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glacierpique.bsky.social
FrankenGardner
@glacierpique.bsky.social
380 followers 370 following 370 posts
geosciences | civil infrastructure | mantle overburden | climate hippie | she/her |
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glacierpique.bsky.social
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A poor quality picture of the night sky in western Washington. Behind a row of trees and house lights, and just above the northern horizon, a break in the clouds glows gray, barely brighter than the cloud ceiling.
November 12, 2025 at 4:27 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Because it is so new, and because humans so recently learned how to use Mo and Re, I’m voting for the future of #Molybdenite and Space Age metallurgy. Mo and Re turn common metals into superconductive superalloys, with higher boiling points, improved weldability and corrosion resistance. 3/3
Shiny hexagonal Molybdenite on white Quartz. Image from mindat.org. Image of turbine blades from siemens-energy dot com. A row of wind turbines overlook the Palouse Hills in southeastern Washington State. Do Not Lick! Rich red, blue, yellow Molybdenum pigments featured at plxinguang dot com
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
glacierpique.bsky.social
We didn’t always recognize #Molybdenite or know how to use Mo until the late 19th Century. Rh wasn’t discovered until 1908. After early experiments during WWI, automobile and aviation industries found uses for both elements in high-performance alloys. Then catalysts and medical uses.
#OreCup25 ⚒️ 🧪
Layered hexagonal sheets of silver Molybdenite on white Quartz. Image from mindat.org. Chart featuring world production of Mo between 1900 and 2011, from 0 to 250,000 tons per year. Image from Wikipedia.
November 8, 2025 at 5:01 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Still reading about Danish lur horns.
Black and white representation of a pre-historic rock carving of three stick-figure humans with heads raised, blowing into spiral horns. Black and white representation of a pre-historic rock carving of a Viking ship, with eight people in rowing positions. Two spiral lur horns dwarf the other two people in the middle of the ship.
November 7, 2025 at 1:45 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
I’m voting for native #Copper, and its continuous importance to pre-historic and modern civilizations. Copper inspires art, music, architecture, tools, weaponry, medicine, energy distribution, and technology.
#OreCup25 ⚒️ 🧪
Prehistoric Danish lur horns, all recovered from peat bogs, now suspended inside a glass case in a museum. Image from Denmark’s National Museet. Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture in Philadelphia features human forms breaking free from a bronze wall. A bronze Celt in a casting mould. Image from Denmark’s National Museet. Copper-clad roof of a church in Bucharest, Romania.
November 7, 2025 at 1:38 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
I’m voting for the only Co ore in the Ore Cup, the superconductor mineral #Carrollite. Co serves many industrial, medical, and artistic applications, from battery and magnet technology, to radiotherapy, to glass and ceramic glaze coloring agent.
#OreCup25 ⚒️ 🧪
An irridescent octahedron of Carrollite. Image from mindat.org, copyright Le Comptoir Géologique - Rémi Bornet Dull gray Bornite forms dendritic patterns on an octahedron of Carrollite perched on white Calcite. Image from mindat.org, copyright Cmolik. Shiny silver-colored octahedron of Carrollite with staggered growth lines. Image from mindat.org, copyright MnhnL.
November 6, 2025 at 4:37 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Jadarite is a unique and valuable Li and B ore that would require large quantities of fresh water and generate liquid and airborne pollution. Will organized public opposition effectively hold a government-sanctioned mining consortium accountable for protecting the environment?
#OreCup25 ⚒️ 🧪
White nodules of Jadarite in black shale, interbedded with buff colored dolomite. Creative Commons image from newatlas-dot-com. A conceptual ore-processing facility surrounded by a patchwork of green fields and woodlands. Image from riotintoserbia-dot-com. A crowd of people wearing winter hats and carrying colorful umbrellas block a highway in Belgrade, Serbia in December 2021 [Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo].
November 5, 2025 at 2:10 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
What makes the greatest ore, tho? Sulfides crystallize at higher temperatures and have simpler molecular structures. Sulfosalts precipitate at lower temperatures, have greater solubility, plus bonus semi-metals. I’m voting for the sulfosalt, #Tetrahedrite.
#OreCup25 ⚒️ 🧪
Spiky ball of great Tetrahedrite crystals with tiny white quartz prisms. Image from mindat.org, copyright Gerard Van der Veldt Closeup view of a shiny tetrahedron of Tetrahedrite or Tennantite in a matrix of earthy yellow Siderite. Image from mindat.org, from Juan Miguel. Black and white SEM image of intergrown Zinc Tetrahedrite crystals. Image from mindat.org.
November 4, 2025 at 2:04 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Meanwhile, read “Fight Like Hell” by Kim Kelly, until morale improves.
November 4, 2025 at 1:11 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Native element #Copper sparked the curiosity and ingenuity of prehistoric civilizations, and remains indispensable to modern technologies.

Cu is both essential to life and antimicrobial.

