#msacommunications — Public Fediverse posts

Mineral Monday!
Critical Minerals (for Kids)
by Donna Whitney and Bob Bodnar
Frontiers for Young Minds publishes ‘core concept’ papers, & ‘discovery papers’ like How the Earth Recycles (kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2021.599596).
#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #criticalminerals

Mineral Monday!
Non-cubic almandine and the power of polychromatic polarization
By Dr. Bernardo Cesare

More info:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
doi.org/10.1130/G493...

#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #garnet #anisotropy #polychromaticpolarization

Mineral Monday!

Rutile from North Carolina
By Chris Tacker

A rutile (TiO2) cluster from Hiddenite, Alexander County, North Carolina, found by collector Red Reitzler and purchased by Dr. Paul Tucker. Specimen # NC State Museum 4704.

#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #NorthCarolina #rutile

Mineral Monday:
 Santafeite: The only mineral named after a railroad
By John Rakovan

With a chemical formula of (Na,Ca,Sr)12(Mn2+,Fe3+,Al,Mg)8Mn4+8(VO4)16(OH,O)20 · 8H2O, it was first discovered in Grants, New Mexico USA.

#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #railroad #vanadate

Mineral Monday!
 
Announcing: the 2027 MSA Annual Meeting
Taking place at the end of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, this meeting will feature Breakfast with a Mineralogist, talks, posters, and field trips. Field trips will run on Feb. 18.

#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #2027MSAMeeting

Mineral Monday:
 MSA Outreach at GSA and Other Meetings
By Andrea Koziol

At GSA (Geological Society of America) meetings MSA has a booth (Fig. 1) with books for sale, but also displays of interesting minerals, their occurrences, and uses.

#MSACommunications #MineralMonday #outreach

Mineral Monday! Announcing: the 2027 MSA Annual Meeting Taking place at the end of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, this meeting will feature Breakfast with a Mineralogist, talks, posters, and field trips. Field trips: Feb. 18. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #2027MSAMeeting

Mineral Monday: Field Trip to Silver Bell Mine, AZ Part 2 By Johan Maertens All photos and text: (C) by Johan Maertens. First page: Chrysocolla forms as a secondary mineral, on other rocks in oxidized copper ore bodies. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #SilverBellMine #copper #copperminerals

Mineral Monday! Field Trip to Silver Bell Mine, NM Part 1 By Johan Maertens Here: overview of the Silver Bell mine. All photos and text: (C) by Johan Maertens. First page: A photo of the author, holding host rock with mineralized veins. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #copper #copperminerals

Mineral Monday! Reticulate Intergrowths in Basalt By Chris Hamilton I went on two science & dredging cruises to the Southwest Indian Ridge in 1984 and 1986 as a petrologist. This sample is the first named, first dredged SWIR mid-ocean ridge basalt. #MineralMonday #MSACommunications #basalt #MORB

Mineral Monday: Rutgers University Faculty and Students Present at the MSA Inaugural Meeting By Shaunna Morrison The MSA Inaugural Meeting took place on Feb. 17-19, 2026, in Tucson AZ. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #Rutgers #CheMin #zircon #Herkimerdiamonds #GaleCrater #Moon

Mineral Monday! Formation of pseudotachylytes by Mattia Pistone A rock undergoing fracturing (dilatant cracking) and friction melting partially melts at lower temperature than frictional melting alone. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #pseudotachylyte #pseudotachylite #partialmelting

Mineral Monday: Babingtonite in North Carolina Babingtonite (Ca2Fe2+Fe3+Si5O14(OH) ), an inosilicate, is present as mm-scale crystals lining a fracture from the Caldwell Quarry in Lenoir, NC. By Chris Tacker, NC State Museum #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #babingtonite #northcarolina

Mineral Monday! Fibrous mackinawite (FeS) found in samples of asteroid Bennu By Maizey Benner This mineral provides a key ingredient for the development of bio-essential molecules on Bennu’s parent body. See: doi.org/10.1016/j.gc... for more. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mackinawite #Bennu

