Welcome to the Mineral, Rock, Organic, Fossil, Sand, and Silt Database (MIROFOSS) mineral article help page. This page shows the layout of information for mineral articles that can be found in the MIROFOSS database. Please note that the help pages have been written as a simple reference guide in relation to the MIROFOSS database. For more information about minerals and their properties. Please visit the Lessons and Tutorials page which can be found in the mineral database index.

Through-out the research, design, and development of MIROFOSS, care has been taken to ensure all pages within the database follow the same consistent format. This consistent format is referred to as MIROFOSS Standards Principles (MPAS.) MPAS was developed to ensure that all articles follow the same pattern and are easy to navigate to find specific data. All mineral article toolbars and other sections of the mineral gallery are shown in various shades of blue. Active and visited links are also shown in a blue colour. The colour remains consistent through out the mineral gallery so the user knows where they are in relation to the other MIROFOSS database pages. Each article is displayed in an article frame (parent frame) which has a main page which is located in the left frame of the browser and an image page, or thumb guide, which is located in the right frame of the browser. The parent frame also contains a hidden text version of the article for computers that cannot read frames. Within each mineral article, topics are broken down using consistent subject headings with a small graphical icon. Graphical icons where chosen which best display what the sub-section of the article is written about, If further assistance is required in relation to article ease of use, please -contact us-.

At the top of each article is the MIROFOSS toolbar. This toolbar allows you to navigate through the mineral article as well as the MIROFOSS database. The highlighted tab shows you where you are in the article. You can also use this toolbar to search the database, return to the gallery home page, and access the help menu.
General information is provided at the top of each article which is used to display which mineral group the article belongs in and the various ways the mineral can be cataloged.
A Mobile interface bar is provided to easily change between the mobile and desktop version of the web site.


Main articles that can be found within the MIROFOSS Mineral Gallery each contain a section with historical information about the mineral being researched. This history section may contain information about where the mineral was first discovered, how the mineral was named, locations where large quantities of the mineral can be found, along with any other information about record setting sizes and special historical characteristics.


When a mineral sample requires supplemental articles (article stubs about mineral varieties and alternate names) a background section can be found to properly direct you to the main article.


Known data about the holistic healing of minerals and chemical elements can be located in the metaphysical applications section of the article. This information is drawn from many sources and should be approached with personal interpretation. Please note that MIROFOSS does not suggest in any way that minerals should be used in place of proper medical and psychological care. MIROFOSS does not contain the resources or scientific equipment to confirm or deny the healing properties of minerals. This information is provided here as a reference only.


Information about the practical uses of the subject mineral can be found in the Industrial Applications section of the article. This section also contains information about element extraction from the mineral (if the mineral is used as an ore.)


If you require information about where a mineral naturally occurs, this information can be found in the Environment section of the article.


The Mineralogy section of each article contains information about the relation of the article mineral, with other natural features as well as scientific characteristics of the mineral. If the article mineral can be found in any distinct varieties, links to the variety articles can be found in this section.


The Physical Identification section of each article is organized in a table with common quantitative data, much of which can be visually observed, about the mineral in question. Data such as colour, density, streak, crystal habit, and luster can be found here.


If a mineral sample is considered dangerous, these warnings are placed in the Health Hazard section of the article. Hazards can be anything related to toxicity, reactive properties, biohazards, and radioactive levels.


The Chemical Composition section of each article is where you can find the elemental breakdown of the mineral. This section shows the percentages of each element within the article mineral, any common chemical impurities, as well as an atomic diagram of the mineral. If the article is references a chemical element. This sections shows where the element appears within the periodic table of elements.


If you are researching crystal information about a mineral, such as axis ratios and pleochroism; you will find that data within the Crystallography and Optical Data section of the article. This section may also contain a single unit cell diagram of the article mineral as well as a birefringence spectrum.


The Electron and Optical Data section of an article can only be found in chemical element articles. This section contains data about electron orbits, decays, and ionization energies. This section may also contain the spectral line of the chemical element being referenced.


Mineral can have many different names depending on how old the research information is that you are referencing. The Onomastics section of each article contains alternate naming references for the article mineral; as well as translations of the mineral name into a select set of languages if that information is available.


The Geographical Occurrences section of each article provides a world map which shows major known concentrations of the article mineral.


MIROFOSS provides various types of resources for anyone using the MIROFOSS database. Mineral sample labels are provided for you to use in your own mineral collection, QR codes are provided to help you to share MIROFOSS articles with anyone who has a smart phone camera, and personal document format (.pdf) files can be provided for each article to print out in a hard copy format.


The reference section of article lists all of the resources that we used to provide the article information to you. This section also contains a date stamp to let you know when the article was last updated. Beneath this section there are some hidden lines of code which allow us to count how many people view each article.