June 2017

Giant Dinosaur ‘Fossil Wall’ Discovered in China

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A researcher cleans a dinosaur bone at the ‘fossil wall’ in Puan Township. Photo: Xinhua</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scientists have unearthed a large dinosaur fossil site in southwestern China.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Paleontologists say 5,000 dinosaur fossils have been excavated from a "fossil wall". The wall is 150 meters long, eight meters high and two meters thick.</span><br />
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A startling find may conceal specimens that could reveal much about evolutionary history of Jurassic era. Palaeontologists in southwest China who unearthed possibly the world’s largest fossil wall of Jurassic-era dinosaurs are hopeful that the discovery can shed new light on the creatures’ evolutionary history, Chinese media reported. The 150-meter-long fossil wall, two meters deep and eight meters high will help fill a void of research on dinosaurs’ evolutionary history.<br />
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The unearthed fossils belong to at least five dinosaur categories, such as ornithopods, sauropods and stegosaurs, and date back to the Jurassic period, according to researcher Xu Xing with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Many fossils at Pu'an belong to the middle Jurassic period and dinosaur fossils from that time are scarce worldwide, Xu said. "The Jurassic 'wall' at Pu'an is the largest in the world."<br />
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The Chongqing government has earmarked more than 17 million yuan (2.5 million U.S. dollars) for protection and  excavation of the site. The fossils were discovered in Puan township, Yunyang county in the Municipality of Chongqing after a local farmer first came up them by accident in January 2015 and later reported them to authorities.<br />
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The site was more than 160 million years old and most of the fossils could trace back to the mid-Jurassic period, which is a breakthrough in dinosaur research as good archaeological records from the period are scarce world wide, according to Xu.<br />
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Xu said these dinosaurs might have lived along river banks and died during natural disasters. As the rivers bearing their remains slowly merged into larger lakes, the bones gradually were preserved as fossils over millions of years.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A researcher cleans a dinosaur bone at the ‘fossil wall’ in Puan Township. Photo: Xinhua</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fossilized dinosaur bones, between 180 and 160 million years old.</td></tr>
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Giant Dinosaur ‘Fossil Wall’ Discovered in China

A researcher cleans a dinosaur bone at the ‘fossil wall’ in Puan Township. Photo: Xinhua Scientists have unearthed a large dinosaur...

Deep Color Veszelyite Crystals from Montana

Minerals 10:13 PM

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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Veszelyite </span></b><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Formula:<span> Cu<sup>2+</sup><sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>(OH)<sub>3</sub>·2H<sub>2</sub>O</span></span><br />System: Monoclinic<br />Colour: Green, blue, greenish ...<br />Hardness: 3½ - 4</span><br />From: Black Pine Mine , Black Pine Ridge, John Long Mts, , Granite Co., Montana, USA<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Photo credit: Gianfranco Ciccolini </span></b></div>

Deep Color Veszelyite Crystals from Montana

Veszelyite Formula: Cu 2+ 3 PO 4 (OH) 3 ·2H 2 O System: Monoclinic Colour: Green, blue, greenish ... Hardness: 3½ - 4 From: Black Pine ...

Origins of Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing Granites

Geochemistry, Granite, Tectonic 9:29 PM

Origins of Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing Granites

Minerals in Granite The Nanling Range of South China is world famous for its widely developed multiple-aged granitic magmatism and re...

