How To Use:

1. Type your keywords in the search box.
2. Pick "ANY" to match any search terms or "ALL" to match all search terms.
3. Press the Search button to start your search.

Here's an example:

1. Type red prismatic biaxial in the search box.
2. Press the Search button or press the Enter key.
3. The Results page will show you numerous pages in the database for red prismatic biaxial minerals.

Tip: Don't worry if you find a large number of results. In fact, use more than a couple of words when searching. Even though the number of results will be large, the most relevant content will always appear at the top of the result pages.

More Basics - An Overview

Here's a quick overview of the rest of our Basic Help. Just click on the links to jump to these sections.

What is an 'Index'?
What is a Word?
What is a Phrase?
Simple Tips for More Exact Searches
Complex Examples for Detailed Searches

What is an Index?

Webster's dictionary describes an "index" as a sequential arrangement of material. Our index was created from the Web pages of the mineralogy database.

What is a Word?

When searching, think of a word as a combination of letters and numbers. The search service needs to know how to separate words and numbers to find exactly what you want in this database. You can separate words using white space and tabs.

What is a Phrase?

You can link words and numbers together into phrases if you want specific words or numbers to appear together in your result pages. If you want to find an exact phrase, use "double quotation marks" around the phrase when you enter words in the search box.

Example #1: To find the pyrite group minerals, type "pyrite group" in the search box using the double quotes.

You can also create phrases using punctuation or special characters such as dashes, underscore lines, commas, slashes, or dots.

Example #2 Try searching for hardness-2 instead of hardness 2. The dashes link the numbers together as a phrase.
Example #2a: "streak-yellow" for all minerals with a yellow streak.
Example #2b: "density-7" for all minerals with a density of 7.
Example #2c: "color-green" for all predominantly green minerals
Example #2d: "biaxial-1.9*" for all biaxial minerals with the first index = to 1.9 to 1.99
Example #2e: "luster-waxy*" for all minerals with a waxy luster

Simple Tips for More Exact Searches

Searches are case insensitive. Searching for "META" will match the lowercase "meta" and uppercase "META".

Example: Combine searches for a more exact match. Try hardness-3 density-5 red for all red minerals with a hardness of 3 and a density of 5.

Including or excluding words:

To make sure that a specific word is always included in your search topic, place the plus (+) symbol before the key word in the search box. To make sure that a specific word is always excluded from your search topic, place a minus (-) sign before the keyword in the search box.

Example: To find minerals containing Li, Ba, without Ca, try +'Li' +'Ba' -'Ca' or try +Lithium +Barium -Calcium.

Example: To find minerals with Si2O7 in the chemical formula try "Si2O7".

Example: To find minerals with K,Na,Ca in the chemical formula in that order try "K,Na,Ca". Use "K" "Na" "Ca" for minerals that contain those elements without regard to order of occurrence.

Expand your search using wildcards (*):

By typing an * at the end of a keyword, you can search for the word with multiple endings.

Example: Try metamorph* , to find metamorphism or metamorphic.