#OreCup ⚒️ 🧪

Images from mindat.org “Best Of” article.
November 3, 2025 at 4:27 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
I’m voting for the indicator mineral #Kyanite and the information it provides about metamorphic temperature and pressure, shown here with its pseudomorphs, Sillimanite and Andalusite.
#MinCup25
Image of a knife-sized blade of Kyanite next to a faceted Kyanite gemstone from mindat’s “Best of “ article, copyright Tony H Gill. Cruciform Andalusite crystals in a brown rock. Image from Wikipedia. Elongate Sillimanite crystals have square cross sections. Image from mindat.org. Copyright F. Kruijen & G. Blass
October 1, 2025 at 12:12 PM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Tugtupite is facetable and carveable, readily shaped into palm-sized cabochons that react with heat and light.
#MinCup25
Cherry-red, heart-shaped, cabochon of Tugtupite. Image from uvminerals.com website. A chisel with an orange handle rests of gray rock with a bright pink streak of Tugtupite. Image from uvminerals.com website. Pale pink Tugtupite blushes in a white and grey speckled rock. Image from Alex Strekeisen’s website.
September 30, 2025 at 11:30 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
I’m voting for the classic aluminosiliate#Kyanite. This is not a major rock-forming mineral, but it signifies major rock-forming events. In honor of this SF match with #Hematite, orange kyanite crystals contain trace amounts of Fe.
#MinCup25
Faceted orange Kyanite featured on geologyscience.com’s webpage about orange Kyanite. Twinned orange Kyanite crystals. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Van King
September 29, 2025 at 4:59 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Cuprosklowdowskite was “discovered” at Shinkolobwe mine in DR Congo, where U is freakishly concentrated. This freak deposit tempted humans to recreate the Sun on the Earth’s surface. Colonial extraction, child labor, nuclear proliferation. Secondary Cup’skite contains only 55% U.
#MinCup25
Bright green needles of Cuprowsklodowdkite interlock in the vug of a light gray rock look like a grinning mouth full of green needles. Image from mindat’s website, copyright by Rob Lavinsky and irocks-dot-com. Linocut print featuring Shinkolobwe’s legacy in Africa, Europe, North America, and the Pacific by artist Roger Peet. From: Uranium Mining — Hanford Challenge https://www.hanfordchallenge.org/uranium-mining Granite marker in a grassy field at Argonne National Lab’s Plot M warns the public “Caution - Do Not Dig”
September 28, 2025 at 3:29 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Kyanite forms distinctive blades in metamorphic rocks, recording metamorphic temperatures in mountain building events. It is used in ceramic and porcelain technology, clay texture and glazes, and even faceted gemstones.
#MinCup25
Image of a knife-sized blade of Kyanite next to a faceted Kyanite gemstone from mindat’s “Best of “ article, copyright Tony G. Hill. Thin section of kyanite gneiss with biotite crystals from Alex Strekeisen’s website. Blue blades of Kyanite and red-brown blades of Staurolite are randomly oriented in a white schist matrix. Image from mindat’s website.
September 27, 2025 at 1:16 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
It is absolutely a coincidence that #Tugtupite is found in boreal regions, along with fluorescing minerals like Sodalite and Analcime, but still

** ahem, Mariners announcer voice**

AURORA BORRIE-TUGTUP-ALICE!!!
Red Tugtupite, green Analcime, and indigo Soldalite glow under UV light like stars under a green aurora. Image from uvminerals.org.
September 26, 2025 at 2:41 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Hematite provides important clues about planets and their atmospheres. There should not be Hematite on the Moon, but there is, near the poles, on east- and equator-facing sides of highlands. Scientists make the case that O ions in Earth’s wind oxidize Fe on the Moon. 1/2
#MinCup25
A huge red- and gray-striped rock exhibit at the American Natural History Museum is a Banded Iron Formation. It shows that Earth’s oceans and atmosphere had no oxygen about 3 billion years ago. Black Hematite spherules the size of blueberries are scattered across reddish sandstone on Mars. Public domain image on Wikipedia, by NASA. Instead of a photo of lunar hematite dust, enjoy black and white image of an astronaut-geologist standing next to a huge lunar boulder during NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The scientists in this research used rock samples from this Apollo mission. Credit: NASA/Eugene Cernan Graphs and photos summarize a laboratory experiment where metallic iron substrate is exposed to oxygen ion irradiation. Exposed areas progressed from age to magnetite to hematite. From the article linked in the first comment.
September 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Mannardite does not give up the ocean’s secrets without a fight. Complex, multivalent ions concentrate V, Ba, and Ti in tiny crystals in fine-grained shales.
#MinCup25

See “Mannardite as the main vanadium-hosting mineral in black shale-hosted vanadium deposits, South China” by Yang, et. al. 2003.
Row of tiny black prisms of Mannardite stand on a matrix of quartz grains. Image from mindat’s website. Gianfranco Ciccolini author of the photo. A complex mineral formula with superscripts and subscripts for multivalent V3+, V4+, and Fe3+ ions. Shiny prism of black Mannardite with silver needles of Zinkenite on clear quartz matrix. Image from mindat’s website, copyright by Matteo Chinellato
September 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
glacierpique.bsky.social
I’m voting for one of three polymorphs that indicate metamorphic temperature and pressure: #Kyanite, Sillimanite, and Andalusite.