Pleochroism in Tanzanite

Mineral, Mineralogy, Minerals 11:08 PM

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing  alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span><h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate) belonging to the epidote group. </span></h4>
The gemstone was given the name 'tanzanite' by Tiffany & Co. after Tanzania, the country in which it was discovered. The scientific name of <b>"blue-violet zoisite" </b>was not thought to be consumer friendly enough by Tiffanys marketing department, who introduced it to the market in 1968. In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912.<br />
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According to gemologists , the circumstances that led to the gems formation 585 million years ago were so exceptionally unusual, that the likelihood of finding tanzanite anywhere else on earth is one in a million, making it a<b> <a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2015/09/top-10-worlds-rarest-most-valuable-gems.html" target="_blank">thousand times rarer than diamonds</a></b>. Tanzanite is<b> so rare </b>because it is found and mined in a small area only four kilometers wide and two kilometers long at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in the Manyara region of Northern Tanzania.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uZNg_OKZLAc/WVFmpD_BObI/AAAAAAAAMxE/ToLG-EhOAhMM02_n-cKcWYZcV6jVWfdGACLcBGAs/s1600/Gemmy%2BTanzanite%2Bfrom%2BMerelani%2BHills%2B%2528Mererani%2529%252C%2BArusha%2BRegion%252C%2BTanzania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pleochroism in Tanzanite" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="841" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uZNg_OKZLAc/WVFmpD_BObI/AAAAAAAAMxE/ToLG-EhOAhMM02_n-cKcWYZcV6jVWfdGACLcBGAs/s640/Gemmy%2BTanzanite%2Bfrom%2BMerelani%2BHills%2B%2528Mererani%2529%252C%2BArusha%2BRegion%252C%2BTanzania.jpg" title="" width="560" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gemmy Tanzanite from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Tanzania</td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tanzanite’s Interesting Color</span></b></span><br />
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The mineral <b>zoisite </b>colors are variable but well known as green, blue to violet and pink to reddish in color, Also grey, white or brown. The typical color of tanzanite is <b>blue with a violet tinge.</b> In some lighter colored stones, the color is described as lavender. The color of the tanzanite is the most important factor in determining its price.  <b>The blue color</b> of tanzanite is caused by small amounts of <b>vanadium </b>within the zoisite mineral structure.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7ICqY8Qgiik/WVFoGXMEQJI/AAAAAAAAMxI/oPBXIZX1eIElrLIWbAP9KIROAtdzflwEQCLcBGAs/s1600/One%2Bcrystal%252C%2Btwo%2Bcolours%252C%2Bno%2Bmagic%25E2%2580%25A6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pleochroism in Tanzanite" border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="736" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7ICqY8Qgiik/WVFoGXMEQJI/AAAAAAAAMxI/oPBXIZX1eIElrLIWbAP9KIROAtdzflwEQCLcBGAs/s640/One%2Bcrystal%252C%2Btwo%2Bcolours%252C%2Bno%2Bmagic%25E2%2580%25A6.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image credit: MIM Museum.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pleochroism in Tanzanite</span></b></span><br />
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<b>Pleochroism </b>is a physical property in which the material appears to be different colors when viewed from different crystallographic directions. <b>Tanzanite is pleochroic</b>, meaning the purple, gray, blue and violet tones within the stone vary depending on the angle the stone is viewed from. There might also be a slight color change in incandescent light, when stones may appear to be more violet. Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation.<br />
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Some specimens of tanzanite can be a distinct blue when viewed from one direction, and vary from violet to red when viewed from other directions. The group of three photos on this page shows a tanzanite crystal viewed from three different crystallographic directions. Because each of the three directions exhibits a different color, this makes tanzanite a "trichroic" material.<br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate) belonging to the epidote group. </span></span></span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yyZNTEYj0X0/WVFpPC8bGsI/AAAAAAAAMxM/nGp7iuY0VFEh4w0j6FRsYfSyn5H7wLOvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Intense%2Bpurple-pink%2Btanzanite%2Bcrystal%252C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pleochroism in Tanzanite" border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="703" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yyZNTEYj0X0/WVFpPC8bGsI/AAAAAAAAMxM/nGp7iuY0VFEh4w0j6FRsYfSyn5H7wLOvQCLcBGAs/s640/Intense%2Bpurple-pink%2Btanzanite%2Bcrystal%252C.jpg" title="" width="600" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intense purple-pink tanzanite crystal</td></tr>
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Pleochroism in Tanzanite

Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientatio...

Wonderfull Group of Orange Crystals of Astrophyllite

Minerals 10:26 PM

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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Astrophyllite</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Formula: K<sub>2</sub>NaFe<sup>2+</sup><sub>7</sub>Ti<sub>2</sub>Si<sub>8</sub>O<sub>28</sub>(OH)<sub>4</sub>F</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Colour: Bronze-yellow, golden yellow,
brown to reddish brown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lustre: Greasy, Pearly, Sub-Metallic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hardness:3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Specific Gravity: 3.2 - 3.4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Crystal System: Triclinic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From Água de Pau volcano, San Miguel Island, Azores District, Portugal  </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Photo Serge Lavarde </span></div>
</div>

Wonderfull Group of Orange Crystals of Astrophyllite

Astrophyllite Formula: K 2 NaFe 2+ 7 Ti 2 Si 8 O 28 (OH) 4 F Colour: Bronze-yellow, golden yellow, brown to reddish brown. Lu...

The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem

famous, gemstones 9:19 AM

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7hWXzcPY2tg/WU9Orn8lOgI/AAAAAAAAMwk/cvfAM_cbqsARLXokjmNVMBfUOXPrOdmiACLcBGAs/s1600/The%2Bworld%2527s%2BLargest%2BAquamarine%2BGem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7hWXzcPY2tg/WU9Orn8lOgI/AAAAAAAAMwk/cvfAM_cbqsARLXokjmNVMBfUOXPrOdmiACLcBGAs/s640/The%2Bworld%2527s%2BLargest%2BAquamarine%2BGem.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dom Pedro aquamarine obelisk by gem sculptor Bernd Munsteiner</td></tr>
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The Dom Pedro aquamarine is the world's largest cut aquamarine gem. It was cut from a crystal originally weighing approximately 100 pounds (45 kg) and measuring more than 3 feet (0.91 m) in length. <br />
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The stone was mined in Pedra Azul, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil around 1980, and named after the Brazilian emperors Pedro I and Pedro II. The blue-green gemstone was cut by Bernd Munsteiner into an obelisk form weighing 10,363 carats. <br />
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The finished dimensions measure 14 inches (36 cm) tall by 4 inches (10 cm) wide. The jewel was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Jane Mitchell and Jeffery Bland. It is housed in the National Museum of Natural History's Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wIt7TP4k5uY/WU9MWEwuJ4I/AAAAAAAAMwM/vCbK3G7vYY41q5gExipcBQcaKfnQJspvgCLcBGAs/s1600/Agenor%2BTavares%2Bwith%2Bthe%2Boriginal%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal.%2BPhoto%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BTony%2BKampf..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem" border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="800" height="428" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wIt7TP4k5uY/WU9MWEwuJ4I/AAAAAAAAMwM/vCbK3G7vYY41q5gExipcBQcaKfnQJspvgCLcBGAs/s640/Agenor%2BTavares%2Bwith%2Bthe%2Boriginal%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal.%2BPhoto%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BTony%2BKampf..jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Agenor Tavares with the original aquamarine crystal. Photo courtesy of Tony Kampf.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJOjeymhYh8/WU9NMmZdEtI/AAAAAAAAMwU/IrBrAG9CsTU-YuQlCpSC5ntSS_OvF7g3wCLcBGAs/s1600/Size%2Bcomparison%2B-%2BThe%2BDom%2BPedro%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal%2Band%2Bfaceted%2Bgem..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJOjeymhYh8/WU9NMmZdEtI/AAAAAAAAMwU/IrBrAG9CsTU-YuQlCpSC5ntSS_OvF7g3wCLcBGAs/s640/Size%2Bcomparison%2B-%2BThe%2BDom%2BPedro%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal%2Band%2Bfaceted%2Bgem..jpg" title="" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Size comparison - The Dom Pedro aquamarine crystal and faceted gem.<br />
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk0lV3gMwto/WU9N-3vu0vI/AAAAAAAAMwc/Mx-kq2QRGA0aq-YfHM4-3Ab-qLn9hviBgCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2Boriginal%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal%252C%2Bbroken%2Bin%2Bthree%2Bplaces%2Bbut%2Blined%2Bup%2Btogether%252C%2Bmeasured%2Bapproximately%2B1%2Bmeter%2Bin%2Blength.%2BPhoto%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BBernd%2BMunsteiner..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem" border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="800" height="478" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk0lV3gMwto/WU9N-3vu0vI/AAAAAAAAMwc/Mx-kq2QRGA0aq-YfHM4-3Ab-qLn9hviBgCLcBGAs/s640/The%2Boriginal%2Baquamarine%2Bcrystal%252C%2Bbroken%2Bin%2Bthree%2Bplaces%2Bbut%2Blined%2Bup%2Btogether%252C%2Bmeasured%2Bapproximately%2B1%2Bmeter%2Bin%2Blength.%2BPhoto%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BBernd%2BMunsteiner..jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original aquamarine crystal, broken in three places but lined up together, measured approximately 1 meter in length. Photo courtesy of Bernd Munsteiner.</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Video:</span></b> <br />
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The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem

The Dom Pedro aquamarine obelisk by gem sculptor Bernd Munsteiner The Dom Pedro aquamarine is the world's largest cut aquamarine ...

Flirtatious 100-Million-Year-Old Damselflies Found Frozen in Amber

amber, Fossils 8:53 AM

Flirtatious 100-Million-Year-Old Damselflies Found Frozen in Amber

The poor damsel fly was trapped while getting his groove on over 100m years ago CREDIT: DARAN ZHENG It was all going so well. 100-mill...

De Beers: A New Ship to Explore for Seafloor Diamonds

Diamonds, Mining 6:29 AM

De Beers: A New Ship to Explore for Seafloor Diamonds

The mv SS Nujoma The diamond hunter sets sail: World's largest gem finding vessel De Beers has officially launched the mv SS N...

Volcanic Eruptions Triggered Dawn of the Dinosaurs

dinosaur, extinction, volcano 6:43 AM

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The argon-argon dating method can provide more precise absolute dates for many geologic events, ranging from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes to the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other creatures at the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary period.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Huge pulses of volcanic activity are likely to have played a key role in triggering the end Triassic mass extinction, which set the scene for the rise and age of the dinosaurs, new Oxford University research has found.</span><br />
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The Triassic extinction took place approximately 200 million years ago, and was proceeded by the dinosaur era. One of the largest mass extinctions of animal life on record, the casualty list includes large crocodile-like reptiles and several marine invertebrates.<br />
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The event also caused huge changes in land vegetation, and while it remains a mystery why the dinosaurs survived this event, they went on to fill the vacancies left by the now extinct wildlife species, alongside early mammals and amphibians. This mass extinction has long been linked to a large and abrupt release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but the exact source of this emission has been unknown.<br />
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Following the discovery of volcanic rocks of the same age as the extinction, volcanic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions had previously been suggested as an important contributor to this extinction event.<br />
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 Previous studies have also shown that this volcanism might have occurred in pulses, but the global extent and potential impact of these volcanic episodes has remained unknown. These volcanic rocks covered a huge area, across four continents, representing the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).<br />
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Researchers from the Oxford University Department of Earth Science worked in collaboration with the Universities of Exeter and Southampton to trace the global impact of major volcanic gas emissions and their link to the end of the Triassic period.<br />
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The findings link volcanism to the previously observed repeated large emissions of carbon dioxide that had a profound impact on the global climate, causing the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period, as well as slowing the recovery of animal life afterwards.<br />
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By investigating the mercury content of sedimentary rocks deposited during the extinction, the study findings revealed clear links in the timing of CAMP volcanism and the end-Triassic extinction. Volcanoes give off mercury gas emissions, which spread globally through the atmosphere, before being deposited in sediments. Any sediments left during a large volcanic event would therefore be expected to have unusually high mercury content.<br />
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The team sourced six sediment deposits were sourced from the UK, Austria, Argentina, Greenland, Canada and Morocco, and their mercury levels analysed. Five of the six records showed a large increase in mercury content beginning at the end-Triassic extinction horizon, with other peaks observed between the extinction horizon and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which occurred approximately 200 thousand years later.<br />
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Elevated mercury emissions also coincided with previously established increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, indicating CO2 release from volcanic degassing.<br />
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Lawrence Percival, Lead author and Geochemistry Graduate student at Oxford University, said: “These results strongly support repeated episodes of volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic, with the onset of volcanism during the end-Triassic extinction.<br />
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“This research greatly strengthens the link between the Triassic mass extinction and volcanic emissions of CO2. This further evidence of episodic emissions of volcanic CO2 as the likely driver of the extinction enhances our understanding of this event, and potentially of other climate change episodes in Earth’s history.”<br />
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<br />
<i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-06-19-volcanic-eruptions-triggered-dawn-dinosaurs#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Oxford</a>.</span></u></i><br />
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</span></div>

Volcanic Eruptions Triggered Dawn of the Dinosaurs

The argon-argon dating method can provide more precise absolute dates for many geologic events, ranging from volcanic eruptions and earth...

Splendid Olivenite Crystals from Greece

Minerals 10:56 PM

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Olivenite is one of the most common minerals in the earth, and is a 
major rock forming mineral. Despite this, good specimens and large 
crystals are uncommon and sought after. Only few localities yield large 
examples of this mineral, although small and microscopic grains are 
found worldwide. Olivine is also found in meteorites, and large grains 
have been reported in many of them. <br /></div>
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From Christiana Mine,Lavrion District Mines, Lavrion District (Laurion; Laurium), Attikí Prefecture (Attica; Attika), Greece</div>
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<b> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Photo </span>Tóth László</b></div>

Splendid Olivenite Crystals from Greece

Olivenite is one of the most common minerals in the earth, and is a major rock forming mineral. Despite this, good specimens and larg...

Fabulous Azurite with Malachite From France

Minerals 10:30 PM

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Azurite often occurs with green Malachite, which may form green stains or specks on Azurite crystals or aggregates. The two minerals sometimes occur admixed or banded together, forming what is called “Azure-malachite” in the gem and mineral trades. <br />
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From Chessy copper mines, Chessy-les-Mines, Le Bois d'Oingt, Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Photo: Chollet Pascal </span></b><br />
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Fabulous Azurite with Malachite From France

Azurite often occurs with green Malachite, which may form green stains or specks on Azurite crystals or aggregates. The two minerals so...

Gorgeous Rhodochrosite Crystals From South Africa

Minerals 9:46 PM

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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rhodochrosite | ‪#‎Geology</span></b><br />
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Formula: MnCO<sub>3</sub><br />
System: Trigonal<br />
Colour: Pink, rose, red, ...<br />
Lustre: Vitreous, Pearly<br />
Hardness: 3½ - 4 Tenacity: Brittle<br />
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From N'Chwaning I mine, South Africa<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
Photo Credit: László Tóth</span></div>

Gorgeous Rhodochrosite Crystals From South Africa

Rhodochrosite | ‪#‎Geology Formula: MnCO 3 System: Trigonal Colour: Pink, rose, red, ... Lustre: Vitreous, Pearly Hardness: 3½ - ...

The Largest Meteorite Ever Found in the United States

Meteorite, USA 7:51 PM

The Largest Meteorite Ever Found in the United States

The Willamette Meteorite on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Willamette Meteorite weighs 15.5 ...

How Is Aura Rainbow Quartz Made?

