#mincup25 — Public Fediverse posts

Repost: Kyanite isn't just a fetching blue mineral that documents the experience of sediments under extreme duress.
It's an ore: Virginia alone mined 83,000 tonnes in 2023. Kyanite in furnace insulation transforms to mullite when heated, expanding to reduce porosity and shrinkage.

Virginia Kyanite (photo: J. Wyman) from:
https://energy.virginia.gov/geology/Kyanite.shtml

#MinCup25 #Kyanite #Mullite #Virginia #Appalachians

This is one of the dykes found near Ayer's Cliff, just SE of Magog, Quebec. It's a set of three dykes, one of which has the deep-derived xenoliths. That one dyke (not photogenic) has weathered much faster, perhaps due to a higher carbonate content.
#kyanite #MinCup25 #Quebec #Xenolith #Grenville #Appalachians

#MinCup25 QF3 UPDATED RESULTS:
#KYANITE win and will continue on to the semi-finals.

We’re so sorry for the false hope, #Kosmochlor fans, but we caught 3 players stuffing the ballot box in the final hours. Once their excess votes were removed, Kyanite’s lead returned (although you did close the gap a lot!)

Go cyberpunk.

Go chrome.

Go kosmochlor.

Go vote.

https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m03

#MinCup25 #Kosmochlor #cyberpunk

A photo of a Cretaceous dyke intruding into Appalachian-deformed sedimentary rocks deposited in the lower Paleozoic: Earth history from 110 to almost 500 million years ago.

But #kyanite records more of the story: it's part of xenoliths brought to the surface by these dykes that document Grenville crust (1.1 billion years old) at depth.

See: Trzcienski: Kyanite-garnet-bearing Cambrian rocks and Grenville granulites from the Ayer's Cliff, Quebec... Geology (1989)
#MinCup25 #Quebec #Appalachians

#MinCup25 Quarterfinals 3: It's a showdown between Team Green and Team Blue for #kosmochlor vs #kyanite.

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m03
Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/results/r3m03

Repost from last year: A titanite lozenge imaged both using a cellphone through the microscope ocular, and with a proper imaging system. It's surrounded mostly by quartz (+feldspar).
Likely from the Grenville, but from a teaching collection two generations of retired professors ago.

Titanite can be part of the record of temperature, pressure, and timing of crystallization.

#MinCup25 #Titanite #Grenville #Canada

Lovely sphene, wonderful spheeene! Lovely sphene, wonderful spheeene! Sphene! Sphene! Sphene! Sphene! #MinCup25 #titanite #kosmochlor

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r6drdfmf5fzdtvuacnfmfiga/post/3lzcmyy75bs2u

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 5: We’re going for namesake-minerals as bright meteorite-derived green #kosmochlor is up against the wedge-shaped indicator mineral #titanite.

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r2m05
Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/results/r2m05

Reposted from bsky:
A hand-ground section of tephrite from Kaiserstuhl Volcanic Complex showing #Titanite

#MinCup25 #ThinSectionThursday

AlexStrekeisen.it (run by Alessandro Da Mommio) has some beautiful thin section images of titanite:

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

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

Oh wow this is a gorgeous specimen! Absolutely bonkers price, but the silver price (according to a quick Google) is as of today approx US$41/oz - and then you've got to cover finders fees, taxes, import costs, the upcharge for how pretty that formation is, actually gaining profit over the vendor's costs to be at Tucson Gem Show and have sufficient stock (not all vendors also mine/shape/whatever their own stock or work super hand in glove with the folk who do. So)...

(Mind you if it was JUST priced on weight and today's price, rough math says it weighs 11.58lb, approx., which might be true but seems overly heavy for the measurements in the alt-text. No I'd guess about a third to half that price is covering vendor costs for it rather than strict valuation of it.)

Aaaaaanyway. .... I just wanted to say it was pretty and adhd went "okay bur consider". 🙄😅😅🤣🤣 sorry and good morning ish???

