Diamonds are a scientist's best friend—if they're studying Earth's inner layers! Natural diamonds form in the Earth’s molten mantle, far deeper than humans have ever drilled. In this video, mineralogist Kate Kiseeva, assistant curator in the Division of Physical Sciences, explains how tiny crystals captured within these diamonds give scientists a direct window into our planet's inner structure.
Pictured is Jamie Newman a Collection manager at the Museum, holding a giant faceted Topaz from Brazil. Development of unusually large crystals is a special feature of minerals forming in a pegmatite environment. Individual crystals may weigh as much as 50 tons and measure more than 40 feet in length. Tourmaline, beryl, and topaz illustrate the large-size crystals typical of the pegmatites.
Image: Karim Mustafa for #InsideAMNH
Pictured is the quartz display in the Museum's Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems. Color variations of quartz depend on the oxidation state of traces of iron. Amethyst ranges from pale purple to dark violet, while smoky quartz varies from pale brown to almost black. Rose quartz, colored by titanium or manganese, is usually translucent and milky, and citrine, a rare variety, varies from a light golden yellow to orange-yellow. Learn more.
AMNH/R.Mickens
Sometimes, less really is more. That’s the case with micromounting, a process in which tiny samples of minerals are placed for detailed viewing in boxes measuring about 20 mm a side.
While they’re not as impressive as large mineral samples, micromounted minerals provide some advantages for researchers. In many minerals, the smaller a crystal, the more perfect it is, so the tiny micromount specimens can give viewers a better look at a version of the crystal that with the fewest flaws possible.
Micromounts also conserve space, letting researchers study and compare a wide variety of crystals at once. And some minerals don’t get larger than micromount size at all, making this a perfect medium for displaying them.
That's kmustafa among the labradorite in the Hall of Minerals. Shot by samthecobra for #InsideAMNH.
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