earth science

Mineralogical Abstracts

Mineralogical Abstracts is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mineralogical Abstracts rather than just read about it. In short: Mineralogical Abstracts, or MINABS Online, was a bibliographic database first published in 1920 and discontinued in 2008. It is now included in GeoRef.

Key takeaways

Mineralogical Abstracts belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mineralogical Abstracts to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mineralogical Abstracts from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mineralogical Abstracts, or MINABS Online, was a bibliographic database first published in 1920 and discontinued in 2008. It is now included in GeoRef. The database consists of more than 135,000 abstracts of journal papers. Subject coverage includes mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, environmental mineralogy, and related topics. From 1920 until 1957, it appeared as a supplement to The Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society. The last editor-in-chief was Robert A. Howie, who served in this position from 1966 until Mineralogical Abstracts ceased publication in 2008. Howie oversaw the transition from a paper publication to compact disks (MinSource) and then to the online version in 2003 (MinAbs Online).

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mineralogical Abstracts

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mineralogical Abstracts claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mineralogical Abstracts before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mineralogical Abstracts ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mineralogical Abstracts

In research: Mineralogical Abstracts appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mineralogical Abstracts in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mineralogical Abstracts is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bibliographic databases and indexes, Mineralogy, Publications disestablished in 2008, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mineralogical Abstracts outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mineralogical Abstracts in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mineralogical Abstracts means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mineralogical Abstracts out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mineralogical Abstracts in simple terms?

Mineralogical Abstracts, or MINABS Online, was a bibliographic database first published in 1920 and discontinued in 2008. It is now included in GeoRef.

Why does Mineralogical Abstracts matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mineralogical Abstracts?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mineralogical Abstracts.