Nadine, Hunter of Rocks 💎

A glass vial containing white translucent crystals of alunogen. Label text: Loose, crystalline. From Vulcano, Lipari, Sicily, Italy. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

An off-white crystalline crust of alunogen. From Dolcoath Mine, Cornwall, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

340 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Alunogen:
- A hydrated sulphate mineral
- Forms via the reaction of sulphates from decomposing sulphide minerals and aluminium-bearing minerals in shales and slates
- Its name comes from the Latin word "alum" and the Greek word "γεννώ/genno" (to create) #mineral

Dull grey-green featureless mass of chamosite with some white quartz. From Kongsberg, Norway. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

339 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Chamosite:
- An iron-rich member of the chlorite group
- Forms in metamorphosed iron deposits
- Named after the type locality Chamoson in Valais, Switzerland #minerals

Dull grey-green featureless mass of chamosite with some white quartz. From Kongsberg, Norway. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

339 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Chamosite:
- An iron-rich member of the chlorite group
- Forms in metamorphosed iron deposits
- Named after the type locality Chamoson in Valais, Switzerland #minerals

Black, flat hexagonal crystals of hibonite in a black, grey and pink matrix. From Tranomaro, Madagascar. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

338 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Hibonite:
- Calcium aluminium oxide mineral
- Sometimes contains cerium
- 7.5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale (similar hardness to topaz)
- Found in some high-grade metamorphic rocks
- Named after Paul Hibon, a French prospector who discovered it in 1953 in Madagascar #minerals

Like in the British colonies they used to categorise you under various slurs depending on your ancestry white v Black and over generations it all got too difficult. Same with your binary gender and compulsory heterosexuality. The colonial game is up folks no matter how much you try to police it

Like with binary gender being extremely colonial they tried to be binary with race in the USA in particular and ended up with truly ridiculous one drop rules. Colonial categorisation of the breadth of human experience and box ticking has a lot to answer for!

LEFT: Plane polarised view of a large phlogopite crystal showing strong cleavage planes running SW to NE. Zoned crystal is colourless in centre and fox brown on rim. Surrounded by interlocking grains of calcite. RIGHT: Same field of view in cross polarised light. Zoning in phlogopite shown by green colour in centre and magenta edge. Calcite groundmass shows well defined twin planes as alternating bands of (relatively) low interference colours and extinction.

Christmas zoned phlogopite in carbonatite for #ThinSectionThursday. In PPL (left) Mg-rich core shows less colour than brown rim (pleochroic to colourless) which has higher Fe, possibly due to Al-deficiency. Same chemical variation gives different interference colours in XPL (right) 🧪⚒️🌋🎄🎅

Black, flat hexagonal crystals of hibonite in a black, grey and pink matrix. From Tranomaro, Madagascar. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

338 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Hibonite:
- Calcium aluminium oxide mineral
- Sometimes contains cerium
- 7.5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale (similar hardness to topaz)
- Found in some high-grade metamorphic rocks
- Named after Paul Hibon, a French prospector who discovered it in 1953 in Madagascar #minerals

A great summary on the dire situation for Geology/Palaeontology at @uniofleicester.bsky.social by Jan Zalasiewicz. Please sign and share the petition: www.change.org/p/save-geolo...

A crust of translucent light green chalcosiderite crystals with a rounded shape on rusty coloured quartz. From Phoenix Mine, Cornwall, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

337 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Chalcosiderite:
- A rare phosphate mineral
- Forms in the oxidised zone of some hydrothermal deposits
- Its name comes from the Greek words "χαλκος/chalkos" (copper) and "σίδηρος/sideros" (iron) because of its composition #minerals

Blooper reel!!
And some of what's behind the "perfect shot."

So please, don't be to harsh on people doing REAL stuff, at least take a moment to analyze their past content for consistency before throwing the clanker accusation.
That hurt real artists.

The lil guy was nibbling on my fingers 🥺

Ahhh, the cat saw me from across the road and ran up to me again! 🥹😭

Image description: Anjana Khatwa with a background of mountains and a cover of her book, "The Whispers of Rock,. Text reads:'GeoTalk: Anjana Khatwa, author of ‘The Whispers of Rock. Read Now.’'

👋 Meet Anjana Khatwa , the author of the new #geoscience book ‘The Whispers of Rock’, and an award-winning Earth Scientist, science communicator, writer, presenter and advocate for diversity in natural heritage spaces.

