Los Angeles County Natural History Museum Field Trip Guide
Mineralogy
Name ____________________________________________________________________________________
Using the exhibits in the museum, answer the following questions:
Hixon Gem Vault
1. Have diamonds ever been found in California? If so, describe where and how they were found.
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2. What is the California State Gemstone? ______________________________________________
Is it found anywhere else in the world? Where? ___________________________________________
3. What mineral group does topaz belong to? _____________________________________________
4. Tourmaline, Beryl, Spodumene, are found where and in what type of deposit?
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5.
What causes the stars seen in star sapphires and star rubies?
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6.
How are sapphires and rubies related to one another? How so?
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7.
Is alexandrite a silicate? Where was it discovered?
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8. Does opal contain silica? _________________________________________________________
9.
What two different minerals are commonly referred to as jade?
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10. What is the name of the red variety of garnet? What is the name of a green variety of garnet? Why are
these two garnets different colors?
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11. What state produces the most gemstones?
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12. What type of mineral is the largest in the gem vault?
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How many carats is it? _____________________________________________________________
Gemstones and their origins
13. List four different environments of gemstone formation.
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Gems from Earth’s Mantle
13a. What are the 3 ways that gems from Earth’s mantle brought to Earth’s surface? _____________________________
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13b. Why is forming a diamond in nature difficult to do?
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13c. Summarize how gems are brought to Earth’s surface along thrust faults.
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13d. Summarize how diamonds are brought to Earth’s surface. Where is this happening today?
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13e. Is it common for gems from the mantle to reach Earth’s surface? Explain.
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Surface Water
13f. Summarize how the mineral Malachite forms. What does this mineral look like?
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Molten Rock and Water
13g. Why are pegmatite dikes an important environment for gemstone formation?
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13h. Explain how a gemstone can form in a pegmatite.
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Heat and Pressure
13i. Describe the plate tectonic setting in which high-temp gems form. Give an example.
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13j. Where is the Hixon Ruby from?
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Basics of Mineralogy Exhibit
14.
What kind of light causes fluorescence in some minerals?
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15.
How do some minerals fluoresce? What is actually going on?
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16. Check out the “luster” and “streak” exhibits so you have some comparison for what we do in lab. Draw an
example of “streak” in the box to the right.
Systematic Mineralogy Exhibit
17. Find at least three varieties from the feldspar mineral group (found in the case near the gem vault with
quartz and quartz varietals) and name them below. How do they chemically differ from one another?
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18.
What is one mineral that contains Mercury? (Hg)
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19.
What are some of the minerals that contain Lead? (Pb)
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20.
What are some of the minerals that contain Zinc? (Zn)
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21.
What are some of the minerals that contain Copper? (Cu)
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22. Name each of the 10 mineral groups, i.e. “Oxides”, and state which is you favorite. You don’t need to
include the subsets of the Silicate group, i.e. “Neosilicates”.
1. ___________________________________ 2. _____________________________________
3. ____________________________________4. _____________________________________
5. ___________________________________ 6. _____________________________________
7. ___________________________________ 8.______________________________________
9. ___________________________________10._____________________________________
California Minerals Exhibit
23. Make a list of 5 minerals in this exhibit which came from San Diego County. Circle the one you thought
most striking in appearance.
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24. In what California county or region are natural specimens of gold and silver found? In what two types of
deposits do these rare metals typically occur?
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25. Take a little time to admire the minerals in the 12 freestanding cases in the middle of the room. Write
down your favorite mineral specimen in case.
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Age of Mammals Exhibit
1. Did dinosaurs and mammals exist on Earth at the same time?
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2. When did the “Age of Mammals” begin? _____________________________________________
a. Why did it begin at that time? _______________________________________________
3. What are 4 physical traits that make a mammal, a mammal?
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4. Did a land bridge between Asia and North America ever exist? _______________________________
If so, Why? _____________________________When? _____________________________
What was a result of the land bridge?________________________________________________
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5. When did the earliest humans first appear on Earth and where? _______________________________
What sparked their evolution and what factors contributed to the success of humans and a species?
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6. Watch the video “Mammals Evolve” on the flat panel screen to the right of the American Mastodon. When did
the dinosaurs die out?
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7. What was the main reason large carnivores, like saber-tooth cats, went extinct?
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When did this happen? ______________________________________________________________
8. What are 3 factors that could have led to the extinction of large herbivores, like the giant camel?
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Bonus: Where were the fossil remains of the mastodon found? __________________________________
9. What were 2 things that allowed humans to migrate out of Africa?
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10. When did Homo sapiens first appear? _______________________________________________
11. What evidence do we have that the climate was cooler 50,000 years ago in Los Angeles?
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Hint: the answer can be found upstairs.
12. What was the climate like in the Mojave Desert 10,000,000 years ago?
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How do we know this?
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13. What was the environment of the L.A. Basin like 14,000,000 years ago?
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How do we know?
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14. Do mammal species typically get larger of smaller over time? ________________________________
a. Why? ______________________________________________________________
b. Why would a species become larger through evolution? _______________________________
c. Why would a species become smaller? __________________________________________
Dinosaur Hall
1. What descendants of the dinosaurs do you see most every day?_______________________________________
2. What was the “headgear” of dinosaurs used for?_________________________________________
3. What were the tail spikes and bony plates along the spine of the Stegosaurus used for?
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4. During which 3 geologic periods did dinosaurs evolve? ____________________________________,
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5. During which geologic period did T-Rex live? __________________________________________
6. How long ago did the dinosaurs go extinct? ____________________________________________
What caused the extinction? ________________________________________________________
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Name 4 pieces of evidence scientist use to support this theory. __________________________________
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7. What might a dinosaur have sounded like? ____________________________________________
8. What was dinosaur skin like? _____________________________________________________
How do we know? ___________________________________________________________
Make a sketch of the fossilized dinosaur skin.
9. What is the name of the largest dinosaur species on display? _________________________________
10. What are the same traits that survivors of the mass extinction shared?___________________________
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11. Which dinosaur was very similar to an ostrich? _________________________________________
12. What physical trait did juvenile Tyrannosaurs Rex possess that adults did not? ______________________
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13. What animal group do dinosaurs belong to?____________________________________________
14. What animal group did reptiles evolve from? _______________________ When? ______________
15. What is the defining feature of dinosaurs?_____________________________________________