Portal:Minerals/Did you know

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Did you know 1

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/1

... that diamond (example pictured) is superhard but not supertough?
... that the minerals armalcolite, pyroxferroite and tranquillityite were discovered in lunar rocks?
... that the third key of alchemist Basil Valentine may describe a complex chemical process known as the volatilization of gold chloride?

Did you know 2

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/2

... that Treak Cliff Cavern (pictured) is one of only two remaining active sources of the ornamental mineral Blue John?
...that chalcocite, a profitable and desirable kind of copper ore, was particularly plentiful in the now-depleted copper mines of Cornwall, England and Bristol, Connecticut?
... that Gloria J. Romero is leading a campaign in the California Legislature to remove serpentine as the official state rock because it is a source of cancer-causing asbestos?
... that the mineral abelsonite probably formed from chlorophyll and is the only known crystalline geoporphyrin?

Did you know 3

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/3

... that the Lewisian gneiss (pictured), forms the basement to Torridonian and Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary rocks in the Hebridean Terrane?
... that abernathyite is both fluorescent and radioactive and is named for the mine operator who discovered it?
... that the minerals armalcolite, pyroxferroite and tranquillityite were discovered in lunar rocks?
...that the streak of a mineral, the color of the mark it makes when rubbed on a plate, is usually a more consistent identifier than the color of the original mineral?

Did you know 4

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/4

... that the uncommon mineral aguilarite (pictured), named for discoverer Ponciano Aguilar, is known from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australasia?
... that the thallium-rich mineral lorandite from the Allchar deposit is being used to determine the flux of solar neutrinos?
... that seamanite is known from only four locations, with three in Michigan and one in Australia?
...that jerrygibbsite ((Mn,Zn)₉(SiO₄)₄(OH)₂) is a rare mineral of which there are only five known samples in the world?

Did you know 5

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/5

... that the rare mineral Matlockite (PbFCl) (pictured) is named after a town in Derbyshire?
...that the amorphous phosphate mineral santabarbaraite was named after the Italian mining district Santa Barbara where it was discovered in 2003, but its name also honors Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners?
...that when yellow crystals of mosesite, a very rare mineral found in deposits of mercury, are heated to 186 °C (367 °F), they become isotropic?

Did you know 6

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/6

... that the mineral shigaite (hexagonal crystal pictured) is named for the Japanese Prefecture where it was discovered in 1985?
... that naturally-occurring quasicrystals can be found in the rare minerals khatyrkite and cupalite?
... that the existence of the mineral frankdicksonite was predicted before its discovery?
... that seifertite, one of the densest polymorphs of silica, is named after Friedrich Seifert and has only been found in meteorites?

Did you know 7

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/7

... that while bultfonteinite (pictured) was discovered as early as 1903, the mineral wasn't described until 1932?
... that the minerals armalcolite, pyroxferroite and tranquillityite were discovered in lunar rocks?
... that taaffeite, one of the world's rarest gemstones, is the first mineral known to contain both beryllium and magnesium as essential components?
... that the newly discovered mineral krotite likely was one of the earliest minerals formed in the Solar System?

Did you know 8

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/8

... that after a mine tunnel was dug near Cerro de Pasco, Peru, the first known specimen of pascoite (example pictured) formed on the walls?
... that the name of mineral scrutinyite reflects the efforts spent to distinguish it from plattnerite – another form of lead dioxide?
... that the crystal symmetry of melanophlogite changes depending on the guests trapped inside it?
... that the mineral messelite was described in 1890, discredited in 1940, reinstated and named neomesselite in 1955, and named messelite once again by 1959?

Did you know 9

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/9

... that sérandite (pictured) was discovered in Guinea and described in a French journal, and the type material resides in Washington, D.C.?
... that the mineral gatehouseite has been found in only one mine in South Australia?
... that the mineral motukoreaite is named for Motukorea, the island in New Zealand where it was discovered?

Did you know 10

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/10

... that tarbuttite (pictured) was named for the director of a company?
... that the mineral sonolite is named for the mine in Japan where it was discovered?
... that leucophoenicite is so named for its purple-red color?

Did you know 11

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/11

... that when first noted, arsenoclasite appeared very similar to sarkinite (pictured), but with one perfect cleavage?
... that caryopilite was named for the Greek words for walnut and felt?
... that the mineral bobfergusonite has been found only in Canada and Argentina?
... that while the mineral magnesiopascoite was discovered in Utah, the two cotype specimens are in a museum in California?

Did you know 12

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/12

... that the mineral diaboleite (pictured) was so named out of desperation?
... that silicate perovskites may make up to 93% of the lower mantle and that the magnesium form is considered to be Earth's most abundant mineral?
... that while huemulite was discovered in 1959, it was not described until 1966?

Did you know 13

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/13

... that while manganese-bearing vesuvianite has been studied since 1883, manganvesuvianite (pictured) was not described until 2002?
... that the mineral rapidcreekite was discovered in Yukon, Canada, in 1983?
... that collinsite was discovered in British Columbia and named for the director of the Geological Survey of Canada?

Did you know 14

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/14

... that when the mineral paramelaconite (pictured) was first described, it was not recognized as a valid species?
... that Karl Hugo Strunz was the creator of the Nickel-Strunz classification?
... that Lapis Lacedaemonius, a volcanic rock known today only from a single source, has been used as decoration in places as far apart as London, Venice, and Palermo?

Did you know 15

Portal:Minerals/Did you know/15

Leonite perched on a matrix of halite

Leonite perched on a matrix of halite

... that leonite (pictured) has been found on Mars?
...that crystals of Paulingite, a rare zeolite mineral found in vesicles in the basaltic rocks from the Columbia River, form a perfect clear rhombic dodecahedron?
... that abernathyite is both fluorescent and radioactive and is named for the mine operator who discovered it?

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