🧵 Continue reading here in our #GeoTalk: egu.eu/7NKGCM

A crust of translucent light green chalcosiderite crystals with a rounded shape on rusty coloured quartz. From Phoenix Mine, Cornwall, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

337 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Chalcosiderite:
- A rare phosphate mineral
- Forms in the oxidised zone of some hydrothermal deposits
- Its name comes from the Greek words "χαλκος/chalkos" (copper) and "σίδηρος/sideros" (iron) because of its composition #minerals

Colourless, glassy-looking cubes of melanophlogopite lining a cavity in pale yellow sulphur. From Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

336 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Melanophlogite:
- A silicate mineral with the same composition as quartz
- Often forms with calcite & sulphur
- Forms as a low temperature mineral in sulphur deposits
- Its name comes from the Greek words for "black" & "to be burned" because it blackens when heated #minerals

I am (allegedly) building an online archive of bi stuff. Newspaper articles. Magazine stories. Stuff. I haven't done any work towards it in six months.

But please have a nose around. There's a couple of thousand files in there at least and Ive barely scratched the surface. You might like it.

An 1863 satirical cartoon from the London Illustrated times, depicting a man transforming into a sharp and eating up a bunch of fish that are also mortgages and loans? I don't know I think there's a lot of stuff going on here that made far more sense at the time.

Found this Animorphs prequel, now you are also burdened by witnessing it

Colourless, glassy-looking cubes of melanophlogopite lining a cavity in pale yellow sulphur. From Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

336 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Melanophlogite:
- A silicate mineral with the same composition as quartz
- Often forms with calcite & sulphur
- Forms as a low temperature mineral in sulphur deposits
- Its name comes from the Greek words for "black" & "to be burned" because it blackens when heated #minerals

A rough, elongate hexagonal bismuth crystal, metallic grey with a slight iridescent sheen. From Huayna Potosí, Bolivia. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum.

Metallic grey to black bismuth crystals with a skeletal rhombohedral shape. It looks like masses of square spiralling crystals. Aritificial. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum.

335 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Bismuth:
- Native element mineral
- Lab grown bismuth is often hoppered (crystals form a hollow pyramidal shape because the edges of the crystals grow faster than the centre)
- Forms in hydrothermal veins containing cobalt, nickel, silver and tin ores #minerals #MineralMonda

A rough, elongate hexagonal bismuth crystal, metallic grey with a slight iridescent sheen. From Huayna Potosí, Bolivia. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum.

Metallic grey to black bismuth crystals with a skeletal rhombohedral shape. It looks like masses of square spiralling crystals. Aritificial. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum.

335 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Bismuth:
- Native element mineral
- Lab grown bismuth is often hoppered (crystals form a hollow pyramidal shape because the edges of the crystals grow faster than the centre)
- Forms in hydrothermal veins containing cobalt, nickel, silver and tin ores #minerals #MineralMonda

An opaque, black modified octahedron of spinel on a matrix containing calcite and idocrase. From Greenwood, New York, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Dark blue spinel octahedra in a matrix containing muscovite and calcite. From Lake Baikal, Siberia. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

An octagonal mixed-cut translucent pink spinel gemstone. From Sri Lanka. This information is repeated on its display label. BM.89175. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

334 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Spinel:
- An oxide mineral
- Forms via metamorphism
- Can be various colours due to impurities
- Its name comes from the Latin word "spinella" (little thorn) because of its pointy octahedral shape #minerals

Parma Violet update: Four months and 200 sweets later, the bag isn't even half empty

Atleast nobody will have to question if my works are ai or not so enjoy these practical effect wings I made after 7 years of building different animatronic wings!

*goes to a natural history museum and holds up a bouquet to an Allosaurus skeleton so they can finally see some flowers*

An opaque, black modified octahedron of spinel on a matrix containing calcite and idocrase. From Greenwood, New York, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Dark blue spinel octahedra in a matrix containing muscovite and calcite. From Lake Baikal, Siberia. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

An octagonal mixed-cut translucent pink spinel gemstone. From Sri Lanka. This information is repeated on its display label. BM.89175. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

334 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Spinel:
- An oxide mineral
- Forms via metamorphism
- Can be various colours due to impurities
- Its name comes from the Latin word "spinella" (little thorn) because of its pointy octahedral shape #minerals

Grey crystals of anorthoclase cemented by black glassy obsidian. From Mt. Kenya, Kenya. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

333 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Anorthoclase:
- A potassium-rich variety of albite
- Forms in sodium-rich volcanic rocks
- Its name comes from the Greek words for oblique and fracture, because of its cleavage angle #minerals

*goes to a natural history museum and holds up a bouquet to an Allosaurus skeleton so they can finally see some flowers*

Grey crystals of anorthoclase cemented by black glassy obsidian. From Mt. Kenya, Kenya. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

333 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Anorthoclase:
- A potassium-rich variety of albite
- Forms in sodium-rich volcanic rocks
- Its name comes from the Greek words for oblique and fracture, because of its cleavage angle #minerals

This is incredible thank you @sesmith.lol here are some shrimp.