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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 1d

The fierce carnivore Inostrancevia is one of the species of synapsids that went extinct in the Great Dying, known as the Permian-Triassic Extinction event. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

Mounted skeleton of fossil Inostrancevia with its body facing left. It’s skull shows large saver like teeth. It stands on a bed of shale fragments on a plinth with red plexiglass behind it. At the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

It’s diopside

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

Yes it’s diopside

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

It’s diopside

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

Correct

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

The answer is diopside

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

It’s diopside

Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 3d

The answer is diopside!! Asterism is when inclusions (or sometimes twinning) cause refraction or reflection to concentrate light into a star shape. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 4d

Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem with asterism is? Hint: sometimes called jasper or emerald, it is a different mineral.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Black sphere showing a white 4 rayed star (asterism) slightly off centre to the lower left. It sits on a frosted plinth with a number 4 on it. It sits on a grey background with the bottom of another plinth showing behind it. At the Royal Ontario Museum

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 4d

Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem with asterism is? Hint: sometimes called jasper or emerald, it is a different mineral.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 5d

It’s Geodiversity Day & Mineral Monday!! So I wanted to show you a rare mineral called carletonite, which is usually bright blue but seen here with a pink zonation. It was discovered here in Canada, at the mineral species rich Mont Saint-Hilaire. #GeodiversityDay #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Specimen of carletonite with prisms of blue and pink all around. There is one large square crystal with a small blue square in the middle with pink on the outside on the upper right side of the specimen. It sits on a black background. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 8d

A herbivorous archosaur, Trilophosaurus buettneri, which if you look closely at its jaws has no teeth at the front of its mouth. It might have had some sort of beak. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

Mounted fossil skeleton of Trilophosaurus buettneri seen from the side. Its head faces the camera with its mouth open showing that the teeth end at the front of its jaws. Its feet sit in pale disks that look like sandstone that then sit on a greyish wooden shelf where parts of it are inset into the front of a grey riser. You can only see part of its long tail. At the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 12d

If you like colourful minerals, check out crocoite!! #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Specimen consisting of many long tabular crystals of bright orange crocoite at various different angles on a black shelf. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 15d

This pterosaur species, Scaphognathus crassirostris, was first described all the way back in 1831! Look at the teeth!! #FossilFriday⚒️🧪

Cast of an incomplete Scaphognathus in yellow beige rock. The spine, skull, and wing bones can be seen. The skull is on the top right edge showing large spaced out teeth. At Kelvingrove.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 19d

This chalcedony is so beautiful!! It looks like a modern art sculpture or something swept up in the wind. How does this form? #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

White chalcedony made up of the rounded long lengths resembling thick fibres making it look like a wad of string or cloth falling apart. Label on the bottom says “Chalcedony/SiO2/Locality Unknown”. At the Sedgwick Museum.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 22d

Real skull of Sue the T. rex!! Did you know the one on the full display is a cast that removed the distortion due to crushing that we see here. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖

Large T. rex skull seen from the front in a glass case. The right side is much flatter than the left. At the Field Museum.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 26d

One of the coolest hematite specimens I have ever seen, it’s wider than my hand!! It’s from Parkside, Cumbria, UK. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Specimen of hematite that is made
up of round concentric segments that form donut shapes stacked on top of one another (3-4). Looks a bit like curled up pull bugs. It sits on a black shelf with the edge dark grey specimen seen next to it. At the Great North Museum: Hancock.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · 29d

Cool fossil crab (Avitelmessus grapsoideus) with a lot of detail preserved. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖🦀

Fossil crab, Avitelmessus grapsoideus, still partly embedded in orange brown stone seen from the top with its body pointed right. The specimen is mounted on a wall.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 8

Take a pause from the stress in choosing your votes for Mineral Cup and refresh your palate with this fluorescent bright orange coral-like halite. Minerals are just so cool. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky #MinCup25 ⚒️🧪

Specimen made up of many small cubes making branches off a base. The specimen is fluorescing orange with a black background. At the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

And it’s a gem, even harder!

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

Correct!

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

Rhodochrosite

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

Haven’t heard that too much for rhodochrosite but I have seen a few bacon-like specimens.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

It is!

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 3

The answer is last year’s Mineral Cup winner: rhodochrosite!! Best of luck to all the mineral candidates this year!! #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky #MinCup25 ⚒️🧪💎

Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 2

Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem is? Hint: last year’s winner.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky #MinCup25 ⚒️🧪💎

Bright pink rectangular scissor cut gem on a white background. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.

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Erika Anderson @andersonmineral.bsky.social · Sep 2

Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem is? Hint: last year’s winner.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky #MinCup25 ⚒️🧪💎

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