Mineral, Mineralogy 4:54 AM

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--22oAEDpXkQ/WpL8_lr4y4I/AAAAAAAAO_E/hCOoVBw9KRY-DrzBPh4Bt5gYYV9vXMCJACLcBGAs/s1600/How%2BIs%2BAura%2BRainbow%2BQuartz%2BMade__1519582414_134.35.125.112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="How Is Aura Rainbow Quartz Made?" border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="1080" height="498" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--22oAEDpXkQ/WpL8_lr4y4I/AAAAAAAAO_E/hCOoVBw9KRY-DrzBPh4Bt5gYYV9vXMCJACLcBGAs/s640/How%2BIs%2BAura%2BRainbow%2BQuartz%2BMade__1519582414_134.35.125.112.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Credit</b>: Nathan Almeyda</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aura quartz is quartz that has been enhanced with a combination of titanium and niobium.</span></b></span></h3>
Metal-coated crystals are natural crystals, such as quartz, whose surface has been coated with metal to give them an iridescent metallic sheen. Crystals treated this way are used as gemstones and for other decorative purposes. Possible coatings include gold (resulting in a stone called aqua aura), indium, titanium, niobium and copper. Other names for crystals treated so include; angel aura, flame aura, opal aura or rainbow quartz.<br />
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Aqua aura is created in a vacuum chamber from quartz crystals and gold vapour by vapour deposition. The quartz is heated to 871 °C (1600 °F) in a vacuum, and then gold vapor is added to the chamber.<br />
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The gold atoms fuse to the crystal's surface, which gives the crystal an iridescent metallic sheen. When viewed under a gemological microscope in diffused direct transmitted light, aqua aura displays the following properties:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>A coppery surface iridescence in tangential illumination</li>
<li>Diffused dark outlines of some facet junctions</li>
<li>A patchy blue colour distribution on some facets</li>
<li>White facet junctions, irregular white abrasions and surface pits, where the treatment either did not "take" or had been abraded away.</li>
</ul>
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Rainbow quartz have been treated with a combination of titanium and gold. Titanium molecules are bonded to the quartz by the natural electrostatic charge of the crystal in a process known as magnetron ionization.<br />
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The brilliant color of flame aura is the result of optical interference effects produced by layers of titanium. Since only electricity is used to deposit the titanium layers and create these colors, very little heat is involved and the integrity of the crystal is maintained. The crystal does not become brittle or prone to breakage as with other treatments.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top
 row starting from the left moving right is titanium Quartz,<br />
lemon 
Quartz, sunshine aura Quartz, rose aura Quartz , ruby aura Quartz. <b>Credit</b>: Nathan Almeyda</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Angel Aura Spirit Quartz Cluster (Treated)<br />
Credit: Exotic Crystals LLC</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbow Aura Spirit Quartz</td></tr>
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<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Read also:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2017/04/where-does-watermelon-tourmaline-come.html" target="_blank">Where does Watermelon tourmaline come from? How Does It Grow?</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.geologyin.com/2017/03/how-do-opalised-fossils-form.html" target="_blank">How Do Opalised Fossils Form?</a></span></b></div>

How Is Aura Rainbow Quartz Made?

Credit : Nathan Almeyda Aura quartz is quartz that has been enhanced with a combination of titanium and niobium. Metal-coated crysta...

