Posts tagged: science
Dioptase from Kazakhstan
by Dan Weinrich
Galena with Fluorite from Illinois
by Dan Weinrich
Fluorite on Sphalerite from Illinois
Manganite with Calcite
Ilfeld, Thuringia, Germany
Adamite from Namibia
by Dan Weinrich
Creedite from Mexico
by Dan Weinrich
The Biggest Bang of the 20th Century: The 1912 Eruption of Novarupta in Alaska
[June 6, 2012 marked] the 100th anniversary of the largest eruption of the 20th century, yet many people have never even heard its name. In fact, the name was wrong for almost half a century! What is known as the Novarupta or Katmai eruption of 1912 was huge – ejecting almost 30 cubic kilometers of ash and debris into the atmosphere or along the ground as pyroclastic flows. That represents ~13 cubic kilometers of magma (once you correct for all the air in ash) erupted over the course of ~60 hours. That is a rate of nearly 220 million cubic meters per hour, which is roughly 520 million tonnes per hour – or to put it another way, that is ~5,300 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers per hour. Now that is an eruption!
Read the blow-by-blow of the eruption here.
Minerals are really awesome. This example of stibnite is both awesome and beautiful!
Adamite from Greece
by Dan Weinrich
The iridium layer, or K/T Boundary
The thin, grey claystone layer contains 1,000 times more iridium (REE) than the layers above and below, along with shocked quartz. Iridium is extremely rare on Earth, but a very common/abundant element in asteroids. This layer has been identified in 100+ places around the Earth.
This boundary marks the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs.