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Erin 𓅉

@getpseudoed.bsky.social
361 followers 343 following 71 posts

Idk, I'm just a person who keeps doing stuff and ending up in situations.

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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Sorry, I’m never on here. Yes, fluorite can be replaced, and silica-dominant minerals are probably most common in doing this (see quartz ps. fluorite from Germany). Would be hard to say what’s happening with your sample without looking at it though.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Funky textures.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
No, I mean minerals should not be named after people.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
You can’t name things after yourself.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
We should abolish eponymous mineral names.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
It’s less efficient than I’d like, but I’m slowly starting to pick up on the German.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
I have to translate it but yes.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Getting my needed dose of 234-year-old drama.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I would guess it’s something that is going to need analysis to nail down for certain.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
I have a solution, but nobody’s going to like it. news.umich.edu/whats-in-a-m...
news.umich.edu
What's in a mineral name? Not very many women, U-M study finds
The mineral scottyite was named after Michael Scott. Not the Michael Scott of the television series "The Office"—the Michael Scott who co-founded the technology company Apple. Billionaire George Soros...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Not sure how helpful this is, but probably something hydrous based on the color change, and texture looks like a clay mineral.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
I have received interesting mail.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
I’m quite sure this is somehow @jolyon.bsky.social’s fault.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
I haven’t opened this app in months and I have no idea what’s happening here, but hi to all the folks who are following me?
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 11/09/2023
If you find yourself intrigued by calcite crystallography, I strongly recommend browsing Goldschmidt’s Atlas Der Krystallformen, which has 150 pages of this. Available to view here (log-in is required to view the PDF - but an account is free and easy!): www.mindat.org/reference.ph...
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Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social · 10/05/2023
When evaluating rocks for personal use, it’s not just about shape (although that better be gratifying). Texture, strength, hardness, solubility (in water & acid) are all important considerations, occasionally along with more obscure characteristics like smell or stability under surface conditions.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 10/09/2023
My vote is for #adamite because of the adamite bat. The bat is largely mummified but adamite has started to replace around its face - fluorescent light highlights the adamite. Found by John Seibel, late 1980s at the Gold Hill Mine, Utah, collection of Mark Mitterman.
A dark colored bar is perched on a dark colored rock crag - fluorescing neon green adamite balls decorate the rock and adamite has started to replace the bat particularly around the face.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 09/09/2023
Same! 😂
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 07/09/2023
Alfredo would love that.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 07/09/2023
I’m pretty ambivalent here but I’m gonna vote for #vivianite solely because of this excellent (and amusing) article, “A Scientific Study of the Absorption of Evil by Vivianite” by Alfredo Petrov: www.mindat.org/article.php/...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 06/09/2023
Thank you!
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 06/09/2023
I <3 pseudos!
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 06/09/2023
This round is going to break my heart because #goethite is the only mineral in the bracket I REALLY like, and it’s going to get beat out by a mineral I can’t see. Vote #goethite to make me wrong, and thus happy. 🥺
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
I have never heard that so I’m going to go with no.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
It’s one of Australia’s best, for sure.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
If you’ve ever wondered how miners get incredibly delicate specimens out of the ground, this crocoite extraction video is a good place to start. #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23 youtu.be/5_0noXIhIGg
youtu.be
Crocoite Plate from Adelaide Mine
A short film showing the planning and extraction of a plate of Crocoite from the Adelaide Mine in Dundas, Tasmania. Miners Bruce Stark and John Cornish have ...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
Crocoite has an unusually frequent tendency to grow into such crystals so extremely hoppered that the crystals are HOLLOW. Orange lead-chromium straws does it perfectly for me. 🥰 #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23 www.mindat.org/photo-219055...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 04/09/2023
A wise decision! 😊
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 04/09/2023
This is what happens when stibnite “rusts.” I had to unpack a backpack full of rocks for the TSA over this specimen once, and the man was so, so very disappointed when we opened the box and I’m still laughing about it.
‘Stibiconite’ ps. Stibnite • Wadley, Catorce Municipality, San Luis Potosí, Mexico • 13.8cm x 5.5cm x 2.3cm.

Two long intergrown blade-shaped crystals of stibnite (a silver-colored metallic mineral) have been replaced by a crusty yellowish - eh, something, this one is a little complicated. It's probably a mixture of minerals, really, but it’s been called 'stibiconite’ historically. The IMA was arguing about it, I did not hear if they reached a conclusion. For our purposes: it's basically just antimony rust.
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Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 17/08/2023
Want an early start to #MinCup23? Read Howard Lee’s great article about U-Pb dating of zircons, and use of magnetic data to find out how surprisingly fast the Pilbara Craton was moving 2.7 billion-years ago. This incredible usefulness is why zircon is called the Time Lord. Expect more Time Lord soon
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 03/09/2023
Yeah, sorry, might be my bad for not clarifying that to begin with - was trying to fit a lot into the character count. 🤦🏼‍♀️
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 03/09/2023
Earth minerals v. space minerals. These are the oldest minerals formed on earth that we’ve found.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 03/09/2023
One of my favorite things, for being so plain but so incredibly cool: the oldest mineral yet found. Jack Hills zircons have been dated to ~4.4 billion years ago. They were formed during the Hadean (all of earth was more-or-less molten), then cycled into sedimentary grains. #MinCup #TeamZircon
Zircon (medisediments) • Jack Hills, Nookawarra Station, Murchison Shire, Western Australia, Australia • 3.5cm x 3.4cm x 2.1cm.
A sample of metasediments containing zircon grains from Jack Hills - it's a pretty average looking rock, grainy and sort of reddish-pinkish colored. Some quartz grains are visible, the largest ~6mm across. The zircons have been dated to ~4.4 billion years ago (Hadean). There is some shimmery bronzy material sprinkled throughout the mass, and my understanding is that material is the zircons (but I could be wrong).
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 03/09/2023
Yeah, not sure it would really help besides maybe giving evidence to whether there was alteration to the host rock.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Looks like every crystal on there is twinned. 😍
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
You can have an XRD done pretty inexpensively. I’m not certain that would answer the question, but that’s probably where I’d start.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Depends on duration and nature of the exposure, I’d guess. The slickenside surfaces you’re seeing in the sample are also not the surface that made direct contact with the fluid, where etching etc. would be most visible. Also possible there was some silicification of the host rock, preserving it.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Given the way the crystals are grown - euhedral, filling the space, and without much shattering - the quartz came after.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Yes - aware of the native mercury and mercury vapor, because those are the source of potential harm. Cinnabar itself is not toxic. Absolutely on board with being cautious, but if we’re going to talk about dangers, they should be identified properly.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
No, I have zero issues with toxic minerals, this is merely a scientific debate. 😛 But break this down with me: cinnabar is toxic IF it breaks down into SOMETHING ELSE. Meaning cinnabar itself is still not toxic. It’s the something elses that are toxic.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Cool. So we agree cinnabar itself isn’t toxic, and quartz is also not safe.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
All of this still just says cinnabar isn’t the issue. Also I bet if I checked numbers, more people have died of silicosis than mercury poisoning.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
I waffled because cinnabar is neat, but the pseudocubic habit of quartz might just be my favorite crystal habit, and the very best are found in New Mexico. 😍 www.mindat.org/photo-280989...
mindat.org
Quartz (Var: Pseudocubic Quartz), Quartz (Var: Pecos Diamonds)
"Pecos Diamonds" are quartz crystals that are found along the Pecos River valley, either weathered out of or still inside a selenite rock matrix of the Permian Seven Rivers formation in south-eastern ...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Oh, also, cinnabar isn’t toxic. Containing an element that is harmful does not make a mineral harmful. This is a matter of bioavailability - whether the body can absorb any of the harmful element. Largely this boils down to solubility, and cinnabar isn’t very soluble. #MinCup23
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Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Mineral Cup now has its own feed. Add it & don’t miss a minute of the fun. Always use the hashtag #MinCup23. Now back to looking at all the great posts on #Cinnabar and #Quartz. Campaign & Vote! Vote here: www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig... And view results here: www.mineralcup.org/results/roun...
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
Omg, I didn’t know about shocked rock. 😂
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 02/09/2023
I could explain, as someone who isn’t really a quartz lover but got to be friends with those folks.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
Either felt appropriate. 😂
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
Artificial materials and muddy sandy gravel are both excellent though.
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Erin 𓅉 @getpseudoed.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
We did not do a good job making a list of the funny ones. I don’t know which one that would be.
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