The Value of Teaching X-ray Techniques and Clay Mineralogy to Undergraduates

Abstract

Topical courses devoted to specific techniques or subjects, such as x-ray techniques or clay mineralogy, are often difficult to fit into an undergraduate geology curriculum. These courses, if designed appropriately, can introduce students to research techniques and can provide them with a way to apply the principles that they have learned in other courses. Courses in clay mineralogy and x-ray techniques in geology at Alfred University are specifically designed to teach students a variety of analytical techniques and computer skills and to acquaint them with geological research. Over the course of the semester, students in these classes develop a first-hand knowledge of x-ray analysis and an appreciation for the limitations and sources of error inherent in these methods.Students taking these courses also learn to apply the knowledge that they have acquired in other classes such as mineralogy, petrology, sedimentology and geochemistry. In order to learn phyllosilicate formulae, they use a system which requires them to think of silicates as groups with similar structural components, which they first learned to do in their mineralogy class. Identification of minerals in rock samples must make sense petrogenetically. Preparation of the clay fraction for x-ray analysis requires that the students use their knowledge of sedimentology and geochemistry. Finally, identification of unknown clay minerals requires that students have a thorough understanding of mineral structures and x-ray-diffraction phenomena.