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Mindat.org

@mindat.bsky.social
981 followers 142 following 22 posts

The world's largest mineral information website. Online since October 2000. www.mindat.org

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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Apologies for the extended downtime of mindat.org - don't worry we are coming back, we just had a database clustering failure which requires a SLOW rebuild. We're just as annoyed as you are! And it doesn't give a progress meter so really can't say how long. Probably today though.
mindat.org
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
This image is a humorous and scientific reinterpretation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, comparing human needs to the Igneous QAPF rock classification. The pyramid is divided into five layers, labeled from bottom to top:

Physiological needs (red): Includes "food, water, warmth, rest," representing the fundamental human requirements.
Safety needs (orange): Refers to "security, safety," emphasizing stability and protection.
Belongingness & love needs (green): Highlights "intimate relationships, friends," which symbolize social connections.
Granite (blue): Subdivided into "syeno- and monzo-granite, granodiorite, tonalite," humorously comparing human psychological needs to various granite compositions.
Quartz-rich Granitoids (purple): Defined as "might not be igneous," reflecting the highest level of need in the context of "Quartz-rich needs."
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Meanwhile in the UK...
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
As you might have noticed mindat.org is in 'READ ONLY' mode right now as we move servers. It's going to take a few more days for the databases to import correctly in their new home (and we did as much as we could in advance) and then we'll be faster than ever before!
mindat.org
Mindat.org
Mindat.org is the world's leading website about minerals and where they come from.
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
So I was given this old trophy that had a rock on it, and turns out it's a piece of "platinum-rich"* ore from the Merensky Reef, South Africa. Some nice visible chromite and sulfides (pentlandite/pyrrhotite?) along with the usual silicate gunk. * Everything is relative.
A piece of merensky reef rock on a trophy dated 1974, "The Johnson Matthey Award"
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Yes, there's a page on mindat.org for flourite
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Killer Micros! IYKYK
Minerals labelled as 'KILLER MICROS!' showing small specimens of cuprosklodowskite and kasolite from the Munsonoi mine, Congo.
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
This is the first time I've seen the autocorrect go that way round!
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
It would be interesting (but less visually appealing) to see the breakdowns for individual isotopes and to include radioactive decay products as an origin eg He, Pb
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
LEGO minerals are on the way! Congratulations Dario.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 07/11/2024
Proterozoic Rocks xkcd.com/3008
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 04/11/2024
Keichousaurus from China, showing a visible tectonic neck split with a calcite vein! Expertly prepared by Kim Yunghuyn.
The image shows Jolyon's hand holding a flat stone slab containing a fossil of a Keichousaurus, a prehistoric marine reptile. The fossil features an elongated skeleton with a distinct head, long neck, and visible spine and limb bones. Notably, the neck appears to have been sheared by tectonic action, with a misalignment visible where the neck bones meet the head, likely caused by geological forces over time. A label in Korean, English, and Chinese characters identifies the specimen as "Keichousaurus" and provides details about its origin and classification. The stone has a rough, textured surface with natural cracks running through it.
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
Maybe just use the website and add that to your home page
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 23/10/2024
Woohoo! Marshall Ma's paper on OpenMindat, which I am a co-author on, has just won the Geoscience Information Society Paper of the Year award. It's all the more special getting awards in academia considering I don't even have a degree. rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
OpenMindat: Open and FAIR mineralogy data from the Mindat database
Xiaogang Ma, Jolyon Ralph, Jiyin Zhang, Xiang Que, Anirudh Prabhu, Shaunna M. Morrison, Robert M. Hazen, Lesley Wyborn, Kerstin Lehnert
First published: 29 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/gdj3.204Citations: 4
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 22/10/2024
1950s illustration of the Pacific without the ocean. From Geological Society of America Memoir 64.
ARTIST’S CONCEPTION OF THE MID-PACIFIC MOUNTAINS
If the Pacific Ocean were drained away, the mile-deep sunken islands would emerge as truncated volcanic cones.
The original oil painting is by the distinguished scientific illustrator Chesley Bonestell and is based on part of the bathymetric chart of the Mid-Pacific range
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 22/10/2024
That looks like fuchsite for sure!
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 20/10/2024
There are now 494,884 PDFs available for download in the Rock H. Currier Digital Library. www.mindat.org/reference.php
The image is a screenshot of a webpage titled "The Rock H. Currier Digital Library." It features a header menu with options such as "Library Home," "Bookshelves," "View by Type," "Using Search," "Administration," and "Add a new Reference." Below that, there is a search bar with dropdown options for selecting search types. A welcome message reads, "Welcome to the Rock H. Currier Digital Library," explaining that the library serves as a reference archive supporting the work in building mindat.org and offering links to original publishers where possible.