Mineral Monday: Mobile- and Stagnant-lid Tectonics on the Hadean Earth Continents and recycled crust via subduction may have formed earlier than previously thought. (Valley JW, et al 2026: doi.org/10.1038/s415.... By John Valley #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #zircon #Hadean #JackHills

Mineral Monday: The Alfie Norville Gem and Mineral Museum of Tucson Arizona The Alfie Norville Museum (gemandmineralmuseum.arizona.edu), is housed in the Pima County Courthouse in Tucson AZ. By Andrea Koziol. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #calcite #amethyst #geode #mineralmuseum

Mineral Monday: Why do all Olympic curling stones come from one small island off Scotland’s coast? www.cnn.com/2026/02/11/s... Maybe even, fine grained texture, & rare minerals high in sodium and iron — such as arfvedsonite, aegirine and aenigmatite. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #Olympics

Mineral Monday: Spessartine Garnets By Chris Tacker, NC State Museum Bald Knob is a type locality for several manganese end-member minerals. Hypothesis: a metamorphosed deposit of manganese nodules. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #garnet #Spessartine #Spessartite #Manganese

Mineral Monday: Emeralds in the USA The Turner Mine, aka the Old Plantation Mine, was briefly operated by Tiffany's for raw emeralds. The mine was in a weathered pegmatite. By Chris Tacker, NC State Museum #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #emerald #emeraldmine #NorthCarolina

Mineral Monday! Is it glaucophane, chloritoid, or blue-green amphibole in Dutchess Co. NY? See our other social media feeds for more. By Donna Whitney et al. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #thinsection #glaucophane #chloritoid #amphibole #DutchessCounty

Mineral Monday: the MSA You Tube channel MSA has a You tube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC43D1PLrmBkChtrsNi2y7YQ Featured in this post are images from Jeff Scovil’s video on photographing minerals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EgvXuBibuA&t=711s #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #Youtube

Mineral Monday! Presented here is a selection from Steinbilder (“Rock Pictures”), a series of digitally-worked abstract artworks by Roger Mitchell, using petrological images as a starting point. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #thinsection #art #abstractart

Mineral Monday! New Museum Exhibit: Unearthed: Raw Beauty By Aaron Celestian "UnEarthed: Raw Beauty” will open at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. More info: nhm.org/unearthed-rare-mineral-exhibition #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #Museum #NaturalHistoryMuseum #rareminerals

Mineral Monday! It’s all Silica By Bernardo Cesare Quartzine is a variety of chalcedony: called "length-slow chalcedony" and usually intergrown with the more common type of fibrous "length-fast" chalcedony. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineralogy #Quartzine #Chalcedony #quartz

Mineral Monday: Roses of Scapolite By Sophia Ortner, UC Santa Barbara The scapolite rosettes appear to have formed by sulfide breakdown in the presence of an oxidizing fluid. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #Scapolite #Silvialite #Meionite #Pentlandite #DepartmentsinAction

Mineral Monday: ‘Rocks and Minerals Down the Microscope’ at U Maine Farmington By Larry Tuttle The ‘Rocks and Minerals Down the Microscope’ geoart exhibition will be on display until November 19, 2025. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #Geoart #EarthScienceWeek #minerals #DepartmentsInAction

Mineral Monday: Thaumasite Distress in Concrete Thaumasite is a rare but highly destructive mineral phase that can form in concrete under specific conditions, leading to severe deterioration. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #concrete #thaumasite

Mineral Monday: Battle between the Bands The presence of low-Al komatiite-like rocks in the early oceanic crust were the reason for both the formation of BIFs and their abundance in the Archaean/early Proterozoic era. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #BIF #bandedironformations

Mineral Monday: Embracing the future of mining careers starting with Generation Z By Harriet Naakai Tetteh & Zohreh Kazemi Motlagh ResearchGate Link: www.researchgate.net/publication/... #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #CareersinMining

Mineral Monday: Diatoms Diminish Dolomite By Huifang Xu Laboratory syntheses results demonstrate that the dissolved silica can catalyze dolomite precipitation. More diatoms = Less dolomite. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #dolomite #diatoms #sedimentology #chemicalweathering