#MineralCup #MinCup #MinCup25

via @cobalt123

https://beige.party/@cobalt123/115152062785285478

Repost from last year:
I've seen sphene! (Sounds better than "the rock is tippsy with titanite")

Centimeter-size black sphene (titanite) with apatite (dark brown) and orthoclase feldspar (light brown). Folding pocket knife for scale.

From the Bancroft locality in Ontario, Canada. Grenville-aged (~1.2± billion years)

#MinCup25 #Titanite #Sphene #Bancroft #Ontario #Geology #Grenville

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 11: It's a pair of T-minerals with as versatile #Titanite faces off against the home of rare earth elements #Thortveitite.

VOTE: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1m11

Check results: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/results/r1m11

I maintain that this is a rude matchup. Ruuuuude. I'm gonna delay my vote til morning - someone poke me in like 10 hours or something - but also I need a cute bit of #wavellite for reasons of "gimme rocks pls thx".

#MineralCup #MinCup #MinCup25

via @MineralCup

https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/115177087308780231

I've been eaten by a grue but this match pulled me back because #azurite my beloved,,,,

Look, #kosmochlor is a space rock, big whoop. Did you miss they've also found it terrestrially? (Is it remnants of Other Space Rock? Maybe. Shhhhh.) They buried the lede that it's a #clinopyroxene: it's a *temperature and pressure indicator*. I.e., certain formations, colors, levels of occurrence, etc etc etc, say a LOT about how hot e.g. a magma was, what other minerals and ores might be (geologically) nearby, what stressors were on these rocks over time, etc.

Clinopyroxenes are, for the most part, *scientifically* valuable rather than monetarily, aiui. (#Jadeite is a notable exception.) (#Nephrite is not even a clinopyroxine!) (Freely admit I may be wrong!)

Aaaaanyway: scientifically, yes, it's super cool. Azurite is a favorite and I gotta vote for one of my favorite copper minerals. 😂🤷🏻

(Let's be real, bar a wild upset, the space mineral will win. But azurite tho. Aaaaaaazuuuuuuriiiiiiiite.)

#MineralCup #MinCup #MinCup25

via @MineralCup

https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/115171447997539735

I’m dying here— that darn green crystal has pulled ahead of the obvious deserving winner of #Azurite for #MinCup25 @MineralCup

Is it game over? Well in US football our favorite could pull off an upset win but here I don’t know. Please vote if you haven’t!

Kosmochlor vs Azurite (planetary science edition)

How Kool is that? Kosmochloric Ca-rich pyroxenes with olivine (Kool grains) were found in dust particles collected from comet 81P/Wild by the Stardust spacecraft.

Although azurite has not been found yet on Mars, Curiosity has detected enhanced abundanced of copper at Gale crater. Azurite is usually found in oxidized zones of Cu-bearing ore deposits.

#MinCup25 #Kosmochlor #Azurite

Here’s a photo of Azurite with smaller amounts of Malachite at the Freudenstein Castle in Freiberg, Germany. Let it lull you into voting for it in Mineral Cup 2025! Only a few hours left… #MinCup25 #Azurite #Geology #Minerals https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1m09

Trivia about these lovely Azurite Suns. This piece with multiple suns (that look like pyrite suns) was displayed by an anonymous collector in the Covention Center main show of the #TucsonGemMineralShow
I saw it at the bottom of a tall glass display case. I must have looked innocent but bedraggled. And poor. Unlikely to buy any of this vendor’s specimens priced $3k to $50k. When I asked permission to take the photo, there was a hesitation and once given, obvious I had to be fast. I got 4 quick as I knelt all the way on the floor. They are shown in that album from 9 years ago.

Wealthy rock collectors often never allow photographs of their top specimens in a place that could attract the attention of thieves. If you see a stunning piece at these shows this may be the last time it is ever in public. Maybe one day it will be featured in Mineralogical Record, the revered journal of geologists and collectors.

