iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Plenty of new followers here, so let me introduce myself! I'm Owen - passionate about all things environmental geology and (unusual) minerals. I work at @utas.edu.au in a lecturing role, an amazingly varied job with fieldwork, teaching, labwork, writing, amazing colleagues and plenty of flexibility!

Man in white T-shirt with a cat and clock on it smiles at the camera under a tin roof. Top of a coconut visible in foreground.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Mid #IAGS2024 symposium field trip to Hallett Cove! stunning coastal landscape featuring everything from folded sediments to amphitheatres to glacial deposits and erratics, plus wildlife - seal flipper shown! thanks to Mario from Geol Survey SA and Jarred from Uni of Adelaide for leading the trip!

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

At #IAGS2024 conference in Adelaide, chaired by the wonderful @geo-anna.bsky.social ! We've already covered plenty of ground (pardon the pun) today, from regolith to drilling to groundwater to mine waste!

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 10/06/2024

Here's a shareable flyer for the Symposium too 😊

Flyer for CODES CRITICAL AND STRATEGIC METALS SYMPOSIUM to be held at University of Tasmania, Hobart from Wednesday 10th to Friday 12th July.
The poster has a black background with a picture of a scheelite-rich rock under ultraviolet light.
Technical session topics are:
Introduction to critical metals
Lithium,
Granite-related tin and tungsten,
Rare earth elements,
Cobalt and copper,
and
Nickel and PGEs.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 11/05/2024

a first for me in southern hemisphere, and a stunning one at that - southern lights / Aurora Australis from Hobart! amazing to see such colours closer to the equator than the poles.

stunning red and green aurora Australia columns in the sky next to a tree, viewed over water.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 24/04/2024

Was great to run the CODES @utas.bsky.social stall at the Galley Museum Open Day, Queenstown, Tasmania last week! Plenty of interesting chats about Tasmania's amazing rocks and minerals and great to see many school students interested in minerals. Thanks to all involved in organising the event!

I am wearing a black jumper, sitting in front of a mineral collection and behind a table with various rock specimens from the University of Tasmania collection. Banners from University of Tasmania projects are visible on either side.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 19/04/2024

Despite signs of volume expansion due to radiation damage, (U,Pu)(Al,Fe)3C3 remains highly X-ray crystalline 60 years after its formation. This compound is a 'derivative-MAX phase', and compounds like this may explain constant low-levels of radionuclides observed in fauna. 2/3

Crystal structure of (U,Pu)(Al,Fe)3C3 discovered in a hot particle from Maralinga, and relations to MAX phases. (A) Overview of the layered structure of (U,Pu)(Al,Fe)3C3. (B, C) Coordination of the actinide sites in (U,Pu)(Al,Fe)3C3. (B) and in the topologically similar UAl3C3 (C). The derivative MAX structure of the new phase (A) is compared to two MAX phase sensu stricto structures (Al(Ti)n+1Cin): (D) Ti2AlC (n = 1), Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre deposition number 1681503); (E) Ti3AlC2 (n = 2), International Crystal Structure Database #93503).

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

Our study suggests that cobalt may be more mobile in surface environments than previously thought, and demonstrates the importance of analysing for nanoparticulate phases in weathering regolith environments. 6/7

cycling schematic of cobalt oxide nanoparticles in the environment

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

The three highest concentrations of extractable Co-based NPs were found in weathering regolith from the cobalt sulfarsenide locality Queen Sally, ~150 km north of Cloncurry, Queensland (average 1296 ± 31 ng NP Co per gram of regolith from 2.19 ± 0.04 × 10^8 NPs). 5/7

rock pit at Queen Sally with a hole in the centre, trees and shrubs above below a blue sky

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

We found that cobalt is closely associated with manganese in surface environments in the form of cobalt-manganese oxide nanoparticles - this association was observed in all deposits to varying amounts, not just lateritic ones. 4/7

red-green-blue maps of cobalt (red), manganese (blue) - purple when overlapped as occurs in 3 of 4 images - and iron (green).

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

We collected samples from six Australian localities, encompassing regolith at two weathering cobalt sulfarsenide deposits, a cobaltian pyrite deposit, a siderite-hosted outcrop and two lateritic Mn–Co oxide outcrops. Lots of amazing landscapes to visit! 2/7

Red-pink sunrise above a mining exploration camp. Silhouettes of trees and a powerpole below the pink sky, which has one point of light in it (Venus perhaps).

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

Wortupaite is different from other natural zemannites - its framework cations are all Ni2+, whereas other zemannites have one 2+ cation and one 3+ cation. The charge difference is made up by an increase in channel cations, including an additional Ni2+ site! 7/9

wortupaite crystal structure in polyhedra: light blue NiO6 octahedra, dark green TeO3 trigonal pyramids and yellow MgO6 triangular prisms in the channels. O atoms are shown in red (partially occupied sites in half red, half white spheres)

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

The name is derived from its type locality, Wortupa gold mine in Sth Australia, near Balcanoona station in the Flinders Ranges. The word 'wortupa' means 'shadow' in the indigenous language of the local Adnyamathanha, how it came to be the name of the small mine is uncertain. 4/9

Old workings at Wortupa - be careful! A mount of gravelly rock surrounds a hole in the ground (120 year old mine workings), across which a rudimentary log warns of the danger of slipping!

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

I'm going to try doing a thread here too, hope it works! Wortupaite was found on a now 124 year old specimen in the collections of Museums Victoria, demonstrating the value of a Museum collection in finding new minerals and species. It is found with melonite (NiTe2) and calcite (CaCO3). 3/9

small pale green crystals of wortupaite on translucent white calcite.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

Pleased to share with you the new mineral wortupaite - I led the description and naming! Wortupaite is the first tellurium-oxygen mineral to be described from an Australian locality, and is the 100th Te-O mineral. It also contains two critical metals and one strategic metal per Australia's list!! 🧪

hexagonal crystals of wortupaite in clusters under the scanning electron microscope. Longest crystals are 25 microns in length, with most needle-like crystals considerably smaller.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

Manuscript accepted! I'll share it soon! 🧪

screenshot of email with text:

Dear Dr Missen:

Thank you for sending the revised version of this paper (Natural cobalt-manganese oxide nanoparticles: Speciation, detection and implications for cobalt cycling) and for dealing so thoroughly with the referees' comments. I have now had the opportunity to examine your revised manuscript and I am pleased to accept it for publication in Environmental Chemistry.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 08/02/2024

Presenting my work at Australian Mine Waste Symposium - great to discuss some of Tasmania's mine waste challenges and opportunities, as well as a discussion on trace element cycling - with a case study on cobalt! #AMWS

Man (me) stands in front of microphone with corner of a slide showing orange acid mine drainage above.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 06/02/2024

Greg Dipple presents an excellent talk on his mineral carbonation work. Focus on developing commercial scale carbonation technologies currently. If you've got ultramafic tailings - consider if they can be used for carbonation and carbon accounting! #AMWS

Man stands in front of slide showing mineral dissolution reactions that when mixed with CO2 can form carbonates.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 05/02/2024

and we're off and away at the Australian Mine Waste Symposium #AMWS! A/prof Anita Parbhakar-Fox kicks us off - great turnout! the building at UQ where this symposium is being held includes industrial waste as building material - amazing!

lecture theatre with orange and grey seats showing over 100 attendees. woman looks up at screen at introductory video with a woman in high vis and a blue sky behind her.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 05/02/2024

in Brisbane for the Australian Mine Waste Symposium #AMWS! lots of posts incoming over the next two days as discuss all things mine waste!

man (me) stands in front a river with city skyline of Brisbane in the afternoon sun in the background.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 08/01/2024

Lovely sight of Waratah Falls on the way to the field! is this Tasmania's best (or only) middle-of-town waterfall?

braided waterfall amongst greenery with some white and yellow flowers. grass and houses in the midground and clouds and a tall, bluish mountain in the far background.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 06/01/2024

well hello there! Always love seeing a platypus in Hobart Rivulet, only a couple of kilometres from central Hobart!

platypus swims in flowing water, with sunlight dappling on the ripples, part of a tree visible in left foreground and a rock in the back.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 04/01/2024

lovely! found the photo I was thinking of! more built up background compared to yours.

canal at sunset. placid deep grey-blue water in foreground. orange sunset above horizon with deep blue sky. small trees on left and a smokestack and buildings on right.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 03/01/2024

I’m happy to share that I'm now working as Lecturer in Environmental Geology at @utas.bsky.social! Looking forward to many new research and teaching challenges in this most exciting area, combining critical metals and environmental geology😊

Picture of a man (me) wearing a backpack with hat behind his head and a T-shirt with green and grey geometric designs. Tree trunk on the left with greenery behind in centre and right.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 22/12/2023

An early Christmas present, and one I wish all academics out there receive! 🎁🎄 Loking forward to working on the revisions of this one and sharing more about #cobalt environmental chemistry with you all in 2024!

screenshot of an email.
text:
Dear Dr Missen

Thank you for submitting your manuscript ‘Natural cobalt-manganese oxide nanoparticles: Speciation, detection and implications for cobalt cycling’ (manuscript number removed).

Your manuscript has been reviewed and recommended for publication pending satisfactory revisions. The reviewer comments are attached below. I invite you to respond to the reviewer comments and make the necessary revisions to your manuscript.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 28/09/2023

Vote for perovskite! As well as Borg cubes and solar panels, it forms a specimens with a range of different morphologies! #MinCup23 www.mindat.org/photo-112751...

iridescent partial blocks of perovskite stacked on top of each other on a matrix of reflective crystals with some tabular light yellow-green crystals in the background.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 21/09/2023

Going to vote for mercury here because of specimens like this! It may not be a solid at room temperature (nor is ice) but it occurs on mineralised rocks and has a regular crystal structure once cooled below -39 C! mindat.org/photo-19084.... - photo Cristian Biagioni #MinCup23

Iridescent 3 mm silver droplet of mercury nestled within white quartz matrix with some red cinnabar coating

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 20/09/2023

Here's the data presented differently - year by year variation. Each year we've had representatives from the following elements: H, C, O, F, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, Cu and Zr. #MinCup23

Graph showing elemental variation over seven years of Mineral Cup. Y-axis is number of minerals, x-axis is elements (those included at least once only).

