Hands on Tauranga offers students stimulating and original learning opportunities with real museum objects that support the New Zealand curriculum at primary and secondary school level.
A collection of 20 minerals in individual sample boxes. The collection includes:
Igneous rocks - obsidian, basalt, rhyolite, andesite
Sulphide minerals - pyrite
Oxide minerals - corundum/ruby, pyrolusite
Hydroxide minerals -limonite
Silicate minerals - rose quartz, white quartz, amethyst, lapis/lazurite, biotite, rhodonite, nephrite/pounamu, shorl/tourmaline, beryl, emerald, topaz
Organic gem -amber
Also included is a set of volcanic rocks of Aoteaora New Zealand on thick card, with information on the origins of each piece
Obsidian: Bay of Plenty. Volcanic glass of rhyolitic origin, formed by rapid cooling of viscous magma. Flakes used by early māori as cutting tools. Obsidian is found on Tuhua (Mayor Island) in the Bay of Plenty.
Pumice: Taupō. Vesicular (gas blown) form of rhyolite erupted violently in vast quantities by Taupō eruption of the Quaternary period. Very light and porous.
Rhyolite: Tairua. A volcanic extrusive rock comprising large landforms of central North Island (Te-Ika-a-Māui). Consists of partly crystallised silica minerals.
Ignimbrite: Atiamuri. Pyroclastic rock of breccia group formed by explosive disintegration of dacite or rhyolite magma.
Sulphur: Rotorua. Chemical symbol S. Once mined on Whakaari (White Island) for manufacture of fertiliser and explosives. Sulphur Point in Tauranga gets its name from when sulphur from White Island was shipped to to Sulphur Point, where a small superphosphate manufacturing works was built. The plant was demolished in 1900.
Andesite: Waikato. Common igneous rock containing coarse crystals of hornblende. Forms the volcanos of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Taranaki.
Basalt: Ōtepoti Dunedin. Hard, heavy black lava of basic chemical composition (little silica). Fine textured due to rapid crystallisation. Occurs in tall columns.
Scoria: Mt Tarawera. Vesicular, gas charged basalt erupted as fiery cinders and flaming spurts. Tāmakimakaurau Auckland's volcanic cones are scoria.
Dacite: Tauranga. Intermediate in character between andesite and rhyolite. Hard, acidic lava, forms Whakaari White Island, and Pūtauaki Mt Edgecumbe
Vocabulary
Pyroclastic: composed chiefly of fragments of volcanic origin
Vesicular: used to refer to rock that contains holes made by gas escaping from cooling lava
More information
What is the difference between a mineral and a rock? Minerals have a specific chemical structure which is the same throughout the entire mineral. Rocks, on the other hand, are composed of a variety of different minerals and are not consistent throughout their structure.
When was the Quaternary period? The Quaternary is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ago to the present.
When was the Taupō super eruption? The Oruanui eruption at Taupo occurred 27,000 years ago and was the largest eruption worldwide since Toba in Indonesia, around 74,000 years ago.
Why not get your hands on these?
Sample box Mohs Scale https://www.handsontauranga.co.nz/hot-items/science/sample-box-mohs-scale-hc90/
maximum dimension: Collection box 290mm x 220mm
subject area: Science, Social Science, Geology, Technology
subject themes: Earth Science, Rocks, Crystals, Gems, Rock Cycle
handling collection number: HC191
