky quartz is brown or grey to almost black. Amethyst is purple (Bishop et al., pp. 130-131). In my collection, I have a pair of small, clear quartz crystals I bought at the Royal Tyrell Museum, and my sister gave me a chunk of amethyst crystals for Christmas last year. I also have a geode full of quartz crystals that my dad bought for my birthday when he was on vacation in Texas a few years ago. The crystals look like wet sugar. I also have a rock I bought at a show that has smoky quartz along with blue albite (NaAlSi3O8) and pink tourmaline (Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4). Some minerals have really complicated chemical formulas!
The largest rock currently in my collection is a sedimentary rock called a calcareous tufa. It is another type of evaporite. I weighed it recently and found out it is 43 lbs, even though it is only a little more than a cubic foot of rock. It is mainly made of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated out of water flowing through a cave, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites form. Limestone is also made of calcite. Some of it is precipitated out of seawater, but it can also be filled with the calcite shells of animals like clams, oysters, and crinoids (sea lilies). Chalk is a kind of limestone made of the shells of micro-organisms called coccolithophores and foraminifera (Bishop et al., pp. 202-205). These limestones are more sediments laid down during the Flood.
Another of my favourite rocks in my collection is a septarian nodule about five inches in diameter. This is a kind of concretion. In other words, it is a blob of rock—in this case, mudstone—that has been cemented together, making it harder than the surrounding rock so it can be detached and removed easily (Bishop et al., p. 209). When I bought it, it looked like a mud-covered horse apple in a Ziploc bag. I took it home and washed it off and eventually got it cut open to reveal the calcite veins and crystals inside.
Gemstones are also minerals. I already mentioned amethyst. Another mineral is corundum (Al2O3). Corundum also comes in different colours. We call the red variety ruby and the blue variety sapphire. Some crystals can even be yellow, brown, or green, and sometimes crystals can be opalescent and show a six-pointed star. We call these star sapphires and star rubies (Bishop et al., p. 47). Corundum glows bright pink under a black light.
Learning about different rocks and minerals can be a lot of fun. If you want to start your own collection, you can start in your own neighbourhood. The Mineral Book by David McQueen (Master Books) has some good tips for collecting. You can also check out rock and fossil shows, although it will cost more money and some of the vendors will be more into New Age mysticism and the occult than real geology. Some shows run a silent auction where you might be able to find some good deals.
You can also look into joining a local rockhounding club. They generally have some members who are professional geologists and can prove to be very knowledgeable, and there may be opportunities for rockhounding field trips. The local club I joined also provides various classes in lapidary (cutting and polishing) and jewelry-making, and there are drop-in sessions where I can come in and use the equipment for a small fee. The warning with joining a club is that they may be very secular, so it is important to weigh the pros and cons and pray about whether to join.
Is it not amazing how we can see that God created even the rocks to demonstrate His wisdom and artistry. Rock collecting is another way to enjoy the Creation!
headstart.create.ab.ca/term/biosphere/
Order Online