Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

KSircombe

@ksircombe.bsky.social

400 followers 520 following 430 posts

A curious, innovative and always learning Geoscience Laboratory Director producing data for the public good. Opinions and long-winded nested verbs are all mine and nothing to do with my employer.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Nov 14

Wow. Welcome to new ⚒️🧪 followers! I'm a geoscience laboratory director dabbling in outreach and innovation. Keen to share enthusiasm for all things geologic (and scenic) plus occasional slice-of-life observations. Passionate fan of the #MinCup and #TeamZircon, always looking forward to September 😁

A view across a wide wooded valley ringed by steep cliffs at sunrise with a prominent stack of rocks in the foreground. The cliffs in the distance are lit up by orange sunlight and there is patches of cloud/mist in the valley floor. This is the Three Sisters lookout in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia.

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 1d

Yes! I should have inserted a 4th step - a high school geography teacher that leaned strongly in the 'physical geography' of maps, landscapes and volcanoes part of the curriculum. Love a good map!

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 1d

For #EarthScienceWeek2025: what 3 steps got you into ⚒️🧪 Earth Science?
1. A wood box full of rocks and crystals that my Dad had collected in his travels
2. David Attenbourgh's 'Life on Earth'
3. Couldn't make up my mind choosing a science major, so I did the (earth) science that does them all!

A rectangular wooden box filled with an assortment of rocks and minerals of various shapes, sizes, and colors. The stones include smooth rounded pebbles, jagged fragments, and polished pieces in shades of gray, brown, white, and green. Some rocks display layered textures or crystalline patterns. The box rests on a stone-paved surface.

It wasn't actually this box because, sadly, it never occurred to me to take a picture of the box when it was still around. But it looked very much like this!

2 9

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 2d

It's ⚒️🧪 #EarthScienceWeek2025 !

Here's a new product from the awesome Geoscience Australia Education and Outreach team: a Year 8-10 classroom activity exploring critical minerals in Australia and their value through the lens of topographic data and the geology of Australia.

buff.ly/Y8v46nt

Map of Australia showing critical mineral deposits across the country. The map uses a satellite-style background with state boundaries labeled, including Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. Numerous colored squares and circles are scattered across the map, representing different types of critical minerals. High concentrations of markers appear in Western Australia, Queensland, and along the eastern and southern coasts near major cities such as Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The title above the map reads: “Analysing Australian geology, topography, and critical minerals using online datasets – Classroom inquiry activities.” A caption below states: “Map of Australia marking out critical mineral deposits (Geoscience Australia data portal).”

4 7

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 5d

And amazingly written. I read it years ago, but there are still parts that randomly float into my awareness from time to time.

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 5d

Annals of the Former World by John McPhee is a great read. It brings together descriptions of field trips (and the geologists!) plus local history to weave a story how the geology of North America has shaped its people and history, and how the story of geology itself has grown.

Image of a book cover 'Annals of the Former World' by John McPhee showing an antique geological map and cross section in predominately beige colours with copperpoint labelling.

1 7

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 5d

The greatest advance of the 21st century has been inflight WiFi because it has enabled having live geological maps on hand to more thoroughly investigate the ⚒️🧪 geology you are flying over. Window seats forever!

Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 5d

Love plane window geology! I “discovered” sand dunes in Nevada that I never knew were there!

2 2 8

Reposted by KSircombe

Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 6d

For #spacetober_challenge day 8 prompt propulsion, my portrait of #mathematician, aeronautical #engineer, philanthropist & Cherokee ‘hidden figure’ of the space race: Mary Golda Ross (1908-2008).⁠ 🧪🐡🧮🔭👩🏻‍🔬 #histsci
⁠
Great-great-granddaughter of Chief John Ross, who was forced to lead his people on the

Linocut portrait of Mary Golda Ross looking over her shoulder in a gradient of green (at bottom) to gold (at top) surrounded by vehicles important to her career including P-38 Lighting fighter plane, and Agena rocket, important to Apollo missions in grey.

2 45 100

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 24d

My sedimentology contrariness would ask 'why is the specimen rounded?' 😀

Reposted by KSircombe

Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 25d

I forgot to say, for more Mineral Cup fun, pin the feed below, & use the #MinCup25 hashtag when posting. There are no wrong answers, just lots of fun, & sometimes you learn something cool! Join us! See the comment for the vote link.

#MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

1 16 21

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 24d

... and winner of #MinCup 2023. Just saying... 😁

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 14

Nice! Molybdenite was one of the first metal ore minerals I saw 'in the wild' and I was also rather chuffed at spotting it.

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 8

This is an excellent piece of ⚒️🧪 work, and will be a deep rabbit hole to explore. Already learnt: that 'analysis' is plural and 'analysin' is the singular; that Captain Cook introduced the word lagoon into English; and the term 'mantle' for the layer below the crust didn't appear until the 1940's.

Brian Ricketts @kiwigeolog.bsky.social · Sep 8

A post I’ve been putting together for 2 years - the Etymology of Earth Sci Words. So far about 500 terms - the initial goal before clicking the ‘Publish’ tab

www.geological-digressions.com/etymology-of...

