iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

The Montreal Gem and Mineral show starts today, at the Palais des congrès, and runs through Sunday afternoon. montrealgemmineralclub.ca/en/annual… #Montreal #Minerals #Geology #Quebec

The advertisement for the Montreal Gem and Mineral show.
https://montrealgemmineralclub.ca/en/annual-show/

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

The Geological Society of America’s annual meeting is this week: An EarlyCareer poster at GSA Connects Tuesday: "Oman Ophiolite as a Potential Analogue for Early Mars Habitability and Life Detection" Ayli Stoebenau (Carnegie Science and McGill) Poster Booth No […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

An SEM image of a serpentine surface containing secondary oxidized minerals and organic fragments. Ayli Stoebenau, Carnegie Science

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026

The last of the Claremont Avenue electric streetcar tracks uncovered during repaving, just about seventy years after the trams stopped running. #Montreal #Streetcar #Tram #PublicTransit #Westmount

A street with the asphalt pavement removed, exposing the rusting metal tracks of a streetcar network last used in the mid-1950s.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

@vickyveritas.bsky.social Since you mention it.... Two pieces of slate from the only working slate quarry in Quebec: the Glendyne, in the Témiscouata area of the Appalachians. Pyrite occurs along select bedding planes, in this case a golden smear. #SlateQuarry #temiscouata #Pyrite #Quebec

Two pieces of slate. The original sedimentary bedding is at an angle to the metamorphic foliation, which defines the slaty cleavage. Pyrite (cubes in the above photo, fine streaky aggregates in the lower) has crystallized along select bedding planes. Canadian quarter for scale.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

Congratulations to new PhD Dr. Sarah Bodeving, who successfully defended her thesis, "The origin and evolution of rare-element LCT- pegmatites: insights from the Separation Rapids and Lilypad Lakes pegmatites, Ontario, Canada" (Anthony Williams-Jones […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A four stage model of pressure-release crystallization of a fine-grained margin to the pegmatite followed by fluid release into the host amphibolite wall rock and eventual crystallization of the lithium-bearing mineral petalite. From: Bodeving, S., Vasyukova, O. V., & Williams-Jones, A. E. (2025). Controls on the origin and evolution of wall-rock alteration at the Big Whopper Li–Cs–Ta pegmatite, Canada. Economic Geology, 120(3), 689–714

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

A very clear presentation of the complexities of modelling the rover versus satellite evidence for methane on Mars by Dr. Elisa Dong. Perchorates activated by UV photons can explain the day-night variations that fit the data (based on experimental work by Zhang […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Quartz terminations co-precipitated with iron oxides, turning them a delightful burgundy brown. Sample from Bavaria, but now our teaching collection. #MinCup26 #Quartz #IronOxide #Bavaria

Terminated hexagonal quartz crystals brown in color due to iron oxides. Sample collected sometime last century in Bavaria Germany. Canadian quarter for scale.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Quartz veins in slate show the deformation and material transport accompanying the growth of the Appalachians. #MinCup26 #Quartz #Quebec #Gaspésie

White quartz veins in a black slate. Several generations of veins show cross-cutting relationships and deformation within the rock. Siluro-Devonian Appalachians, Gaspe Penninsula, Quebec

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

Left: Graphite in Quartzite, from Ticonderoga, New York. Right: Graphite in red cedar and yellow paint #MinCup26 #Graphite #PencilLead #Metamorphism #Ticonderoga #NewYork

Dark shiny layer of graphite attached to host quartzite. From our teaching collection (pen cap for scale). From Ticonderoga, New York.

Ticonderoga pencils that used to be made from Ticonderoga graphite and red cedar wood.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

On Friday, Celeste Cunningham (St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia) showed us where organic material is buried on continental slopes. Not just black shales, but also in the levees and channel fills formed by turbidity currents, often adsorbed on clay […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A schematic diagram of the sources of carbon deposited in the deep ocean on the continental slope. Also shown is what that organic carbon looks like in the sedimentary record.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

By being able to characterize the pathways of acetate production, as well as their isotopic signature, Elliott Mueller (U. Colorado, Boulder) has shown that the sedimentary record can distinguish between fermentation followed by oxidative respiration (modern) […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

$A figure from Mueller et al (2025) "Metabolic controls on the carbon isotope fractionations of bacterial fermentation", published in PNAS. It shows that the isotopic fractionation due to fermentation and respiration pathways explains the differing sedimentary record in the Proterozoic (low oxygen) and Phanerozoic (high oxygen).$