Enjoy these photos in lieu of their phase diagram ; )
#MinCup25
Intense blue, gemmy prisms of Kyanite. Image from geology science.com. Elongate Sillimanite crystals have square cross sections. Image from mindat.org. Copyright F. Kruijen & G. Blass Cruciform Andalusite crystals in a brown rock. Image from Wikipedia.
September 23, 2025 at 2:51 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Molybdenite accommodates transition elements, and its isotopes record age. Its transition element chemistry changed after the Great Oxidation Event. Molybdenite recorded the progressive influence of atmospheric O2 on crustal chemistry.
#MinCup25
A hexagonal Molybdenite crystal perched on top of a white quartz rock. Image from mindat’s webpage, copyright Louis Verschuren A hexagon of shiny gray Molybdenite next to a prism of brown Vesuvianite, nestled in a cluster of green Diopside. Image from mindat’s webpage, copyright Henry Minot Side view features the hexagonal outline and flat profile of shiny gray Molybdenite perched on a white rock. Image from Monday’s webpage copyright Rob Lavinsky & irocks.com A graph features Rhenium concentrations vs time, billion years before present, for 422 Molybdenite samples collected from 135 localities. From “Rhenium‭ ‬variations‭ ‬in‭ ‬molybdenite‭ ‬(MoS2):‭ ‬Evidence‭ ‬for‭ ‬progressive subsurface‭ ‬oxidation” posted by author Robert M. Hazen.
September 22, 2025 at 12:40 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
As magma cools, do crystals sink or float? Does viscosity change in the melt? U and REE isotopes in #Titanite record chemical differentiation and age of magmatic melts, important for understanding evolution of Earth’s crust.

#MinCup25 sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐
Bright green arrow-shaped prism of Titanite surrounded by white albite. Image from mindat’s “Best of” article. Under the microscope, a dark brown wedge of Titanite stands out against a colorful field of biotite crystals. Thin section image from Alex Strekeisen’s website. A fist-sized cluster of deep green and brown Titanite crystals. Image from mindat’s “Best of” article.
September 21, 2025 at 2:43 PM
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Carpathite is composed of hydrothermally deposited coronene. Coronene is also proxy for wildfire activity, a function of terrestrial biomass, atmospheric O2, and ignition sources like lightning, volcanoes, and bolides. The oldest known occurrence on Earth dates to the early Ediacarian.
#MinCup25
Blades of Carpathite in a dark rock glow intense blue under UV light. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Simone Conti Cage of Carpathite blades encrusted with Quartz. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Rob Lavinsky & MineralAuctions.com Bright yellow blades of Carpathite speckled with red Cinnabar. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Antonio Borrelli
September 20, 2025 at 3:48 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Three reasons why #Baryte is a favorite for medical imaging:

1. non-toxicity
2. insolubility in stomach acids and
3. bright fluorescence

#MinCup25
Calcite glows red white the rims of tabular Baryte crystals glow bright with phosphoresce under UV light. Image from The Mineralogy of Nova Scotia - Fluorescents (nsminerals-atspace-org)
September 19, 2025 at 2:19 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
Archaean #Baryte deposits of the Barberton Greenstone Belt provide insight on the composition of Earth’s atmosphere and crust 3.2 bya. Sulfate-bearing meteoric water combined with cold spring-sourced Ba formed Baryte deposits in sands and cherts. Fluor- and phosphorescent.
#MinCup25
Blades of darker Baryte crystals cut across layers of greenish sand. Image from nasa article “The Origin of Barite Deposits from the Archean” Clear Baryte and Calcite under ambient lighting. Image from The Mineralogy of Nova Scotia - Fluorescents webpage (nsminerals-atspace-org). Calcite glows red white the rims of tabular Baryte crystals glow bright with phosphoresce under UV light. Image from The Mineralogy of Nova Scotia - Fluorescents webpage (nsminerals-atspace-org).
September 19, 2025 at 2:07 AM
glacierpique.bsky.social
The Sb ore #Stibnite is a critical mineral used for sparkly pyrotechnics, fire retardants, and everything in between. Sb strengthens solar panels, improves photovoltaic efficiency, and extends battery life-cycles.
#MinCup25
Shiny black spikes of Stibniye radiate against a matrix of cream dolomite and quartz. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Martin Stevko Image of fireworks exploding around the Eiffel Tower in celebration of Bastille Day, from Wikipedia. Spray of black Stibnite spikes on an angular white rock. Image from mindat’s website, copyright Martin Stevko
September 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM