Owen Missen
@scimissionowen.bsky.social
330 followers 140 following 220 posts
Lecturer in Environmental Geology at Earth Sciences and CODES at UTAS, focusing on Critical Element distribution and mobility! New minerals are cool! I also enjoy hiking and tennis. Views my own.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Owen Missen
mineralcup.bsky.social
Hark! What’s that we see on the horizon?

Is it something new? Something mostly metallic, quite heavy, and essential to society? It’s an all-new collaboration with IMA!

Ore Cup: www.mineralcup.org/about-ore-cup

Voting starts Monday November 3. Winner crowned IMA Ore Mineral of the Year
Reposted by Owen Missen
mineralcup.bsky.social
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
scimissionowen.bsky.social
Green vs green!
Cuprosklodowskite for me, for its extra dose of vibrancy and interesting geochemistry!
www.mindat.org/photo-419767...
Reposted by Owen Missen
erikstrub.bsky.social
"pink" is the little sister of... I don't know. To use "pink" as descriptive for #tugtupite is an insult. Reindeer-bloodish is the least but I would just describe it as the most marvellous color on the R/M side of the RGB/CYM color scales. Vote #tugtupite #mincup25
A tugtupite, source: mindat.org
scimissionowen.bsky.social
I know that feeling 🤣
Reposted by Owen Missen
spiritbread.bsky.social
Tugtupite is so pretty when it’s polished too. Looks like preserved cherry blossoms 🌸
Reposted by Owen Missen
redsage.bsky.social
Perovskite is amazing I’ll grant you but I can’t get over the bright blood of tugtupite charged up by the summer sun but hiding in the deep Greenland winter. #TeamTugtupite
Reposted by Owen Missen
mikamckinnon.bsky.social
Since #hematite won its quarterfinal, if we can also get #tugtupite through we have the potential of a blood rock final match.
Reposted by Owen Missen
nadwgab.bsky.social
I'm voting for tugtupite because I had a dream about it last night 😂 I found massive chunks of tugtupite, and cancrinite and sodalite too, at the base of a cliff #MinCup25 #minerals
mineralcup.bsky.social
#MinCup Round 2 Match 4:
It’s a battle of mineralogical oddities as organic mineral #Carpathite battles against vs #Tugtupite, a mineral that looks like reindeer blood!

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r2...

Results: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...
Vote in Round 2 Match 4 — Mineral Cup
Click here to vote in Carpathite vs Tugtupite Photo credits: Michael Roarke
www.mineralcup.org
Reposted by Owen Missen
blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social
Tugtupite!
Name from the Inuit "tuttu" meaning "reindeer blood!" Alluding to its color and "it was created when Tutu the reindeer girl gave birth to her first child, symbolizing the life-giving essence and the profound love of a mother for her child."

#MinCup25
Reposted by Owen Missen
saavikford.bsky.social
As in Rounds 1&2, it’s #Tugtupite for me! It’s got an Indigenous name & as @redsage.bsky.social said it is:

tenebrescent, fluorescent in short & long wave UV & phosphorescent—from Greenland, it would go dim & mild during the long winters and then bright and intense during summer(!)

#MinCup25
Reposted by Owen Missen
thatwasodd.bsky.social
I just realized that if hematite and tugtupite make it to the finals, we can have blood rock vs blood rock for the final match!
scimissionowen.bsky.social
Voting for tugtupite today!
too many perovskite votes aren't for the mineral but for the eponymous group of structures.
Tugtupite is also a beryllium containing mineral, and I do love a mineralogical oddity!
scimissionowen.bsky.social
still a tight margin! vote for haematite for beautiful russet reds!
mineralcup.bsky.social
4.5 hours remaining to rally votes:
mineralcup.bsky.social
#MinCup25 Quarterfinal 1: Colourful phoenix #Haüyne goes against heavyweight industrial powerhouse #Hematite.

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...
Reposted by Owen Missen
jraasch.bsky.social
#MinCup25

Don’t worry, followers. I’ll return to plants and vegetable garden and other science and maybe more microscopy attempts soon. 🙃

It is mineral month. And I become obsessed with minerals. But my attention span is approaching its limit.
martinhajovsky.bsky.social
Hematite is starting to trail in this race. Haüyne’s hypnotic blue stare needs to be countered! Vote #Hematite for so, so many art, planetary science, and basic geology reasons.

Bloodlike, first with “-ite.”
Key role on Earth, Mars, Venus
Hematite, Vote now!

#MinCup25 #MinCupHaiku
Reposted by Owen Missen
joxter.bgay.cat
Related! #MinCup25 #Hematite
Reposted by Owen Missen
blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social
I love both minerals! Hematite makes BIFs, one of the best rocks, plus it has so many habits and finishes. Haüyne makes gorgeous blues and it likes to capture bubbles and other minerals as inclusions. It also has some cool patterns on thin section.
TS images: www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/vulc...
While there are numerous haüyne in the field-of-view, a large two-lobed haüyne dominates the field of view. It shows a dark, jagged band around the haüyne crystals, then a band of light blue, then a center of crosshatched patterns from exsolution of iron-sulfides and iron-oxides.
Since haüyne is an isometric mineral, it generally goes black when the polars are crossed. If it has inclusions, they can, and do, react to the change polarization.
Reposted by Owen Missen
gsa-mgpv-division.bsky.social
#MinCup25 Quarterfinal 1: 🔷 #Haüyne vs 🩸 #Hematite. A fluorescent feldspathoid of brilliant blues meets the iron oxide that contributes to the iconic red color of Mars.

#minerals #mineralogy
scimissionowen.bsky.social
vote for hematite!!!!
It can sometimes form an 'iron rose'!
www.mindat.org/photo-80260....
scimissionowen.bsky.social
Love a good iron oxide mineral - it's hematite for me! One of the more common oxidation products in sulfide weathering reactions.
mineralcup.bsky.social
#MinCup25 Round 3 Match 1: Colourful phoenix #haüyne goes against heavyweight industrial powerhouse #hematite.

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...
www.mineralcup.org
Reposted by Owen Missen
sorosilicate.bsky.social
#kyanite in biotite gneiss from the Entia Dome, central Australia. Kyanite forms deep in the crust before it makes its way to the Earth’s surface, a slow and much more challenging journey than taenite’s fall through space. #MinCup25
Reposted by Owen Missen
chrisdoesrocks.bsky.social
One mineral tells us about the depth below the earth, the other comes from beyond Earth. You can decide which one goes to the next round by voting at mineralcup.org today! #geology #mineral #MinCup25