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

Last week Elliott Mueller (U. Colorado Boulder) gave us a fascinating and well-crafted talk about #fermentation, that I'm still working through. He showed that the rate limiting step to oxidation of organics is likely breaking the large molecules, often by […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

a photomicrograph of an isolated collection of actetate-producing fermenters breaking down large organic molecules associated with cyanobacteria primary producers (phtosynthesizers). The acetate is then available for respiration reactions. From Elliott Mueller, University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

Graphite inclusion trails link the corners to the centre of this andalusite crystal. From an unknown locality, in our teaching collection. #MinCup26 #Graphite #Andalusite

A rectangular grey crystal of andalusite (~ 3 mm diameter) surrounded by mica. Black trains of inclusions (graphite?) link the corners to the central core.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

“From Planets to Particles: An Exploration Mini-Fair”. Join us for hands-on activities and demos about gravity, life on other planets, energy, planetary systems, and more! We'll also set up telescopes for some solar observing, weather permitting. Activities […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

“From Planets to Particles: An Exploration Mini-Fair”
for Science Literacy Week ,hosted by McGill Physics Outreach and Trottier Space Institute Outreach

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 14/09/2026

From our teaching collection: Riebeckite in a two feldspar granite (plus quartz and biolite) from Pinarello, Corsica. #MinCup26 #Amphibole #Riebeckite #Corsica

Black needles of riebeckite with dark biotite mica, pinkish potassium feldspar, grey plagioclase feldspar and quartz. Canadian quarter for scale.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/09/2026

Andalusite thin section in cross-polarized light. Faint chiastolitic (is that an adjective?) inclusion trails link the corners of the crystal. From an unknown locality, in our teaching collection. #MinCup26 #MineralCup #Andalusite #Chiastolite #ThinSection

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2026

Very nicely done! The video edition of Sara Pruss (professor, Smith Collsge) on the first reef builders (archaeocyaths) is now up on the Geology Bites YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@geology_bites_video #GeologyBites #SmithCollege #Reefs #CarbonatePlatform #DeepTime

Geology BItes cover photo of Sara Pruss and her research group

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 15/08/2026

Magnitude 7.7 earthquake near Flores, Indonesia, and eastern Quebec is shaking, 15,000 km away. #RaspberryShake #Seismology #Quebec

A seismogram from a raspberry shake geophone showing the shaking from the magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Indonesia. The amplitude of the shaking is comparable to that of the nearby trains going by.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

Joignez-vous à nous pour les « Climate Convos » au parc La Fontaine ce dimanche! À partir de 11 h Quelques scientifiques spécialistes du climat seront sur place pour discuter avec vous et réfléchir ensemble aux actions que nous pouvons entreprendre […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Une affiche pour Parlons Climate, Parc La Fontaine, 16 août 2026, 11:00

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

Join us for climate convos in Parc La Fontaine this Sunday, 11 AM! A few climate scientists will be there to chat and brainstorm actions that we can collectively take. We’ll invite you to draw, sketch, or write down whatever comes to mind when you think about […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A poster advertising the Climate Convos in Parc La Fontaine, Montreal , Sunday 16 Aug 2026 11:00 am

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/08/2026

From 2004, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A packaged blue air freshener "New Car Scent", repeated in French and Spanish.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026

Congratulations to Justin Chien, who successfully defended his PhD thesis, "Unraveling the Complexity of Intraplate Seismicity through Data-Driven Approaches" (supervised by Yajing Liu). Justin used machine learning techniques to identify and distinguish […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A map showing previously identified blasts and earthquakes and those identified by a trained neural network approach, here for the Montreal area.

From: Justin Chien, Yajing Liu (2026) Effectively Distinguishing Blast and Earthquake Sources in Eastern Canada. Seismica:doi:10.26443/Seismica.v5i1.1964

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026

A gorgeous thin section of a xenolith-rich lamprophyre dyke from near Ayer's Cliff, Quebec (Cretaceous, Monteregian-age, so ~120 Ma). Pelitic crustal assemblages equilibrated at 700-800°C and 8-10 kbar, while we're currently studying the lherzolite mantle […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A photo of a thinsection of a rock taken in plane-polarized light. The dark quenched magma is filled with bits of rock (xenoliths) ripped off the conduit on its way to the surface. The xenoliths are both crustal and mantle. Photo taken by Justin Plouffe, McGill University

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 09/07/2026

A xenolith embedded in a Cretaceous lamprophyre dyke. This is a pyroxenite: almost all of the crystals are orthopyroxene or clinopyroxene. This is some late hydrous alteration at grain boundaries. A whole thin section scan in plane-polarized light […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

