#mineralcup2023 — Public Fediverse posts

How, you might ask, does a perfectly formed #zircon get into a sapphire?

Sapphire melting temp: around 2030 °C. (wikipedia)
Zircon melting temp: high melting point (over 2500°C). (https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/zircon)
Tiny zircons can withstand a lot of what makes and destroys other minerals.

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/results/round-4-match-1

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Just leaving this here. Zircon and monazite. You're not going to see calcite in a sapphire, it couldn't take the heat.
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This poem was inspired by my work in the geology labs of the University of Edinburgh when I was analyzing rock samples from Iceland. The procedure requires the rocks to be remelted at 1100 C so they can be poured into molds and shaped into glass disks. These disks are used for XRF and XRD analysis to understand the crystal structure of the rock and to see the element contents.

https://medium.com/p/f8b63af793fd

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Mineral friends, friends of minerals? enjoy some photos: #dioptase and #crocoite from Carnegie Natural History Museum.

#MinCup23 #MinCup2023 #MineralCup23 #MineralCup2023 #MineralCup #MinCup #SciComm #Science #Minerals #Geology #Mineralogy #Teaching #Education #STEM