FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Roger Warin]

Hallo Gerhard,
I know that this forum does not talk about meteorites. That's why I asked you for permission to add a comment. But terrestrial rocks are not excluded from discussions in this forum. However igneous extraterrestrial rocks are very similar to terrestrial rocks, and even a little simpler. The study of irons gives a partial idea of what is the core of the Earth.
Extraterrestrial rocks have given a new impulse in petrology studies, I think.
At the limit could we post on this forum a photo of a single euhedral mineral (of course a minute crystal) having crystallized in space?
Best regards,
Roger.

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

In the past few days i tried to take some photos of self collected micros from a now closed quarry in the Austrian Alps. Small clefts yielded alpinoptype minerals. I do not have stacking control - so all stacks were done by hand. The only lense i used is a reversed standardzoom 18-55 mm. Now i hope you have some fun with it!

[Roger Warin]

Hi Gerhard,
Sure, I had fun with your last post: very nice specimens and stunning photos. There are a lot of oxides in this quarry. I don't know Aeschynite-(Y).
What program do you use to complete the stacking?
Roger.

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Thank you, Roger!
Aeschynite-(Y) is not the only rare mineral here. I have two big boxes full of micros waiting for photos..... The quarries of Lohning and nearby Kaiserer are famous for rarities! A large article about it was in Mineralogical Record Vol. 44, No. 6 November - December 2013. During the active time I had a lot of collecting trips to Rauris - love this valley!

For stacking I use the old CombineZP and for fine tuning the ancient Photoshop7.

[Pierre Joubert]

Hi Gerhard. Fantastic photos! The last few photos, are they really(red) schorl?

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Hello Pierre,
Thank you for your kind words - your photos are by far better!
Yes - this is indeed red schorl! According to an analysis of the Broschek collection they are a mix with a minor dravite component. Very thin slides cut of large black schorl show every color of the rainbow!
My crystals are tiny and thin too - so it is possible to see normally unusual red color. If they were only a little bit thicker they would show pure black.

[Pierre Joubert]

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Today I have two very unusual pseudomorphs of Magnetite after Hematite for you.
We have brand new analyses about the well known "Hematite Iron Roses" with Quartz Var. Prase from Avissalos, Seriphos Island, Greece. Seems all are Magnetite pseudomorphs after Hematite!

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Magnetite pseudomorph Hematite var. "Iron Roses"
XRD analyzed!

[Jamison Brizendine]

Wonderful hematites! I especially like the second specimen.

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Thank you - but this is Magnetite pseudomorph Hematite - not really Hematite any more.....
In my opinion a special rarity!

[Jamison Brizendine]

I made an Oops! This is what happens when you just look at the picture and don't read the caption.

[Tobi]

Sehr schöne Makrofotos, Gerhard :-)

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

Hi all! After a longer break i will now continue to show you some rocks from my collection. Much fun with it and stay safe!

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

In the past weeks I shot some photos of my Hungarian minerals. First visit was in 1981. During this time Rudabanya was nearly unknown to the western world. I was kindly invited to live in the miners home and with the help of my new friends I was able to find some nice copper minerals and other stuff. In the village I entered a small mining museum with fantastic specimens (has a new home now). To my surprise I could acquire some very good but lesser important samples direct from the museum - valued European classics now! Other rocks I bought from the miners and at some mineral shows.

So theme for this upload: Rudabanya, Hungary