An image of a rock sliced thin enough to transmit light, showing many interlocking pastel-colored crystals.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2026

The surest sign we've entered the prelude to the Dog Days of Summer. #DogsOfMasodon #Montreal #IceCream

A placard advertising 'crème glacée pour chiens' (ice cream for dogs) at a local business.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 18/05/2026

Introducing Shadow, our part-husky, part-sheppard?kelpie?whoknows? rescue. First thing she did was claim the comfy chair as hers. #MonDog #DogsOfMastodon #Quebec

Photo of a dog with big ears lounging on an overstuffed chair. It's a dog's life.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 17/05/2026

Porchfest continues on Sunday! Rockin' in the sun! Stopping traffic! #Montreal #PorchfestNDG

Crowds of families listen to a front yard band along NDG Avenue, Montreal.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/05/2026

Early-career researcher at #EGU26 Thursday: **Julia Baumgarte**, Lekima Yakuden, and James Kirkpatrick Contact Stress Distribution and Slip Stability on Experimental Faults EGU26-313 | Orals | EMRP1.6 07 May, 08:55–09:05 (CEST) Room -2.31 #McGillUniversity #UNReno #Seismology #RockMechanics

How do the spacings of contact regions on a fault influence slip stability?

Faults, because they are rough, only come into contact with each other at relatively small, discreet locations. At these contact regions, the local normal stress is very high, which can both impede and trigger earthquake rupture.
from:
https://sites.google.com/view/juliabaumgarte/research

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/04/2026

A garnet muscovite schist in cross-polarized light. Horizontal field of view ~ 4cm. #ThinSectionThursday #Schist #Metamorphic #Pelite

In cross-polarized light, garnets are black (often with quartz inclusions), surrounded by swirls of multicolor high-birefringence muscovite mica.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026

The #RaspberryShake recordings of today's western Quebec earthquake from a noisy site in Montreal (R9499) and a quiet site near the Quebec-Maine-New Brunswick borders. #Seismology #Earthquake #Quebec

A seismometer trace of an earthquake in western Quebec. Ambient city noise can be seen at the intermediate frequencies.

A seismometer trace of an earthquake in western Quebec

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Salas who successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, "Advancing Volcanic Gas Monitoring to Unravel Eruption Processes: Insights from Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, Costa Rica" (supervisors John Stix (McGill Univ.) and Maarten de Moor […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A figure showing gas venting styles and the proposed volcanic conduit geometries responsible. This model is constrained by in situ gas concentrations, remotely sensed SO2 in the plumes, and seismic/infrasound records. Salas-Navarro et al., submitted to JGR.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/04/2026

Pierre Lanari (Univ. Lausanne), a Mineralogical Society of America @mineralsocamerica.bsky.social Distinguished Lecturer, presented advancements in constraining the rates of metamorphic reactions, enabled by clever application of element mapping, diffusion […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A figure that shows the documentation of natural metamorphic mineral growth rates that now agree with laboratory experiments; determined using innovative analytical, modeling, and software tools. From:

Liu et al (2025) Ultra-fast metamorphic reaction during regional metamorphism. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/04/2026

Biotite replacing garnet, from the Willoughby area of the Vermont Appalachians. #ThinSectionThursday #Vermont #Geology #Metamorphism

A plane-polarized image of a remnant garnet within a larger ovoid area that now contains brown biotite and quartz.

The garnet is black in this cross-polarized image, quartz grey, and biotite and white mica colorfully birefringent.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 27/03/2026

Just the thing for making posters for Saturday's marches! #NoKings

A very large (King) size Sharpie marker, labelled No! Kings

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/03/2026

Perthite, in a fayalite-hastingsite hypersolvus granite, Cauro-Bastelica Complex, Tolla dam, Corsica The minerals crystallized from melt at high temperature and water-poor conditions. #ThinSectionThursday #Minerals #Corsica #Granite

A plane polarized light image of mostly feldspar that has unmixed in the solid state to bands of sodic and potassic rich zones.

A cross polarized light image of mostly feldspar that has unmixed in the solid state to bands of sodic and potassic rich zones.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/02/2026

A cross-polars image of a garnet lherzolite xenolith from the Cretaceous Nikos kimberlite on Somerset Island, arctic Canada. 2mm scale bar in the lower right corner. #ThinSectionThursday #Kimberlite #Xenolith #Mantle

A colorful image showing black garnets, olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/02/2026

Hand sample and thin section of a pillow rind and interior from Palaeogene lavas of eastern Baffin island. The solidifying melt continued to exsolve gas bubbles, trapped in the pillow interior by the rind. #ThinsectionThursday #BaffinIsland #Basalt #Geology

A cut fact of a basaltic pillow with the quenched pillow rind on the left (swiss army knife for scale).

A transmitted light photo of a thin section spanning the pillow rind on the left to the pillow interior. Gas bubbles show as round white patches within the pillow interior. Horizontal field of view 3.5 cm

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 31/01/2026

A thought-provoking and wide-ranging talk yesterday by Andy Wickert, U. Minnesota. His group has tracked changes in drainage patterns during the final deglaciation of Minnesota (~11 thousand years ago) to changes in erosion rates since the advent of mechanical […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A map of possible water sources for the upper Mississippi River at the end of the last ice age. Calcium-rich sediments source from Lake Agassiz while iron- an copper-containing sediments are from the Superior basin, via the ancestral St. Croix river. From: Shanti B. Penprase et al. (2025) Egusphere. “Meltwater, mud, and the Mississippi: Upper Mississippi River Valley slackwater sediments reveal shifting deglacial meltwater sources associated with the Marquette Readvance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet”

Sediment sources to the upper Mississippi river from the chemistry of a sediment core. Depth corresponds to age of the sediments. The switch in source between Lake Agassiz and Superior coincides with the blocking of eastward drainage of the Superior basin by advancing ice. From: Shanti B. Penprase et al. (2025) Egusphere. “Meltwater, mud, and the Mississippi: Upper Mississippi River Valley slackwater sediments reveal shifting deglacial meltwater sources associated with the Marquette Readvance of the Laurentide
Ice Sheet”

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/01/2026

A very colourful and entertaining talk this week from Dr. Inna Lykova (Research Scientist and Acting Curator, Canadian Museum of Nature). She showed us the amazing minerals found at the fissure eruption of Tolbachik volcano, #Kamchatka (Mindat.org lists 371 […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Sparkly blue zincobradaczekite, NaCuCuZn2(AsO4)3. Field of view approximately 3 mm. From:
Pekov, Igor & Lykova, Inna & Koshlyakova, Natalia & Belakovskiy, Dmitriy & Vigasina, Marina & Turchkova, Anna & Britvin, Sergey & Sidorov, Evgeny & Scheidl, Katharina. (2020). A new mineral species zincobradaczekite, NaCuCuZn2(AsO4)3, and a new isomorphous series bradaczekite–zincobradaczekite in the alluaudite group. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals. 47. 10.1007/s00269-020-01104-8.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/01/2026

While installing shower doors, the instructions tell us which way to install gravity. The doors are only sealed at the bottom, so installing gravity backwards would cause the shower to leak all over the ceiling. #JustKidding #NotActuallyTrue #HomeReno

A photo of glass shower doors with two prominent stickers with arrows and 'this way up' written.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 17/12/2025

#Earlycareer talk at #AGU25 Wednesday: Erica Lucas Widespread Seismic Tremor in Greenland’s Fjords S32B-08 17Dec, 356 CC 11:40-11:50 (with Yajing Liu & @natalyagomez) Water (and heat) transport through Greenland's glacial fjords to tidewater glaciers is […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Two figures from an upcoming publication (Erica Lucas, lead author) linking seismic tremors to turbulent water flow in Greenland. The upper figure is a map of the Ilulissat Icefjord (Jakobshavn) with the location of the seismometer and the azimuth of the received tremors. The lower figure shows the seasonal variation in the tremors (pink, smoothed in light blue) compared to the modelled water exchange (black, smoothed yellow)

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/12/2025

Repost: I'm sure #JohnMastodon would have dove in and saved the man, but I didn't dare pull on the boot. #Montreal #niddepoule #pothole #JohnMastodonDay

An upside-down boot sole in a Montreal pothole, filled with muddy water.

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Bill Minarik @silicatefondue.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/12/2025

Early career presenter at #AGU25 Tuesday: B Parazin Ice Sheets Without Dynamic Topography PP23A-03 16Dec, (214 CC) 14:35-14:45 (Natalya Gomez's group at #McGillUniversity) Dynamic topography is a deviation from isostatic equilibrium driven by mantle flow. The […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Figure 1 from
Parazin, B., Gomez, N., Richards, F., Hoggard, M.J., Coulson, S.,& Mitrovica, J. (2025) Icesheets without dynamic topography. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2025GL115332.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115332

Effect of removing the present‐day predicted signal of the optimal dynamic topography model from Antarctica.

Sub-figures (d)The initial ice thickness following the pre-industrial modern spin up, and (e)final ice thickness after isostatically self‐consistent dynamic topography removal.

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