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Nadine, Haunter of Rocks 👻 @nadwgab.bsky.social · 21h

287 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Borax:
- A borate mineral
- Forms in evaporite deposits
- Turns opaque when it dehydrates
- Has many industrial uses, e.g. cleaning products, pH buffer, gold extraction
- Its name comes from the Arabic word "بورق/bauraq" (white) #minerals

Two white, rectangular borax crystals stacked on top of each other. Their surface has a powdery appearance. From Little Borax Lake, California, USA.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

A group of white tabular borax crystals on white and grey clay. From West Baker Mine, California, USA.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Dr. Judith Hubbard @judithgeology.bsky.social · 2d

October 10th was marked by two M7+ earthquakes on the same day - 14,000 km apart! How unusual is that? We crunch some numbers.

Also: what’s going on in the Drake Passage? 2025 has seen three mid-M7 earthquakes there, after decades of relative seismic silence. What can the limited data tell us?

⚒️ 🧪

Another mid-M7 earthquake in the Drake Passage

The third large earthquake to strike between South America and Antarctica this year

earthquakeinsights.substack.com

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 1d

M5.6 earthquake, near Kamchatka, at 01.10 UTC on 13 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' (top) and @LEGO_Group school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Two seismograms showing P-wave arrival at about 01.22 UTC

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Sapinuwa @sapinuwa.bsky.social · 2d

Geology people @geohenning.bsky.social @pavementgeology.bsky.social ! What is in this rock? Some kind of a calcite? I came across it in the foundations of Pessinus temple in Eskişehir in Turkey today...

Shiny translucent sheetlike accumulations in arock

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Jascha Polet @jascha.bsky.social · 3d

Catching up on a few earthquakes this evening. The M7.6 Drake passage earthquake yesterday appears to have been an intraplate strike slip faulting #earthquake , unlike the M7.4 earthquake a few months ago in the greater area, which was subduction related. ⚒️🧪

Historical seismicity map of Drake passage generated using GMT by Jascha Polet.

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Marcus Brandel @lostbones.bsky.social · 4d

🦥 #FossilFriday P68.40.1 - the rarest Minnesota fossil I’ve ever held in my hand: an ungual phalanx of #Megalonyxjeffersoni (Giant #GroundSloth). Discovered in a pile of excavated peat, this individual toe claw remains the singular specimen of this animal found in the state.
#Pleistocene #Fossil

Discovered in the late 1960s by a City of Minneapolis Park Board Department worker in a pile of excavated peat, this individual toe claw remains the singular specimen of this animal found in the state and is now in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s collection.

Plate 2 from: Erickson, Bruce R. (1968). A Claw of Megalonyx (Ground Sloth) from Minnesota. In Volume 1: Paleontology, pp. 1–8.

Plate 1 from: Erickson, Bruce R. (1968). A Claw of Megalonyx (Ground Sloth) from Minnesota. In Volume 1: Paleontology, pp. 1–8.

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 4d

M7.6 earthquake, Drake Passage, at 20.29 UTC on 10 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using (top to bottom) slinky, horizontal pendulum and @LEGO_Group school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Three seismograms. The first and thrid show arrival of compressional waves at about 20.48 UTC. The second shows shear waves from about 20.55 UTC and surface waves from about 21.20 UTC.

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 4d

M6.7 earthquake, Philippines, at 11.12 UTC on 10 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using horizontal pendulum school seismometer
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Seismogram showing shear waves from about 11.36 UTC and surface waves from about 11.58 UTC

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Nadine, Haunter of Rocks 👻 @nadwgab.bsky.social · 4d

283 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Aluminite:
- A hydrous sulphate mineral
- Only 1-2 on the Mohs hardness scale (softer than fingernails)
- Forms via the reaction of sulphate solutions in clay or lignite
- Named for its aluminium content #minerals

A white nodular mass of aluminite, resembling an extremely lumpy piece of cauliflower. Has a label on it that says 284. From Newhaven, East Sussex, England, UK.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 4d

M7.4 earthquake, Philippines, at 01.43 UTC on 10 October 2025. Detected in Nottingham using (top to bottom) slinky, horizontal pendulum, and @LEGO_Group school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Three seismograms. The first and third show arrival of compressional waves at about 2.02 UTC. The second shows shear waves arriving from about 02.08 UTC and surface waves from about 02.30 UTC

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 5d

Small #earthquake in the East Midlands? Or the neighbours dropped a grand piano?

