Erin 𓅉

Sorry, I’m never on here.

Yes, fluorite can be replaced, and silica-dominant minerals are probably most common in doing this (see quartz ps. fluorite from Germany).

Would be hard to say what’s happening with your sample without looking at it though.

Funky textures.

No, I mean minerals should not be named after people.

You can’t name things after yourself.

We should abolish eponymous mineral names.

It’s less efficient than I’d like, but I’m slowly starting to pick up on the German.

I have to translate it but yes.

Getting my needed dose of 234-year-old drama.

I would guess it’s something that is going to need analysis to nail down for certain.

What's in a mineral name? Not very many women, U-M study finds The mineral scottyite was named after Michael Scott. Not the Michael Scott of the television series "The Office"—the Michael Scott who co-founded the technology company Apple. Billionaire George Soros...

I have a solution, but nobody’s going to like it.

news.umich.edu/whats-in-a-m...

Not sure how helpful this is, but probably something hydrous based on the color change, and texture looks like a clay mineral.

I have received interesting mail.

I’m quite sure this is somehow @jolyon.bsky.social’s fault.

I haven’t opened this app in months and I have no idea what’s happening here, but hi to all the folks who are following me?

If you find yourself intrigued by calcite crystallography, I strongly recommend browsing Goldschmidt’s Atlas Der Krystallformen, which has 150 pages of this.

Available to view here (log-in is required to view the PDF - but an account is free and easy!):
www.mindat.org/reference.ph...

When evaluating rocks for personal use, it’s not just about shape (although that better be gratifying).

Texture, strength, hardness, solubility (in water & acid) are all important considerations, occasionally along with more obscure characteristics like smell or stability under surface conditions.

My vote is for #adamite because of the adamite bat.
The bat is largely mummified but adamite has started to replace around its face - fluorescent light highlights the adamite.
Found by John Seibel, late 1980s at the Gold Hill Mine, Utah, collection of Mark Mitterman.

Same! 😂

Alfredo would love that.

I’m pretty ambivalent here but I’m gonna vote for #vivianite solely because of this excellent (and amusing) article, “A Scientific Study of the Absorption of Evil by Vivianite” by Alfredo Petrov:

www.mindat.org/article.php/...

Thank you!

I <3 pseudos!

This round is going to break my heart because #goethite is the only mineral in the bracket I REALLY like, and it’s going to get beat out by a mineral I can’t see.

Vote #goethite to make me wrong, and thus happy. 🥺

I have never heard that so I’m going to go with no.

It’s one of Australia’s best, for sure.

A short film showing the planning and extraction of a plate of Crocoite from the Adelaide Mine in Dundas, Tasmania. Miners Bruce Stark and John Cornish have ... Crocoite Plate from Adelaide Mine

If you’ve ever wondered how miners get incredibly delicate specimens out of the ground, this crocoite extraction video is a good place to start. #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23

youtu.be/5_0noXIhIGg

Crocoite has an unusually frequent tendency to grow into such crystals so extremely hoppered that the crystals are HOLLOW.

Orange lead-chromium straws does it perfectly for me. 🥰 #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23

www.mindat.org/photo-219055...

A wise decision! 😊

This is what happens when stibnite “rusts.”

I had to unpack a backpack full of rocks for the TSA over this specimen once, and the man was so, so very disappointed when we opened the box and I’m still laughing about it.

Want an early start to #MinCup23? Read Howard Lee’s great article about U-Pb dating of zircons, and use of magnetic data to find out how surprisingly fast the Pilbara Craton was moving 2.7 billion-years ago. This incredible usefulness is why zircon is called the Time Lord. Expect more Time Lord soon