Peru

Specimen of shiny gold coloured pyrite in the shape of a large pyramid with two smaller ones coming off its left side. The faces have small growth marks in them in a squiggly shape. It’s on a black background and part of a plexiglass label below it saying pyrite. At the Sorbonne.

One of my favourites!! You might be used to seeing cubes of fool’s gold but sometimes pyrite is more pyramidal in shape. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

The vertebrate is the shape of a short cylinder made of opal showing pastel pink, purple, blue, and green. Its on a black background. It’s at the Field Museum.

A stunning melding of palaeontology and mineralogy (well mineraloid-ology) in this opalized plesiosaur vertebra. Isn’t it gorgeous? #FossilFriday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

White stilbite in the shape of a bow tie shape on a black background with a small white label with 24 on it below it. At the Hunterian.

A bow tie!! This is a classic form of the zeolite mineral stilbite. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Photo of nicely folded rock layers at a cliff near the sea.

Happy #FoldFriday and have a nice weekend! ⚒️🧪

Photo from Kirkeporten, Norway. #photography

Mounted T. rex seen from the mid torso up with mezzanines seen behind it. It’s at the National Museums Scotland.

The roaring Tyrannosaurus rex with its tiny arms. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖

The latest eruption at Kilauea appears to be starting! We should see large lava fountains soon. Tune in live here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKu...

Specimen of turquoise fluorite carved into an eggs shape on a beige background. At the Natural History Museum in London.

For this holiday Mineral Monday, I present an itty bitty egg shaped from fluorite. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Long vertical quartz crystal with a transparent pyramidal top. The bottom is milkier with jagged edges. It sits on a metal mount on a frosted plinth in front of a grey background. At the Royal Ontario Museum.

Happy Geologists’ Day!!! Geology is for everyone, especially those who love cool rocks and minerals like this quartz!!! #GeoscienceBluesky #GeologistsDay

Deep purple blue nitrile gloved hand holds translucent slide of obsidian. It looked like dark Smokey glass with black flowy bands across with a small patch of red. It’s held above a white tray on a black background. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

I just saw that it’s Geologists Day today!!! To share my excitement about geology, here is one of my favourite types of rock: obsidian!! This is a thin polished slice showing flow banding. #GeologistsDay #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Happy International Geologist's Day! Now for real.
Below are the Easter-most igneous rocks out there. The orbicular granite slabs near the Department of the Earth Sciences in Uppsala University.
🧪 ⚒️ #Geology

red circle of petrified wood with a black rim and central line

the Eye of Sauron watching us survey for endangered cacti. #fossilfriday #triassicpark 🧪🦖

A hand holds a thin section slide of rock showing angular green fragments in a dark reddish matrix

Brecciated Catoctin Formation in thin section ⚒️

It’s tourmaline

💯

Yes!

Correct

The answer is the tourmaline group!! There are numerous mineral species in this group and a variety of colours! #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Three gems on a beige fabric in a diagonal. The top left is a yellow round brilliant cut on a small clear plinth. The label below says “round, brilliant-cut/locality unknown”. The middle is an olive green rectangular mixed cut with the label “rectangular, mixed-cut/locality unknown”. The bottom is a square cut deep green gem with a label “square, mixed-cut/Brazil”. At the London Natural History Museum.

Triple Guess the Gem time!! What mineral group do you think these three gems are? Hint: the cross sections of this group’s crystals would look triangular. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Specimen consisting of brown rock with veins of blueish purple opal on a black background. In front is a small transparent plexiglass label that says “Opale/Queensland/Australie” on it. At the Sorbonne.

So not quite a mineral for this week’s Mineral Monday, but this mineraloid opal is such a stunner. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

A mounted American lion fossil skeleton cast with large incisors and a long tail on a white background behind a glass partition. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

The extinct American lion (Panthera atrox), found across North America, was bigger than the lions we see today. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

The Society of Mineral Museum Professionals has just joined Bluesky!!! Happy to join this network for mineral and museum news and geoscience discussions!

#MineralMonday #MuseumMonday

Silvery and reddish mica specimen in the shape of a broken star with four points with multiple layers on a black background. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Specimen consisting of multiple thin books of pale yellow mica in the shape of stars coming off of matrix in multiple angles. It sits on a plastic wrap in a cardboard tray. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Have you ever seen mica in the shape of a star? Muscovite is more commonly seen as books of near hexagonal layers. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Mounted skull of a cave bear, with its neck showing as well. Behind it is a glass display case, antlers, and fossils mounted on a wall. It’s at the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle.

Skull of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). A species which, unsurprisingly, have been found a lot in caves. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

A small pale purple round specimen composed of many crystals mounted on a rod on a frosted plinth in front of a grey background. Sides of two specimens can be seen on either side. At the Royal Ontario Museum.

I love round specimens, especially snowball-like ones!! This is suolunite, a rare mineral. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Photo of dark and light rock layers coming across the view at an angle with the layers going in a circle in a distance. The layers are partially submerged in water with the sea in the distance.

The Ladies Skerrs Dome, part of the larger Berwick Monocline, on the shore. It’s composed of sandstones, limestones, and mudstones. #FridayFold ⚒️🧪

It’s calcite

It’s actually calcite

Calcite

It’s calcite