RE: https://mastodon.social/@luddchem/113750244186317287

Well it's 2026 and still staggering on in CrystalWorks

#365Minerals

#365Minerals 🧪⚒️
bsky.app/profile/nadw...

So that's #365Minerals over and done with. It's been eight(!) years since I did the first #365Minerals over on Twitter - it was inspired by #365Papers. I'm glad that this time around I could use my own photos of specimens on display in the NHM! Thanks for following! 🧪⚒️💎

Een draad met #365Minerals #Natuur

Op bluesky te zien. Zo geweldig prachtig en leerzaam, echt magnifiek

Happy New Year 2026
Nadine, Hunter of Rocks

Blocky crystals of bright yellow sulphur on white finely crystalline calcite. From Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A crust of finely crystalline, pale yellow sulphur with some thin needles of white gypsum. From San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

365 of #365Minerals!!! 🧪⚒️

Sulphur:
- A native element mineral
- Also known as brimstone
- Forms near volcanic vents
- Can also be formed by sulphide alteration and microbial activity
- Pure sulphur is bright yellow
- Used in fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, batteries, acid production #minerals

A black, somewhat rectangular crystal of congolite in orange and grey halite. From Boulby Mine, Yorkshire, England. UK Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

364 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Congolite:
- A borate mineral
- Found in association with halite and anhydrite
- Forms in sedimentary and marine evaporites
- Named after the Republic of the Congo, where it was first discovered #minerals

Clusters of bright green annabergite crystals on beige calcite in a rocky matrix. From Lavrion, Attica, Greece. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Annabergite:
- An arsenate mineral
- Forms via the alteration of cobalt and nickel bearing arsenides and sulphides
- Cobalt impurities makes it grey and pink
- Named after Annaberg in Germany, its type locality region #minerals #MineralMonday

Green streaks of turanite staining a dark brown limestone. From Tyuya-Muyun, Kyrgyzstan. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Turanite:
- A copper vanadate mineral
- Forms in some vanadium bearing mineral deposits
- Named after the Turan region in Kyrgyzstan, its type locality #minerals

Small orange speckles of chondrodite crystals with some smaller black magnetite in white limestone. From Mandalay, Myanmar. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Orange crystals of chondrodite with some grey metallic graphite in white limestone. From Franklin, New Jersey, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

361 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Chondrodite:
- A magnesium silicate mineral
- Forms in limestone in contact metamorphic zones
- It's name comes from the Greek word "χονδρωδης/chondrodis" (granular) because it often occurs as granules in rocks #minerals

Pale lavender pearly masses of barysilite. From Franklin, New Jersey, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

360 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Barysilite:
- A lead silicate minerals
- About 2.5 times more dense than quartz
- Forms in some iron ores and in some metamorphosed zinc ores
- Its name comes from the Greek word "βαρύς" (heavy) because of its high density and for the silicon in its composition #minerals

Sky-blue coloured acicular masses of mixite on a brown limonitic matrix. This information is repeated on its display label. From Tintic District, Utah. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Mixite:
- An arsenate mineral containing copper and bismuth
- Forms in the oxidised zone of copper deposits
- Named after Anton Mixa (1838-1906) a Czech mining engineer #minerals

Dark bluish-green celadonite lining cavities in black basalt. From Borðoy, Faroe Islands. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Celadonite:
- A mica group mineral
- Has a similar hardness to fingernails
- Forms via the replacement of ferromagnesium silicate minerals in mafic igneous rocks
- Its name comes from the French word "celadon" (sea green) because of its colour #minerals

A kite-shaped composite glauberite crystal, colourless and translucent. From Chinchón, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Two off-white opaque glauberite crystals. From Tarapacá, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

357 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Glauberite:
- A sodium calcium mineral
- It's soluble and is often pseudomorphed by other minerals
- Forms in continental and marine evaporite deposits, and around fumaroles
- Named after Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604-1668) a German alchemist #minerals

The best of social media: Showing #365Minerals to @gleadology.bsky.social - and watching him get excited and tell stories about where he’s seen them IRL

Only nine minerals to go 😔 #365Minerals

A spherical mass consisting of white, radiating mesolite prisms. It resembles a rolled up hedgehog. From India. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Radiating masses of pure white mesolite needles on a solid compact white mass on basalt. From J and T Quarry, Benton County, Oregon, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Colourless needle-like mesolite crystals on fibrous natrolite. From Puchavec quarry, Liberec Region, Czech Republic. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

356 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Mesolite:
- A zeolite group mineral
- Forms in volcanic rock cavities
- Its name comes from the Greek word "μέσος/mesos" (middle) because its composition is between natrolite and scolecite #minerals #MineralMonday

An aggregate of colourless, slight cloudy looking görgeyite crystals. From Lake Inderm Atyrau, Kazakhstan. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Görgeyite:
- A sulphate mineral containing potassium and calcium
- Forms in evaporite deposits and hydrothermal veins
- Named after Rolf von Görgey (1886-1915), an Austrian mineralogist #minerals

A pale beige powdery mass of destinezite. From Argenteau, Belgium. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Destinezite:
- A hydrated phosphate sulphate mineral containing iron
- Forms when sulphate-rich solutions react with phosphates
- Named after Pierre Destinez (d. 1811), a lab assistant at the University of Liège, Belgium #minerals