I finally got my own azurite suns specimens a few years ago, very small but intact. One day I’ll have to continue my plans of photographing all my own Precious.
#Azurite #MinCup25

Now I simply must pull out more links to my photos in Flickr for #Azurite Why, you ask? Because it’s my favorite day in voting for #MinCup25 ! And just now I checked the results so far and…and…oh no the upstart and unusual green mineral is winning for the first time! And by 40-some votes! So here is my photo for Azurite suns, a very unusual azurite formation as a flag “sun” on pure kaolin clays. When you click my link you can follow the image to link for
a magazine article of the location in Africa to Malbunk Mine and see the small group of miners there and their story.

https://flic.kr/p/E9P2Nu

@minouette Whoa those men in the painting are the very definition of the word dandy! Of course I give my vote to #Azurite for Art! And the color! Yea Antiqity! The votes are now about 1,100 with only 5 or so more hours to vote. Our mineral is only 8 votes in the lead! #MinCup25 has been getting average 1,500 votes daily. It’s a nail-biter today. Thanks for sharing your post.

@theaardvark Oh thank you for noticing it! If anyone looks at my stream today they will see my bombartments throwing #Azurite out to entice the voting in #MinCup25

Omg the voting is hot and heavy now! It’s like 638 to 632, #Azurite leading with only 5 hours or so to go!
Hey, wonder if some people post the tag #MinCup25 will that end up trending today? What say you @MineralCup https://beige.party/@cobalt123/115175113712351748

It’s jumping in heavy voting now, woohoo! #TeamAzurite is leading. But barely! How about another photo I took of azurite
#MinCup25 #Azurite

It's turning into a #MinCup25 NAIL-BITER #Kosmochlor and #azurite are still running neck-and-neck, tied exactly at 483 votes each C'mon, Team Kosmochlor, let's go!

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2etgbwm2s6glwadvacxclucn/post/3lyenfkqih22a

Oh noes! Lots more votes in the last 2 hours but at least cobalt, er I mean Azurite is winning now by 4 votes, 500 to 496. C’mon everybody, go go go vote! #MinCup25 #Azurite

Ta-da! My pinned post in my stream when I migrated over to Mastodon in 2022. This was to show folks I’m the same cobalt as many years on Twitter, as cobalt123 and back further to cobalt and later cobalt please on G+.

But around 2005 I began sharing photos on Flickr where I’ve got only about 10,000 photos. Most are on my CC license if you look at my copyright terms. I saw that last night @MineralCup found and shared this post. They know I’m a fiend for #Azurite and a fan of #MinCup25
https://beige.party/@cobalt123/113371242051665338

PS My favorite color is cobalt blue, ever since I began collecting it at 15. I have a cobalt blue glass collection on maybe 200 pieces now. To me it’s a spiritual color. As I look through the deepest cobalt blue glass towards a light source, I get lost in the mesmerizing glow.

True cobalt glass is getting harder to find, for cobalt is in demand for modern mining also with rare earth minerals. Of course the color leads me to crystals of this color in minerals. You’ll see it in light blues to deepest blue-purple. Other minerals will show the origin being associated with cobalt. Now you know why my nickname is cobalt or a variation of cobalt. Usually people call me cobalt or cobalt123.
BTW, did you vote today? 😄
#Azurite #MinCup25

Here’s the link to VOTE today:

https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1m09

#Azurite #MinCup25

Team #kosmochlor personally, but the vote is currently tied! #MinCup25 This bodes for DRAMA

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r6drdfmf5fzdtvuacnfmfiga/post/3lyegvg4rqk2t

A meteorite mineral? Vote #kosmochlor for #MinCup25 🧪

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r6drdfmf5fzdtvuacnfmfiga/post/3lyegrmrk322x

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 9: It’s a battle of green vs blue as rare but vibrant chromium-bearing #kosmochlor up against the deep blue copper alteration mineral #azurite.

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1m09
Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/results/r1m09

#Sanidine from the Fish Canyon Tuff is essential to understanding the pace of events in the #Cenozoic

High potassium, quickly erupted and cooled, and old enough to have accumulated sufficient 40Ar from radioactive decay. These crystals calibrate neutron flux for 40Ar/39Ar dating. The 28.2 Ma age of the FCT sanidine has been fine-tuned using #Milankovitch cycles of other ash beds in stable sedimentary basins.

photo from MinDat.org by Dan Polhemus

#MinCup25 #Geochronology #DeepTime #Colorado

Mmmmm... #haünye just because volcanoes. I'm simple today.

That said, #jeremejevite sounds pretty fucking cool too. Genuinely a case where I'd pick both if I could.

#MineralCup #MinCup #MinCup25

via @MineralCup

https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/115137441601364387

Hmmmmm.... I like how fluffy #okenite is - also fun fact: it turns gelatinous in HCl! (The things you learn from reading the whole #mindat page, lol. [Side note does Mindat have an @ over here?]) I think that would be fun to poke under a fume hood. (Alas I don't have any okenite or access to a fume hood.)

But I think I'm gonna go with #stibnite - kohl has been important for thousands of years, after all; plus, antimony has loads of uses both modern and ancient, iirc. (Don't ask me to name any right now lol. Migraine brain says mmm rocks.) And, stibnite *is* closely associated with arsenic - very similar symptoms if you ingest it, actually.

One wonders if using kohl was also poisoning oneself.... 🤔

#MineralCup #MinCup #MinCup25

via @MineralCup

https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/115131871773211684

@MineralCup How did I not know about the annual #MinCup until now? #SciComm #mincup25
Thanks, @sellathechemist

Quite a bit of #Chrysotile was extracted from the Jeffrey Mine, Quebec. It is located on a line of oceanic lithosphere attached to North America during the growth of the Appalachians.

The town of Asbestos, home of the mine, has been renamed 'Val-des-Sources'.

Much of the expense of renovating buildings in Quebec is the cost of removing the asbestos insulation.

#MinCup25 #Quebec #Ordovician #Appalachians #Ophiolite

Those of you voting for chrysotile in the first round of the Mineral Cup 2025 may be interested in a fantasy novel in which asbestos - amiant, as it used to be known - plays a historic, symbolic, and legendary role: Amiant Soul.
(Those of you voting for pectolite are also welcome to take a look.)
https://deborah.makarios.nz/amiant-soul/
#chrysotile #MinCup25 #AmiantSoul #books #PWYW

Mmmm okay let's be honest, #chrysotile has a loooong and storied history ("if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be entitled to compensation"), but I've gotta give it to #pectolite!

Because a) look at those cool formations it makes, and b) *larimar*! Larimar is pectolite that gets its color from copper, and as far as anyone has ever found, is *only* found in the Dominican Republic. Limited source! High cost! 100% gorgeous! (There's a reason I only have small pieces lol.)

#MinCup #MineralCup #MinCup25

via @MineralCup

https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/115126113994884569

This year's Mineral Cup bracket! Starts September 1st at www.MineralCup.org

How in the world will I choose between #Paddlewheelite and #Mannardite ?

#MinCup #MinCup25 #Mineralogy #Geology #EarthMaterials #MineralCup

from the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists:
Titanite: the Wedge-shaped Timepiece, by Ronald L. Parker

#Titanite has a distinctive crystal form that it flaunts…

…titanite is among the very few minerals that enjoy a larger color dispersion than that of diamond…

Hayden, Watson & Wark established that the relative concentration of Zr 4+ in titanite is systematically related to pressure and temperature conditions.

https://www.rmag.org/index.php?src=directory&view=articles&srctype=detail&back=articles&refno=8425

#MinCup25 #Geochronology #Geothermobarometry