June 2017

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 …

Deep Color Veszelyite Crystals

Deep Color Veszelyite Crystals . Photo credit: Gianfranco Ciccolini Veszelyite A rare secondary Cu-Zn mineral occurri…

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 …

Pleochroism in Tanzanite

Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crysta…

Astrophyllite: Mineral Information

Astrophyllite: Mineral Information. From Água de Pau volcano, San Miguel Island, Azores District, Portugal. Photo: Serge…

The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem

The World's Largest Aquamarine Gem. The Dom Pedro aquamarine obelisk by gem sculptor Bernd Munsteiner The Dom Pedro aqu…

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 s…

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 laun…

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 eru…

Splendid Olivenite Crystals

Splendid Olivenite Crystals. Photo Tóth László   Olivenite is a copper arsenate mineral, formula Cu 2 AsO 4 OH. It crys…

Fabulous Azurite with Malachite

Fabulous Azurite with Malachite From France. Photo: Chollet Pascal Azurite often occurs with green Malachite, which ma…

Gorgeous Rhodochrosite Crystals

Gorgeous Rhodochrosite Crystals From South Africa. Photo Credit: László Tóth Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mi…

The Largest Meteorite Ever Found in the United States

The Largest Meteorite Ever Found in the United States. The Willamette Meteorite on display at the American Museum of Natu…

What is Aura Rainbow Quartz and How Is It Made?

What Is Rainbow Aura Quartz? Aura quartz is a type of quartz that has been enhanced with a combination of titanium and niobi…

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 …

Rare Huge Green-blue Opal Found in Nevada

Rare Huge Green-blue Opal Found in Nevada. Image credit: Chip Clark The Roebling Opal is an extraordinary 2,585-ca…