Ancient Magma Crystals Could Help Us Predict Eruptions

Crystal, Magma, volcano 9:24 AM

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Zirkon Kristalle in Matrix. Credit: crystal-treasure</td></tr>
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<br />
Volcanologists are gaining a new understanding of what’s going on inside a shallow magma reservoir that lies below an active volcano and they’re finding a colder, more solid place than previously thought, according to new research published June 16 in the journal Science. It’s a new view of how volcanoes work, and could eventually help volcanologists get a better idea of when a volcano poses the most risk.<br />
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Chad Deering, an assistant professor of geology at Michigan Technological University, is one of the co-authors who helped lead field research on New Zealand’s North Island. The team extracted zircon minerals from volcanic rocks around the slopes of Mt. Tarawera, deposited during the Kaharoa eruption in 1314, which is New Zealand’s largest eruption in the last millennia.<br />
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“It takes a long time to build up a magma body,” Deering said. “But it may not be in an eruptible state that whole time.”<br />
<br />
He adds that ongoing research shows that a lot of magma–particularly silicic magma that freezes completely into granite or reaches a melt-rich state and explodes in big eruptions–is more like mush than pure liquid. The Kaharoa zircons were in contact with liquid, and their crystals record a history of long spans of cooling with only punctuated periods of heating that leave the magma in an eruptible state.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Black Box of Magma</span></b><br />
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It’s hard to study magma directly. Even at volcanic sites, it lies miles beneath the Earth’s surface and while geologists have occasionally drilled into magma by accident or design, heat and pressure destroy any instrument you could try to put into it.<br />
<br />
Instead, Deering along with corresponding author Kari Cooper from the University of California-Davis and their colleagues study the chemical log recorded in the zircon crystals from Mt. Tarawera. The Kaharoa eruption, roughly five times the size of Mt. St Helens in 1980, brought the zircons up, which had been exposed to much of the record of temperature and chemistry changes in the magma reservoir history. Once on the surface, that record of the past was frozen in place.<br />
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The crystals are like a “black box” flight recorder for studying volcanic eruptions, Cooper said. “Instead of trying to piece together the wreckage, the crystals can tell us what was going on while they were below the surface, including the run up to an eruption.”<br />
<br />
By studying trace components within seven zircon crystals, they could determine when the crystals first formed and how long during their life within the magma reservoir they were exposed to high heat (over 700 degrees Celsius). The crystals give information about the state of the part of the magma reservoir in which they resided.<br />
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The researchers found that all but one of the seven crystals were at least tens of thousands of years old, but had spent only a small percentage (less than about four percent) exposed to molten magma.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Snowcone Not A Molten Lake</span></b><br />
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The picture that emerges, Cooper said, is less a seething mass of mostly liquid molten rock than something like a snowcone: mostly solid and crystalline, with a little liquid seeping through it.<br />
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To create an eruption, a certain amount of that solid, crystalline magma has to melt and mobilize, possibly by interacting with hotter liquid stored elsewhere in the reservoir. The pre-eruption magma likely draws material from different parts of the reservoir, and it happens very quickly in geological time – over decades to centuries. That implies that it may be possible to identify volcanoes that pose the highest risk of eruption by looking for those where the magma is most mobile.<br />
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Interestingly, all the crystals studied had remained unmelted in Mt. Tarawera’s magma reservoir through a gigantic eruption that occurred about 25,000 years ago, before being blown out in the smaller eruption 700 years ago. That shows that magma mobilization must be a complex process.<br />
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“To understand volcanic eruptions, we need to be able to decipher signals the volcano gives us before it erupts,” says Jennifer Wade, a program director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research. “This study backs up the clock to the time before an eruption, and uses signals in crystals to understand when magma goes from being stored to being mobilized for an eruption.”<br />
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<br />
<u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2017/june/volcanic-crystals-give-new-view-magma.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.mtu.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Michigan Technological University</a>.</span></i></u></div>

Ancient Magma Crystals Could Help Us Predict Eruptions

Zirkon Kristalle in Matrix. Credit: crystal-treasure Volcanologists are gaining a new understanding of what’s going on inside a shal...

Rare Huge Green-blue Opal Found in Nevada

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Rare Huge Green-blue Opal Found in Nevada

Image credit: Chip Clark The Roebling Opal is an extraordinary 2,585-carat piece of opal rough and is also the largest unpolished bla...

