Rock Identification with Willsey: Intro to Igneous Rocks!

Learn the basics of identifying igneous rock types with geology professor Shawn Willsey. Explore the various textures and compositions of these interesting rocks and get ready for future videos that dive into specific types of igneous rocks.

Support these videos! You can ensure these videos continue by providing support (travel logistics, content creation, etc.)

or Venmo @Shawn-Willsey (be sure to put two L's in last name)

or a good ol' fashioned check to this address:
Shawn Willsey
College of Southern Idaho
315 Falls Avenue
Twin Falls, ID 83303

[DC-gjhn]

Two geology courses over 50 years ago from which I unfortunately retain nothing but an interest in minerals and rocks. Many books and videos later, I find your videos to be great refreshers. Thank you from New Mexico!

[leslie]

Thank you so much, Shawn! I get so tied up in my underwear over the rock types because I haven’t had these introductory ideas. Nick’s classes do not have the touch and feel rock lab with them. So you are our ROCK LAB. I love your concept of the “minerals that hang out together”! I’ve seen that chart but not really understood it. Perfect! Thanks

[stevengeorge]

Thank you, Shawn! All of your videos are great, and looking forward to more!

[thegoodscientistsdaughter]

This is an amazing presentation professor Willsey! You are a wonderful teacher!!! Thank you!

[leslie]

I really like your showing us whether the minerals are all crunched together and sharing boundaries vs crystals in a background matrix. I see that now. Whoa! So simple yet.... new! Thanks again. I will watch your minerals video next.

[justme]

Thank you so much for doing this. I absolutely love geology and have always wanted to learn more about rock types. Love this.

[michelleangers]

I love what you said about what rocks like to hang out with what rocks. I'm an urban rock hound and in a park I found k-feldspar and mica laying on the ground. I started doing a little digging and pulled out some amazing pegmatites and lovely chunks of quartz, clear and rose.

[grizzlymartin]

Their story. I love it. That’s what I need to help me learn. Looking forward to this.

[MrFmiller]

I really appreciate this series. I’ve watched countless videos about identification. They present the same information but your approach at teaching is easy for me to follow. My persistent desire to learn and previous exposure to all the information gave me the background to understand what you are presenting but the way you teach really made it easy to absorb. I’ll give you credit for that. Maybe I’ll retain more of the information. Thanks.

[BerryliumBarium]

Thanks for making these Shawn! I especially enjoy learning about Idaho's geology but these long form videos are very engaging as well.

[Rachel.]

Very helpful! Some of the mystery has been solved! Thank you again, Shawn.

[sabrina]

Thank you so much for another excellent class. It was very enlightening, especially when you make the association of mineralogical composition to different types of rocks.... This is especially useful when I have a variety of grayish color rhyolite that looks similar to an andesite

[notinmanitou]

Thank you so much for another great video! I just love this series. We started following your channel with the mineral series and have been "catching up" watching the videos from the beginning. What a wonderful job you've done! I envy your classroom students.

[sanjeevrampalliwar]

Sir your videos are enhansing my geology knowledge day by day .regards

[Jukindza]

Im sooo glad that I found your channel!
Answers on questions, which were in my head for years.
Thank you for a gorgeous work!

[muzikhed]

Nucleate is my word for the day. Great video lesson Shawn and an excellent reference video. Looking forward to the follow up. Many thanks.

[marcosfreijeiro]

Thanks Shawn, very informative love the content

[arthureaton]

Very helpful! Backing up your explanation by zooming into the various rock samples you have, really helped to clarify and understand this classification.

[patrickkillilea]

Excellent!
I was out just today looking over our local Igneous Felsic rocks with quite a mix of Metamorphism in our area SE of Hemet, Ca.
Entering into the peninsular ranges of S Cal. I think....

[BowlesTroy]

It often occurs to me how clever the ancients were when they invented concrete. It is a substance that is very analogous to what comes from nature. It is a composite material consisting of a matrix surrounding larger particles. Those particles can be whatever happens to be available locally, rounded or more angular. And within the matrix itself is smaller grains of sandy materials. The cement itself is typically ground limestone (calcium oxide) set into place by hydration. This happens all over the earth. The ancients, and particularly the Romans, figured out how to bring this into their buildings, homes, roads etc. They saw how rocks are composed and reasoned that they could do this themselves.