There are >1,000,000 words in the English language
So my 500 words is a paltry sample. ⚒️🧪🌊

Etymology of Earth science words and phrases

The origins of words, prefixes, suffixes, abbreviations, names, acronyms, and terms commonly used in Earth sciences.

www.geological-digressions.com

1 2

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 2

It is not clear where Gutenberg sourced his stibnite, but it is clear that his invention created mass-produced books that revolutionised information transmission and set the stage for the Renaissance, Reformation, and humanist movements that underpin our modern world. Thanks #Stibnite! /4

Stibnite, Wolfsberg, Stolberg, Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Attractive cluster of acicular, iridescent needles of stibnite from the Wolfsberg locality in Germany. This blocky piece is composed of what seems like thousands of slender stibnite crystals. The luster on the faces is quite high, and the flashes of iridescence add a lot of visual interest with its blues, greens, and purples accenting the silver.
https://www.irocks.com/minerals/specimen/47303

5 18

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 2

Antimony hardens the lead and prevents shrinkage and deformation when the alloy cools from a melt in a mould to make the moveable type. It meant that high quality clear text could be repeatably printed on mass unlike previous printing that used carved wood blocks that deteriorated quickly /3

1698 illustration of a German typefounder preparing type-metal. The picture shows two people in a workshop with workbenches, tools and materials. One person, possibly a woman in a dress, in the left foreground is sitting and appears to be polishing or rubbing a large slab on a table. The second person is standing toward the back behind a workbench covered in several tools. There is a round cylinder, possibly a furnace, underneath the workbench and the second person appears to be adding or tipping something into it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_metal#/media/File:Fotothek_df_tg_0008535_St%C3%A4ndebuch_%5E_Beruf_%5E_Handwerk_%5E_Gie%C3%9Fer_%5E_Letter.jpg

1 8 20

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 2

You may recognise this fine fellow as Johann Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, owner of an awesome beard and renowned inventor of the movable type printing press. One of his key innovations in printing was adding antimony (and tin) to lead to make type metal. /2

A historical black and white illustration of Johannes Gutenberg from the shoulders up, facing to the left and looking directly at the viewer. He is wearing a fur hat, a ruffled collar and a one heck of a beard. That beard must have been an OHS hazard around a printing press.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gutenberg.jpg

1 2 12

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 2

Vote #Stibnite (Sb₂S₃) for #Mincup25 ⚒️🧪 because it was the likely source of antimony that literally wrote history. The chemical symbol for antimony is ‘Sb’ from ‘stibium’ the Latin for, you guessed it, #stibnite. Let's revisit a 🧵 from last year /1
buff.ly/md0dreE

Vote in Round 1 Match 2 — Mineral Cup

Click here to vote in Stibnite vs Okenite

www.mineralcup.org

2 10 20

Reposted by KSircombe

Michael Anenburg @manenbu.bsky.social · Sep 2

We're hiring
Three year postdoc on geochemistry and petrology of ore-forming systems.
jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/researc...

Research Fellow - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia

Classification: Academic Level B Salary package: $118,632 - $134,507 per annum plus 17% superannuation Terms: Full time, Fixed term (up to 3 years) The Position This postdoc will explore the geochemic...

jobs.anu.edu.au

10 11

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Sep 1

⚒️🧪 #Mincup25 begins! Let's start with a PSA:
• Please don't take a handful of fluffy stuff into a laboratory to ask for a microscope to see if it is asbestos. That tends to get people excited for all the wrong reasons. True story.
• Vote #pectolite because it isn't trying to kill you.

Fibrous, radiating mineral specimen of Pectolite in light beige to white tones, displayed on a clear circular stand with a label reading 'R24875 PECTOLITE Prospect Quarry NSW'

5 26

Reposted by KSircombe

Mineral Cup #MinCup25 @mineralcup.bsky.social · Sep 1

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 1: Hazardous (but useful!) #Chrysotile faces off against stunning gem #Pectolite. Do you pick the forbidden cotton candy, or the anti-pulverization beauty?

VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1...

Check RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...

Vote in Round 1 Match 1 — Mineral Cup

Click here to vote in Chrysotile vs Pectolite

www.mineralcup.org

12 85 110

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Aug 30

⚒️🧪🌪️💎🌪️💎🌪️💎🌪️💎🌪️💎😆

1 6

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Aug 27

This ⚒️🧪 repository looks amazing! I am especially geeking out over the continental rift animation s-ink.org/continental-...

Thanks for the link @callanbentley.bsky.social !

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Aug 20

I tried the single hair brush for my zircon picking, but personally found a dental pick to be more effective.

Also seen it very skillfully done with a trimmed cat whisker in a pin vice. (Whisker had been naturally shed, no cats harmed in the making of this zircon mount...).

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Aug 19

I was thinking more about what the heat of a basaltic lava flow would do to chalk, or was it already a deep soil profile when the basalt arrived?

KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · Aug 19

Must be one heck of an unconformity between those two units!

Reposted by KSircombe

Kerstin Neuhaus @microtopico.bsky.social · Aug 17

Only two weeks to go until Spetember. Best time of the year on social media since #MinCup25 is about to start!

Have ideas for minerals to compete in #MinCup2025? Nominate them now! 👉 www.mineralcup.org/nominations

Want to be part of this year’s organizing team? 👉 www.mineralcup.org/volunteer

Nominate Minerals — Mineral Cup

www.mineralcup.org

1 4 7