Shiny translucent brown crystals of eosphorite on colourless quartz. From Sapucaia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

353 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Eosphorite:
- A phosphate mineral containing manganese
- Can be pink or brown
- Forms in some granite pegmatites containing phosphate
- Its name comes from the Greek word "έωσφορος" (dawn-bearing) because the type specimen had a pink colour #minerals

A reddish-brown mass of triploidite with some green dickinsonite. From Branchville, Connecticut, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

352 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Triploidite:
- A phosphate mineral containing manganese and iron
- Forms via the hydrothermal alteration of phosphates in some granite pegmatites
- Its name comes triplite (a mineral) and the Greek word "eidos" (like) because it resembles triplite #minerals

Three rough crystals of dull black tapiolite with some pinkish-brown feldspar. From Tammela, Finland. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

An isolated dull black crystal of tapiolite. From Finland. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

351 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Tapiolite:
- An oxide mineral series with manganese-rich and iron-rich species
- An ore of niobium and tantalum
- Forms in granite pegmatites
- Named after Tapio, an ancient Finnish forest god #minerals

A crust of glassy, colourless datolite crystals. From Bergen Hill, New Jersey, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A crust of glassy, colourless datolite crystals with some slightly beige, translucent calcite. From Arendal, Norway. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

350 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Datolite:
- A calcium boron silicate
- Forms as a secondary mineral in mafic rocks
- Its name comes from the Greek word "δατεῖσθαι/dateísthai" (to divide) because massive specimens have a granular texture #minerals

A rectangular piece of medium grey coloured gneiss with a rough texture. There are lots of tiny little turquoise crystals dotted along it. From Lynch's Creek, Campbell Co., Virginia, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A nodular polished piece of tuquoise that looks like a clump of pale blue cauliflower. From Wadi Maghareh, Egypt. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Smooth, sky blue coloured patches of turquoise in a beige coloured matrix. From Mineral Park, Arizona, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

349 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Turquoise:
- A phosphate mineral
- Forms via hydrothermal alteration of copper deposits
- Used as an ornamental stone for thousands of years
- Its name comes from the French word "turquois" (Turkish) because the mineral came to Europe via Turkey #minerals #MineralMonday

Blocky twinned prisms of aragonite, colourless and translucent, with some bright yellow sulphur. From Cianciana, Sicily, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A group of pale brown pseudo-hexagonal aragonite twin crystals. They are arranged in a spherical shape. From Cobeta, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Aragonite, var. flos ferri. It's a white, branching mass of aragonite with a silky shimmer. From Dufton, Cumbria, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Aragonite:
- A calcium carbonate mineral
- Forms via metamorphism, precipitation in warm marine water, around hot springs and in caves
- A component of mollusc shells and coral exoskeletons
- Named after its type locality Molina de Aragón in Spain #minerals

A cut and polished slice of wood tin, with black to brown bands of cassiterite in white quartz. From West Kitty Mine, Cornwall, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Extremely shiny and black cassiterite crystals, showing twinning. From Panasqueira Mine, Portugal. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

Groups of blocky black cassiterite crystals on a beige matrix. From Horní Slavkov, Czech Republic. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

347 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Cassiterite:
- A tin oxide mineral
- Forms in pegmatites and hydrothermal veins
- An important tin ore
- Its name comes from the Greek word "κασσίτερος/kassiteros" (tin) #minerals

Shiny black babingtonite crystals on white translucent and blocky calcite crystals. From Westfield, Massachusetts, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

346 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Babingtonite:
- A silicate mineral
- Forms in volcanic rock cavities
- The state mineral of Massachusetts, USA
- Named after Dr. William Babington (1756-1833), an Irish physician and founding member of the Geological Society of London #minerals

A pink, botryoidal crust of spherocobaltite with green atacamite and some gypsum. From Boleo, Mexico. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

345 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Spherocobaltite:
- A cobalt carbonate mineral
- Forms in cobalt bearing hydrothermal deposits
- Its name comes from the Greek word "sphaira" (sphere) and cobalt because of its shape and composition #minerals

Yellow glassy hydroxylapatite crystals in pale green talc. From Cherokee County, Georgia, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Hydroxylapatite:
- A phosphate mineral
- A major component of bones and teeth
- Forms in some talc schists
- Its name comes from "hydro" because it contains hydroxyl and the Greek word "ἀπατάω/apatao" (to deceive) since it's often confused with other #minerals

A group of translucent, grey, bladed claudetite crystals. An artificial specimen. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A thin, transparent and colourless ribbon-like crystal of claudetite. Resembling a thin strip of plastic. From Rio Tinto, Spain. This inforation is repeated on its display label. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

343 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Claudetite:
- Arsenic oxide mineral
- Forms via the oxidation of arsenic bearing minerals, e.g. realgar, arsenopyrite
- Has the same hardness as fingernails (2.5 on the Mohs scale)
- Named after Frederick Claudet (1826-1906), a French chemist who first described it #minerals

A bright blue crust of blue kröhnkite crystals on grey to pale pink quartz. From Chuquicamata, Chile. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Kröhnkite:
- A hydrated copper sulphate mineral
- Forms in the oxidised zone of copper deposits, usually in arid environments
- Named after Johann Berthold Christian Kröhnke (1832-1915), a German chemist who first analysed the it #minerals #MineralMonday