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 19/09/2023

Here are the #MinCup23 elemental stats!! ⬇️⬇️ This year we've welcome two new elements to the @mineralcup.bsky.social fold, vanadium (cavansite) and antimony (stibnite - into the quarter finals!!) 26 out of 32 minerals contain oxygen, and just under half silicon or hydrogen (both 15/32). #MinCup23

Graph showing number of times minerals containing certain elements appear in Mineral Cup 23. In the middle is a red line just after iron, saying 'Buck stops with Fe, 20 elements' to the left and 'needs a supernova, 8 elements' to the right.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 10/09/2023

vote for ammineite! its formation story is too cool not to make round 2! your vote matters - just 3 votes in it! www.mindat.org/photo-367271...

dark blue, vitreous composite crystals of ammineite on a translucent clear matrix. unfocused blue ammineite crystals in the background.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 09/09/2023

Mineralogy is more difficult to define than one might think. Most minerals are solids at room temperature (but not mercury and ice), and most are crystalline at room temperature (but not mercury and rare amorphous examples like santabarbaraite). #MinCup23

Globules of silver mercury on a matrix of red cinnabar crystals and translucent clear quartz crystals.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 07/09/2023

Voting for cavansite - vanadium has amazing oxidation state chemistry from +2 up to +5, it's the +4 oxidation state that we see colouring cavansite its delightful shade of blue.

Cluster of blue crystals of cavansite (with a few clear crystals of calcite on top) in the centre on a white crystalline matrix of stilbite crystals. Some small sprays of longer blue needles on the right hand side of the image as well.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 06/09/2023

Vote for goethite! Not only a delightfully gothic mineral, it's also a key mineral in regolith and environmental science. Much of the orange colour in these samples (mine waste sediments after riverine transport in Tasmania) is from goethite. #MinCup23 #Regolith

A small hole next to the business end of a green shovel. The ground is orange and muddy, with deeper orange in the hole, which has filled with water

Water lies across the surface of a flooded delta made of mine waste sediments, which has a distinct orange tinge from goethite. Green hills in the background under a cloudy grey sky.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 05/09/2023

Everyone vote for crocoite!! The only significant mineral containing Cr6+ (as the chromate anion), it typically forms in highly oxidised conditions where both lead ores and ultramafic chromium-rich rocks are present. #MinCup23

Mass of thickish deep red needles of crocoite on a dull matrix, virtually obscured by the crocoite.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 04/09/2023

I've voted for sodalite before in the past, but can't go past stibnite in this match-up! First antimony mineral ever in #MinCup, let's go stibnite and its spiky, lustrous black beauty for the win! Also, antimony is a critical metal used in alloys and battery technologies. #MinCup23

Spiky, lustrous crystals of metallic grey stibnite on an off-white quartz matrix.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 04/09/2023

Neck and neck so far! Get out and vote for your favourite!

Screenshot showing graph of votes of stibnite against sodalite (blue bar graph). 151 stibnite against 152 sodalite

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 03/09/2023

This round I'm voting for fluorapatite! Fluorapatite is an important component of human teeth, its formation from hydroxylapatite promoted by toothpaste and fluoridated tap water. It's also more common than hydroxylapatite and chlorapatite. www.mindat.org/photo-110073...

Amazing purple hexagonal prism crystals of fluorapatite on a matrix of small green crystals

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 02/09/2023

This round I'm voting for cinnabar, due to its lovely colour and stability (very low solubility in water, a good way to immobilise mercury!) www.mindat.org/photo-85729....

a brilliant red crystal of cinnabar with a point of light near the centre on a matrix of white, sugary dolomite.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 07/08/2023

Big thanks to all of my co-authors, none of whom are on social media although co-corresponding author Xian Xia is on researchgate: www.researchgate.net/profile/Xian-X… Here's one of the figures from the paper - microbial mechanisms of tellurium detoxification!

Scientific figure showing microbial mechanisms of tellurium oxyanion detoxification - both for TeO3 (tellurite) and TeO4 (tellurate). Processes involved include: (A) reduce uptake of tellurite, (B) efflux of tellurite, (C) reduction of tellurite and tellurate to insoluble elemental tellurium [Te(0)], (D) reduction of tellurite and tellurate to methylated tellurium [Te(-II)], (E) reducing oxidative stress and DNA damage repair.

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 26/07/2023

Hi everyone, I'm Owen, an environmental mineralogy researcher at University of Tasmania! I love oxidation zone minerals and rare elements of the periodic table, tellurium and cobalt in particular. You may know me from the Bird App (now 'X'-rated?!). I am looking forward to Mineral Cup 2023!

Man in an orange hi-vis shirt and sunhat holding a rock hammer, poised above a red-brown rock rich in manganese and cobalt oxides.

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