Micas are tough and somewhat elastic, soft enough to be split and scratched by a fingernail, and are light weight. They have a nonmetallic, glassy or pearly luster, although yellow mica may appear to be metallic. Color and streak depend upon the chemical composition of the mineral. Muscovite, or white mica, contains potassium and makes a colorless or white streak. Biotite, or black mica, contains iron and magnesium and is commonly dark green or black, although it may be shades of yellow or brown; its streak is uncolored.
Mica is abundant as tiny, shimmering flakes in Illinois sands, sandstones, and shales (which are then said to be micaceous). It also is common in many varieties of igneous and metamorphic rocks. White or yellow flakes may show a brilliant luster and may be mistaken for silver, platinum, or gold, but those minerals are heavy and malleable whereas mica is not.
CALCITE (24)
CALCITE, a common rock-forming mineral, consists of calcium carbonate. The mineral is white or colorless, but impurities may tint it shades of yellow or gray. Transparent calcite is more rare than the tinted varieties.
Transparent calcite possesses the property of double refraction; an image appears double when viewed through a calcite cleavage block.
Calcite has a glassy luster, its streak is white or colorless. The mineral is of medium hardness and can be scratched by a penny or a piece of window glass but not by the fingernail. It is fairly light weight and effervesces freely in cold dilute hydrochloric acid.
Calcite has a variety of crystal forms but in Illinois flattened block-shaped crystals and elongate crystals with tapering points (“dogtooth spar”) are the most common. When broken, calcite cleaves into six-sided blocks called rhombs.
Crystals of calcite are found in Illinois as linings in geodes in certain limestones and shales, especially in the Nauvoo-Hamilton-Warsaw area, and as crystalline masses in limestone and dolomite. Small amounts of clear crystalline calcite are associated with various ores in northwestern and extreme southern Illinois.
Calcite is the principal mineral in limestones and occurs as a component of many concretions.