Beneath the message, there is a "Latest Downloads" section with images of reference documents and their titles/authors listed below. Some examples include:

A reference in Russian authored by several individuals in 2024 titled "Инженерная геология [Engineering geology]."
A reference from Paul H. Reitan titled "The geology of the Komagfjord tectonic window of the Raipas site, Finnmark, Norway" published in 1963.
Other geology-related reports from various authors, including geological surveys from Norway (NGU).
The layout is organized with clickable items and icons that indicate whether a PDF is available for download.
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
Did a thing. Want to be part of the thing? Let us know. go.bsky.app/3Z5SFJr
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
You may have heard of left and right-handed quartz, but did you know that hundreds of minerals are chiral, that is have left and right handed variants? A new open-access paper by David Avnir explores this... www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/14...
mdpi.com
Chiral Minerals
Hundreds of minerals are chiral, that is, they appear in nature in two forms—left-handed and right-handed. Yet except for quartz, this key structural property has remained, by and large, in shadow in ...
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
Because of the continuing downward trajectory of 'the other place', we'll start posting here more!
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
Ten years ago we went to visit the type locality of Dioptase in Kazakhstan - and an amazing adventure was had. www.mindat.org/article.php/... #MinCup23
mindat.org
Visit to Altyn Tyube, Kazakhstan
The Type Locality for Dioptase - Altyn Tyube Last week I was in Kazakhstan and met up with local mineral dealer Sergei Golomolzin for a pre-planned visit to a couple of mineral localities in the ...
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 12/08/2023
Don't miss the Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium, which you can watch live on ZOOM on Saturday August 19, 2023. Also see details of the online auction, where you can get a bargain and support mindat.org (and other worthy causes) at the same time! www.irocks.com/dallas-mineral-colle…...
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 03/08/2023
We're setting up a minerals feed for bluesky too. More about that when we've got it done!
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 03/08/2023
I forgot we're on summer time, so you have to wait another hour (nearly) for the new POTD
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
This year to celebrate a particularly amusing thread where ChatGPT created a new mineral out of its own imagination (see thread at www.mindat.org/mesg-619454.html) , we created an AI image of it. www.mindat.org/photo-1286672.html
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
We can override this with photos for special occasions. Every April 1st for example we do something silly.
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
We're always asked "how does the POTD get selected?" Well, mindat has a bunch (over 50) of managers who help maintain the site, and they can all flag interesting photos as future Photos of the Day. At midnight (UK) time the system chooses one at random from that list for the following day.
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
Did you know the mindat Photo of the Day changes every day? Well, duh, of course you did. But do you look every day? In 15 minutes this one will be gone, replaced with something else! www.mindat.org/photo-918741.html
mindat.org
Just a moment...
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
Delighted to :) You'll also notice the mindat account is being used more here than in 'the other place'
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Juli Emry @parodyite.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
Just had one if the biggest geology nerd-love experiences EVER. @mindat.bsky.social found and followed me first! Probably doesn't seem like a biggie, but y'all have to understand how much I LOVE & frequently used the site for my research & when teaching Intro/Sed/Mineralogy labs. 🥰
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Jolyon Ralph 🪨 @jolyon.bsky.social · 01/08/2023
Are you a mineral freak who's having a baby? Here are some nice mineralogical names for your child: Amethyst Diamond Topaz Jade Rutile Kyanite Andalusite Dolomite Uraninite Massicot Plumbogummite Hexatestibiopanickelite Calciumhilgardite-2M(Cc) UM1990-38-S:CuFeIrNiPtRh
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 31/07/2023
Did you know that mindat.org now has a massive reference library with details on over 16 million geoscience articles, books, etc - and with close to half a million downloadable PDFs. More being added daily! www.mindat.org/reference.php 🧪 Geosciences ⚒️
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Mindat.org @mindat.bsky.social · 31/07/2023
So, who likes rocks?
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