this guy’s crying and screaming and throwing up rn #MinCup23

Congratulations to zircon, the #MinCup23 champion! Here are a few zircon specimens on display in our #mineral gallery #MineralMonday

ROCK POSTING TIME.

#Goethite is my favorite in the #MinCup23 competition because of the pseudomorphs – the most well-known example is goethite replacements of pyrite.

Goethite & Hematite ps. Pyrite • Guadalupe Mountains, Eddy County, New Mexico, USA • 6.3cm x 5.7cm x 4.1cm

#Zircon walks away with the #MinCup23 crown! It's one of my absolute favorite minerals for its U-Pb dating precision. Here's a photo showing off some of Zircon's stunning interference colors from a Kilbourne Hole, NM mantle xenolith sample! 🌈

Over the last few days, we've been hard at work cleaning up the Silica Wall in Earth's Treasury. Head up to the first floor in the Red Zone and take a look! 💎 #minerals #TeamQuartz #MinCup23

I’ve been pretty absent for #MinCup23 so far but here’s a cool perovskite from Perovskite Hill, San Benito Co., CA. 4.00mm FOV. Mineral Cup #MinCup

Kaolinite is one of the few minerals in the collection that has a smell (or at least, has a smell that doesn’t make my heart sink).
Gets my vote for making my day a tad more interesting.
#MinCup23

Many of the world's best rhodochrosite specimens come from Sweet Home Mine in Colorado, USA. Despite its vibrant colour, rhodochrosite has a white streak (this is the colour of its powdered form) #MinCup23 #mineral #mineral s

For #MinCup23 Match 1 I'm voting Moissanite. It was first found in Meteor Crater Arizona before being mass produced as a diamond imitation. Here's a pic of a lab grown moissanite carved into a diamond shape. Natural moissanite is NEVER big enough to cut into a gem.

Who would dare not vote for #Dioptase ? A beautiful deep green mineral (thanks to copper of course) with near perfect cleavage? That's right! Nobody. #MinCup23

In honour of the newly crowned #MinCup23 winner zircon, here is one of my favourite specimens of the mineral. This crystal cluster is from Seiland Island, Norway. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceTwitter

This is the way. #TeamZircon #MinCup23 #Geology

After an intense match with 3757 votes, perpetual runner-up #Zircon takes the #MinCup23 Championship by just 61 votes over #Perovskite !

I've been waiting for this match all month! #Kyanite is one of my favorite minerals, and it has been so since my first mineralogy class when I learned about its anisotropic hardness.

I'm happy to have this specimen from Minas Gerais, Brazil in my personal collection. #MinCup23

This matchup is easy-breezy. Cacoxenite - North Wilson Pit, Garland Co., AR - 3.4mm FOV #MinCup23 Mineral Cup #MinCup

Specimen NFS. ©️2023 Bucket of Holes

Take a break from the tension of #MinCup23 and enjoy this low stress amazonite specimen showing twinning. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceTwitter

To be honest it's getting more difficult to chose, they are both so pretty. But I just found out Vivianite can also grow a pretty blue color on bones? #mincup23 #Vivianite

atlasobscura.com/articles/vivia…

#MinCup23 Quarter Finals Round 1: Zircon versus Dioptase.
Another straightforward choice.
Here a lovely concentrically zoned ZIRCON with an annulus of tiny, dark, melt(?) inclusions in a granulite from the Kerala Khondalite Belt, India.
Enjoy!

Easy win for #TeamCalcite , right? It can be found in beautiful geodes. #MinCup23 #Geology

It's time to deploy the KYANITE SQUAD

Mineral Cup #MinCup #mincup23