GSA's MGPV Division

Brown dwarf Gliese 229B, right, is a small companion to the cool, red star Gliese 229. Credit: NASA/S. Kulkarni/D. Golimowski

Double brown dwarf system Luhman 16 is at the center of the larger image, which was taken by the NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Gemini Observatory/AURA/NSF

Perovskite, which rains down in brown dwarf atmospheres

These are pictures of brown dwarf stars. You know what they’re also pictures of? #Perovskite, which rains down in their atmospheres. How cool is that? Very, very cool indeed! Vote for brown dwarf rain. Vote Perovskite! #MinCup25

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3...

#MinCup25 Quarterfinal 2 - ☀️ #Perovskite vs 🌸 #Tugtupite. A mineral empowering solar cells (and found in the rain in brown dwarf stars!) faces the vivid pink tenebrescent, fluorescent, and phosphorescent feldspathoid.

#minerals #mineralogy

#MinCup25 Quarterfinal 1: 🔷 #Haüyne vs 🩸 #Hematite. A fluorescent feldspathoid of brilliant blues meets the iron oxide that contributes to the iconic red color of Mars.

#minerals #mineralogy

NOTE: MSA Inaugural Annual Meeting: Feb, 16-18, 2026, Tucson, AZ, USA
This will follow the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. On Feb. 17 and 18 there will be a series of talks and poster sessions. Abstracts due: Oct. 31. Registration will be through the MSA website at www.msaweb.org

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 8 - ☢️ #Cuprosklodowskite vs 🖤 #Mannardite. A bright green uranium silicate named to honour Marie Sklodowska Curie vs the jet black barium-titanium-vanadium oxide.

#minerals #mineralogy

#kyanite in biotite gneiss from the Entia Dome, central Australia. Kyanite forms deep in the crust before it makes its way to the Earth’s surface, a slow and much more challenging journey than taenite’s fall through space. #MinCup25

kyanite X taenite.

deep in the earth versus out of this world. I'm voting kyanite. go earth!

#MinCup25 #minerals #sciart

Silicate liquid immiscibility in the Chang'e 5 lunar mare magmas: Constraints on the petrogenesis of lunar granitic rocks
Le Zhang, et al.
doi.org/10.2138/am-2...
Silicon-rich melt inclusions hosted in fayalite formed through late-stage silicate liquid immiscibility in lunar mare basaltic magmas.

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 7: 💙 #Kyanite vs ☄️ #Taenite. A metamorphic aluminosilicate meets a meteoritic Fe–Ni alloy.

#minerals #mineralogy

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 3: ⚖️ #Baryte vs 🩸 #Hematite. The heavyweight sulfate meets the iron oxide red.

#minerals #mineralogy

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 1 - 🌊 #Pectolite, which forms in hydrothermal cavities in basalt, versus 🌀 #häuyne, the fluorescent feldspathoid.

#minerals #mineralogy

🚨Job Alert 🚨 The Department of #Geology at the University of Otago in #NewZealand invites applications for a faculty position (Lecturer – equivalent to Assistant Professor in North American academic systems) in Earth sciences or adjacent field. ⚒️🧪 #Geosciences

otago.taleo.net/careersectio...

Why is V so concentrated in crude oil and oil shales?

Anoxic waters, H2S reduction, formation of porphyrin complexes, precipitation, clay adsorption, shale deposition, mineralization.

Tiny, V-rich #Mannardite punches above its weight.
#MinCup25
#Porphyrins

A polarization simulation of Mannardite showing colorful grains.

Mannardite has a fun polarization simulation on www.mindat.org/min-2567.html. Also it contains vanadium. #MinCup25

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 16: ❇️ #Paddlewheelite vs ◼️ #mannardite. An unusually complex carbonate vs a mineral sometimes mined as a vanadium ore.

#minerals #mineralogy

Hoba meteorite | Weight, Namibia, & Facts | Britannica Hoba meteorite, the largest intact meteorite, weighing about 60 tons, that has been found on Earth. It was discovered in 1920 on a farm called Hoba West, located 19 km (12 miles) west of Grootfontein ...

The Hoba meteorite was discovered in 1920 buried on a Namibian farm. It is an “ataxite” meteorite, an iron meteorite containing more than 16% nickel, and is composed primarily of #taenite. Hoba is the largest meteorite on earth, weighing more than 60 tons, yet left only a small crater. #MinCup25

#MinCup25 Round 1, Match 15: 💫 #Taenite vs 🌍 #Nontronite. An iron-nickel meteorite alloy meets an iron-rich clay mineral.

#minerals #mineralogy

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 13: 💎 #Topaz, a prized aluminosilicate gem, takes on 💙 #Kyanite, the blue indicator of metamorphism.

#minerals #mineralogy

#MinCup25

A vote for #molybdenite is a vote for geochronology!

Vote molybdenite today!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

here's zunyite X molybdenite on the #MinCup25 sketchbook

really torn about this choice but my hexagon vows take precedence over the polyhedra vows. 💍

#b&wart #sketchbook #sciart #minerals

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 12: 🔺 #Zunyite vs ⚙️ #Molybdenite. A rare aluminosilicate meets the chief molybdenum ore.

#minerals #mineralogy

Judge Sign-up Form for 2025 GSA Geoinformatics and Data Science Division Student Poster Competition At the 2025 GSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, the GSA Geoinformatics and Data Science Division will host and sponsor the student poster competition session T42: A Showcase of Student Research in ...

🚨 Call for Judges!

At GSA 2025 in San Antonio, GIDS Division @gsageoinfo.bsky.social is hosting a student poster competition (Session T42) with 10+ presenters.

🗓 Oct 20, 2025 | 3:30–5:30 pm
💰 Cash awards for winners

Sign up here: forms.gle/FEKfy6MrPLW6...

#GSA2025 #Geoinformatics #DataScience

Bennu up close and mineralogical - Nature Geoscience The mineralogy of samples returned from asteroid Bennu yield valuable insights into the physical and chemical processes — on both small and large scales — that shape small bodies in the Solar System.

⚒️ September editorial: Bennu up close and mineralogical - on the samples returned from asteroid Bennu

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Titanite from the Franciscan subduction complex, California, as seen under plane and cross polarized light in a petrographic microscope. Field of view about 2 mm. Photo by Sarah Brandt. #MinCup25

Titanite crystal in a granite. cross-polarized image. 10x (Field of view = 2mm) from: https://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/pluto/titanite.php

Alex Strekeisen has some beautiful thin section images of titanite:

https://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/pluto/titanite.php

#MinCup25 #ThinSectionThursday #Titanite #Sphene #Granite #Mineralogy

titanite X thortveitite in the #MinCup25 sketchbook

I'm voting titanite 💎

#minerals #b&wart #sketchbook #sciart

#MinCup23 Round 1 Match 11: 🔶 #Titanite, with its versatile uses, vs ◼️ #Thortveitite, the rare scandium silicate.

#minerals #mineralogy

Thin Section Thursday!
Let’s revisit some images sent to me previously by Cody Steven. PPL image of a grain mount of jarosite. Jarosite (KFe3+3(SO4)2(OH)6) forms in acid-sulfate soils, and is a common product of acid-mine drainage. FOV is 2mm. #thinsectionthursday

Dioptase is very pretty with that rare colour. But #Wavellite has undeniable alien star quality, and gets my vote.

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 10: It is a battle of hydrated minerals today 💦

🥝 #Wavellite, the phosphate with radial clusters, vs 💚 #Dioptase, the emerald-green copper silicate.

#minerals #mineralogy