Minerals with Willsey: Feldspars

Sharpen your mineral and rock ID skills with geology professor Shawn Willsey by learning one of the most common minerals around, feldspar. Here we delve into the common traits and characteristics of both plagioclase and potassium feldspar and then look at these minerals in a variety of rocks.

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

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

[johnnytarponds]

I'm a lapidarist, so the more I understand in the field, the better my collecting goes. I really appreciate this series of videos you've kindly given us. Excellent work!

[SpACECdt]

It has taken me 3 decades to learn enough English to being able to tell apart the different kinds of feldpars thanks to this excellently explained video (never give up folks!:D). Thanks a lot!!!

[GeologyNick]

Way to go, Shawn! This one is especially good.

[benylevin]

My wife and I watch several of your videos and enjoy them. Thanks for all the info. We are both retired and keep learning with your videos.

[briandwi]

Great series. It is very helpful to have so many examples shown to us. I can spot quartz now! I have seen feldspar many times, but I can now name it. There are so many definitions, so just keep going over the main terms and it might just sink in. Thanks so much for your time and effort in doing these.

[MrFmiller]

I’m liking this series. Thanks. I’m recommending it to friends and family.

[bobketteringham]

Just discovered your channel and love it. I was a petroleum geologist from the late 1970s-80s, but got away completely. I’m trying to re-educate myself because geology used to be a great love of mine. Videos like this really help. Thank you.

[mikekilian]

I'm learning a lot every time you have these videos. Thank you so much.

[chucklearnslithics]

Things you only hear geologists say: "Wow. This one has a really big, sexy, K-spar crystal in it!" 😂

[Danika_Nadzan]

I learn a lot from each video. The samples and your descriptions are the best part...I can actually see how quartz and K-spar and plag are different in each rock. The tripod worked really well, by the way.

[UncommonDenominatorj]

My goodness this actually made sense, most of these traits you described I have seen so commonly. The calcium feldspars are what interest me, I don't know how commonly I could be seeing that mineral class here in So. Cal.

Glad I found this channel.

[Anne_]

Thanks for this series. I am saving them to a playlist. I will need to go over the feldspar a good number of times. You are making it so clear it is easy for me to see after you point them out. At age 74 I have do lots of repeat to remember these new details. I have many rocks that found their way home on my trips around the US. When all this snow melts I need to get the bigger ones out of my garden. I still have a fossil bearing rock I collected at age 12 along the Potomac River. With your help I should be able to identify the ones I didn't know what they are. I have a few small ones that are on top of potting soil in house plants. They are easy to get to.

[evekinglehman]

Great! I'm from granite country: Southern Calif, and now I know more what I'm looking at. Thanks.

[trevorallen]

These videos ARE very helpful. Last summer I found a large chunk (>50lbs) of aligned feldspar crystals about 1.5 cm X 1 cm X 0.5 cm in a sand/clay like matrix. Colors of the crystals are mostly off white with some blue hints in parts. One can see dots of aluminum(I think) along many faces. I didn't know what it was but someone in a FB group I belong to Identified it as feldspar. It is an anomaly in our area of central New York as the area where I found it is predominantly reddish sandstone. The individual crystals separate from the oblong ball quite easily. It was an exciting find as we had two of our grandchildren with us and had to go back to the house for tools to dig it up. All that was showing above the soil was a blue hued crystal mound about the size of half a softball. We were quite surprised how big it ended up being. Thank you for putting the effort in to this series

[MetadelAlemu-hfmy]

መምህር ትልቅ እውቀት በአጭርና በሚገባ የጉደለኝየምትሞላ የእኔ የእውቀት አባቴ ስለሆንክ ፈጣሪ ከነቤተሰቦቻቸው እረጅም እድሜ ጤና በእውቀትህ ተጠቅመህወገንህን የምትጠቀምበት ለአለምአዲስ ነገር ፈጣሪ እዲሠጥህ ዘውትር እመኝልሃለሁ ሠላምህ ይብዛ።

[valoriel]

Well done, so interesting. 👏
Thx for sharing, your work is appreciated.

[danielchapman]

Thank you for your kind sharing of your expertise. When I make some money I’ll send some. You definitely deserve.

[emerald-ljbb]

Very helpful! Barnes & Nobles has both books; I ordered the Simon & Schusters’ version.
Thanks for the advice!

[TerryKeddy-we]

Love your videos, Shawn keep the helpful videos coming it helps all us rock hounds

[tinymetaltrees]

I was cutting augen gneiss last week. I found it as glacial till, now river cobbles. I got several color blends with augens. Really pretty stuff!