As cool and cute as sabre-toothed tigers are, at least I don’t have to fear staring down the maw of Smilodon populator these days. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

Oh my gosh. These are both super cool. Ilmenite is amazing, and I love titanium...but I think I'm gonna vote for the super unusual #Jadarite, which is a lithium borate.

We're Team #Ilmenite today in the #OreCup! Not only did it enable Bob Ross's happy little clouds, it also may have helped flip the Moon's mantle. So versatile! 🔭🧪🌕 eos.org/articles/the...

Ah yes!! Another bacon specimen!! This time it’s banded aragonite. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

The answer is the iron ore hematite!! A streak is when you rub a mineral on a slightly rough surface to see what colour the powder left behind is. The streak helps identify the mineral, as it might be different than the colour of the specimen. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another Tuesday Guess the Gem!! What mineral do you think these gems are? Hint: their streak would be red. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another bright mineral!! The element sulphur makes these beautiful crystals. Be careful, sometimes the warmth of your hand can cause these sensitive crystals to crack. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

When first described, the perceived agility of the theropod Deinonychus antirrhopus helped catalyze the idea that dinosaurs were not as slow moving as previously thought. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖

The answer to this Guess the Gem is peridot!! This is a variety of the mineral group olivine, frequently found in basalts (and found in some meteorites!). #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another Guess the Gem for you!! What mineral or variety do you think this gem is? Hint: this is the gem variety of a mineral commonly found in my favourite type of rock: volcanic. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

The most delectable rhodochrosite!! Bright minerals make me very happy!! From bright butterfly wings to the plumage of birds of paradise, nature is a tapestry of rich colours. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Skull of the Early Triassic amphibian Thoosuchus jakovlevi. Lots of surface texture preserved on it!! #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

The answer is tanzanite!! It’s a mineral only found in one area of Tanzania and it shows trichroism. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another Guess the Gem for this week!! What mineral do you think these gems are? Hint: its colour depends on which side of the crystal you are looking at. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Some beautiful spherical ferrian turquoise, also known by the variety names henwoodite or rashleighite. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

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 ⚒️🧪

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

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 ⚒️🧪💎

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 ⚒️🧪

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 ⚒️🧪

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

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

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 ⚒️🧪

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 ⚒️🧪🦖

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

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

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 ⚒️🧪

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

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

Bright green pyromorphite from Broken Hill Mine, Zambia. Love seeing bright coloured minerals!!! #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

The answer is scapolite!! The name for this mineral group comes from Greek words for rod and stone. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another Guess the Gem!! What mineral group do you think these gems are? Hint: they are “rod”s in the “stone”. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

A close up of the skull and impressive teeth of the sabre-toothed cat: Smilodon fatalis. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

The answer to this one is tourmaline!! It’s a mineral group that has a variety of colours, some crystals even have multiple colours. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Guess the Gem time!! What mineral group do you think these gems are? Hint: there are A LOT of mineral species in this group. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Fluorite with a dusting of pyrite from Alston Moor, UK. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Stunning scenery during helicopter flight from Cracked Mountain 🌋 to Whistler in British Colombia in Canada 🇨🇦 1/3 🚁

I had not realized that our solar system was up to *nine* dwarf planets at the current count, with a tenth candidate also in the wings. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_p... ⚒️🔭

The first pterosaur species to be identified: Pterodactylus antiquus. It was described in the late 18th century!! #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

This was a tricky Guess the Gem. The answer is labradorite!! It’s a feldspar known for labradorescense. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Another Guess the Gem!! What mineral or variety do you think this cabochon is? Hint: it has an optical effect named after it. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Love this mineral!!

The lovely bright blue mineral chrysocolla, which is common in copper deposits. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Skull of a sub-adult Lambeosaurus lambei, a duck-billed dinosaur. Its cranial crest will grow as it matures. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖

The answer is heliodor, a variety of the mineral beryl!! Beryl also has other colour varieties including those that are well known like emerald, aquamarine, and morganite. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Back with another Guess the Gem!! What mineral or variety do you think this brilliant cut gem is? Hint: one of many colour varieties of this mineral, its name comes from the Greek language. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎

Atacamite, a mineral found as an alteration on copper and bronze archaeological artifacts. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Bright coloured crocoite, a lead chromate, from Tasmania, Australia. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

It’s International Rock Day so I have to show one of my favourite rocks, this round vesicular basaltic lava from Jan Mayen! Aren’t those vesicles (bubbles) so perfect!?! #InternationalRockDay #GeoscienceBluesky #WorldRockDay ⚒️🧪

🧪⚒️New baby mud volcano found in Peru! Locals first noticed this small mud volcano just to the NW of Cuzco on the 6th of July. It consists of a single ~60cm high gryphon that is gently erupting and bubbling away. Awww! Welcome to the world you cute little thing! Video: Jam Press