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 7d

M6.6 earthquake, Papua New Guinea, at 11.05 UTC on 7 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' (top) and @LEGO_Group school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Two seismograms, both showing arrival of PKiKP-wave at about 11.24.09 UTC

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 8d

It's that time of year again

Photo of a large garden spider in the centre of a web displaying many dew drops against a blurred background

Photo of a large garden spider in the centre of a web displaying many dew drops against the sky and a blurred background

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 9d

M5.2 earthquake, Jan Mayen, 09.08 UTC on 5 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' school seismometer
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Seismogram showing P-wave arrival at about 09.12.30 UTC

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Cork Geological Association @corkgeological.bsky.social · 9d

Geology, nature, sunshine, wonderful scenery, good company, and generosity of Bantry Golf Club and local farmer Annette, made for a v. enjoyable and informative day. @ucc.ie @geooutreach.bsky.social

🌊 Cork Coast, Ireland @corkcoast.bsky.social · 10d

Drumlins at Bantry Bay, today, with leader Robin Lewando (#UCC). Tracton Biodiversity Group and Cork Geological Association @corkgeological.bsky.social

#coast #corkCoast #coCork #westCork #WildAtlanticWay #speirGorm #irishBlueSky #mastodaoine #geology #Biodiversity

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 10d

200 years ago today, 4 October 1825: visiting Lyme Regis, geologist Roderick Murchison notes in his journal: 'Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands and dismounted there' where they examined the Greensand rocks of the Undercliff, the landslipped coastal cliffs west of the town.

Portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet. She holds a hammer and carries a basket over her arm.

Portrait of Roderick Murchison as a young man.

Extract from Murchison's journal: 'Oct 4th 1825 Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands and dismounted there. First examined the real inland cliff above the undercliff.'

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 10d

New rock identification activity from the Earth Learning Idea team for geology students aged 14 years and above.

www.earthlearningidea.com/PDF/462_Forg...

www.earthlearningidea.com

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Mineral Cup #MinCup25 @mineralcup.bsky.social · 12d

We have a #MinCup25 champion!!

Congratulations, #Kyanite!
www.mineralcup.org/2025

After eight years of competing, another few hours to verify votes was nothing, right?

Amazing first run, #Tugtupite, and better luck next year.

2025 — Mineral Cup

www.mineralcup.org

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Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County @nhm.org · 19d

From the Press Room | For the more than 242 million years that lizards and snakes appear in the fossil record, they show up as mostly pieces of lizard jaws and snake vertebrae. Exactly why these parts survive as fossils has been a mystery—until now: go.nhm.org/megafilters

Woolley and colleagues examine in detail the relationship between inferred environments in which a fossil squamate species was buried and the completeness of its remains. Environmental and geological processes play a strong role in how complete the fossil record can be. You’ll notice that mosasaurs are almost exclusively found in marine settings and are more complete on average than other groups. Snakes, on the other hand, are found nearly everywhere, but are highly incomplete. Chart courtesy of Hank Woolley.

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Alberta Palaeontological Society @abpalaeosociety.bsky.social · 18d

Growth series of Pachyrhinosaurus humerus bones!

The Pipestone Creek bonebed near Grande Prairie preserves thousands of these horned dinosaurs, letting us study a whole population across ages. This is from the Philip J. Currie Museum!

#fossilfriday #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #alberta

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Cam Muskelly (Explorer of Deep Time ⏰ ⚒️) @cambriancam.bsky.social · 18d

Welcome back to #FossilFriday!

Did someone order seafood on the menu? Here are the shells of the oyster Exogyra cancellata. These come from the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) Demopolis Formation in Tueplo, Mississippi. These oysters are so common that you fill your backseat with them.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 25d

September 18, 1972, Kenneth Jinghwa Hsu, Maria Bianca Cita & William B. F. Ryan publish the results of the 1970 Glomar Challenger expedition and drilling operations, suggesting the Mediterranean Sea dried out during the Messinian age (7.2 - 5.3 million years ago).

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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 25d

Two M5.9 earthquakes near Kamchatka peninsula at 14.55 and 15.45 UTC on 19 September 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' school seismometer
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...
&
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Seismogram showing two earthquake events with distinct P-wave arrivals at about 15.07 and 15.57 UTC. The seismogram has coloured markers showing model arrival times for other P- and S-waves from the earlier of the two events

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EDIG @ediggeo.bsky.social · 29d

📣 📣 We are back! 📣 📣

After more than 2 years away from social media, we are excited to reconnect and engage with the community. Life changes, new jobs, and moves around the world have kept us quiet - but behind the scenes, we have been planning and building. Now we are ready to relaunch EDIG!
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Geological Outreach @geooutreach.bsky.social · 26d

M7.8 earthquake, Kamchatka, at 18.58 UTC on 18 September 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' (top) and horizontal pendulum school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Two seismograms. The first shows a strong P-wave arrival at about 19.09 UTC. The second also shows an S-wave arrival at about 19.19 UTC, followed by surface waves.

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