Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Wednesday, February 24, 2021,
by
Duncan Miller
Imagine
a jigsaw puzzle the size of the Earth, with most of the pieces missing. And
those that aren’t missing are moving around all the time. This is the task that
confronts some ambitious geologists. It is important because it explains why
there are oceans and mountain chains, and why we may find rocks of similar ages
and composition on far-flung continents. It also satisfies human scientific
curiosity, and keeps some people employed and off the streets.
Until
the mid-1960s...
Continue reading ...
Botryoidal Minerals: A Colourful Trip Around the Mineral Kingdom
Posted by Site Moderator Webmaster on Wednesday, February 24, 2021,
In :
Mineralogy
by
Peter Rosewarne
Introduction
My
previous MinChat article on fluorite described a colourful trip around the
world. In this article we take a colourful trip around the mineral kingdom,
using minerals with a botryoidal habit as the guide. The idea came from the
supplement to The Mineral Record of January-February 2020 on Mineral Collectors
in Arizona, with the focus of one of the collectors being on botryoidal mineral
specimens. The term botryoidal is
derived from the Greek word botryios
or â€...
Continue reading ...