Radioactive Elements in New Mexican Rock Reveal Longest Earthquake Record

Earth History, Radioactive, Rocks 6:36 AM

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White calcite deposits in rocks from a fault line in New Mexico helped scientists create a record-long earthquake record. Photo by Laurel Goodwin and Randy Williams</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Using radioactive elements trapped in crystallized, cream-colored "veins" in New Mexican rock, geologists have peered back in time more than 400,000 years to illuminate a record of earthquakes along the Loma Blanca fault in the Rio Grande rift.</span><br />
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It is the longest record of earthquakes ever documented on a fault, showing 13 distinct seismic events -- nine of which occurred at regular intervals averaging 40,000-to-50,000 years and four that clustered together just five-to-11,000 years apart.<br />
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The work, described in a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by University of Wisconsin-Madison postdoctoral researcher Randy Williams and his advisor, Laurel Goodwin, a professor in the UW-Madison geoscience department.<br />
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"We weren't expecting any of this," Goodwin says. "It's been quite the odyssey for us."<br />
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The researchers initially set out to better understand the background, or default, earthquake activity along the 14-mile-long Loma Blanca fault, south of Albuquerque. An intraplate fault like this generally produces earthquakes much less frequently than those at the boundaries of tectonic plates, like California's San Andreas Fault, and tends to be less well understood by geologists. However, some intraplate faults have experienced increased seismicity in recent years, likely due to deep injection wells used for wastewater disposal.<br />
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In places like Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio, Williams explains, earthquake activity has been linked to high-pressure wastewater injected far beneath Earth's surface. In part to better understand these human-driven events, the researchers wanted to get a handle on what mechanical factors control natural earthquakes and how often a given fault slips to cause one.<br />
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"We can't predict an exact date for when they will occur, and it's unlikely that we ever will," Goodwin explains, "but we want to understand what is driving them so we can better prepare."<br />
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To look for answers, Williams began to examine "veins" made of the mineral calcite that streak segments of rock along the fault. Calcite precipitates out of pressurized fluids that travel through rock near faults during some earthquakes and gets deposited in layers, like rings of a tree. During subsequent earthquakes, the calcite fractures and heals, leaving a distinct signature like old broken bones.<br />
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Williams looked at the radioactive elements uranium and thorium trapped in these calcite crystals, using them as a kind of clock based on the rate at which uranium decays into thorium. He and the rest of the research team, which includes Warren Sharp from the Berkeley Geochronology Center and Peter Mozley of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, could measure the age of each "generation" of calcite found in the veins and determine when earthquakes occurred relative to one another. The magnitude of these earthquakes at Loma Blanca has been estimated to be between 6.2 and 6.9, by analogy with more recent events.<br />
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The team showed that earthquakes on the fault were controlled by two different processes. Earthquakes that occurred at regular intervals were the result of accumulated stress that eventually caused the fault to fail every 40,000 years or so but were not driven by fluids. However, the unusual cluster of earthquakes that occurred roughly 430,000 years ago was the result of an increase in fluid pressure deep beneath the surface. Increases in fluid pressure in Earth can decrease the friction between the two sides of a fault, leading to easier sliding -- like the pressurized air on an air hockey table.<br />
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The team also showed that calcite associated with two seismic events in the earthquake cluster indicates very rapid carbon dioxide degassing, which can occur when fluid under high pressure is released -- like opening the top of a shaken bottle of soda.<br />
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"When pore pressure increases far enough over the background level, the fault fails and cracks form, releasing fluid from the basin," Goodwin explains. Williams says that injected wastewater is likely to increase pressure at a faster rate than most faults have experienced in the geologic past.<br />
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The findings also help contribute to a longstanding question in geology regarding the mechanics of earthquakes in intraplate faults and whether they occur periodically or randomly in time.<br />
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Today, Williams is working to improve the methods the team used. "We want to understand how the calcite-dating method can be used to contribute to documenting the seismic record of other faults," he says.<br />
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<i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://news.wisc.edu/geologists-use-radioactive-clock-to-document-longest-earthquake-record/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.wisc.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a>. Original written by Kelly April Tyrrell. </span></u></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br />
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Radioactive Elements in New Mexican Rock Reveal Longest Earthquake Record

White calcite deposits in rocks from a fault line in New Mexico helped scientists create a record-long earthquake record. Photo by Laurel...

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