Quick answer: finding a Herkimer diamond is easy. Several pay-to-dig mines in Herkimer and Montgomery counties, New York, let visitors
How Hard Is It to Find a Herkimer Diamond? A Realistic Guide to the Dig Read Post »
Quick answer: Pennsylvania is one of America’s most important mineral states. It led early U.S. iron production from furnaces fed
Pennsylvania’s Mineral Heritage: Iron, Chrome, Coal, and Quartz Read Post »
Quick answer: Most caves form when slightly acidic rainwater, charged with carbon dioxide from soil, dissolves limestone along cracks over
How Caves Are Made: Karst, Limestone, and New York’s Underground Rivers Read Post »
Quick answer: Long Island is a pile of debris left by glaciers. The Ronkonkoma moraine (the island’s spine and South
How Long Island Was Built by Ice: Moraines, Erratics, and the Rocks on Our Beaches Read Post »
Quick answer: Franklin and Sterling Hill in Sussex County, New Jersey, are zinc mines famous for the world’s most spectacular
Franklin and Sterling Hill: The New Jersey Mines That Glow in the Dark Read Post »
Quick answer: Agatized coral is fossil coral whose original calcium carbonate skeleton was replaced by chalcedony, preserving the coral’s flower-like
Agatized Coral: How a Florida Reef Turned Into Stone Read Post »
Quick answer: Blue aragonite is calcium carbonate, the same chemistry as calcite but with a different crystal structure, tinted sky-blue
Blue Aragonite From Rio Tinto: A Sky-Blue Mineral From a Blood-Red River Read Post »
Quick answer: Smithsonite is zinc carbonate, named after James Smithson, whose bequest founded the Smithsonian Institution. The Laurion (Lavrion) mines
Smithsonite and Laurion: A Zinc Mineral From the Mines That Paid for Athens Read Post »
Quick answer: “Locality confirmed” means the place a specimen was found is documented by a reliable source: the collector who
Provenance and Paperwork: What “Locality Confirmed” Actually Means for a Specimen Read Post »
Quick answer: The Cave of Crystals (Cueva de los Cristales) in the Naica mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, holds the largest
The Cave of Crystals: The Largest Natural Crystals Ever Found Read Post »
