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Cells, Microbes & Viruses / What is the smallest colored structured known?

« on: 25/11/2022 05:02:29 »

Just a bit curious here, what are the smallest structured known to science that can display bold beautiful colors?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Just how rare is true blue quartz?

« on: 18/11/2022 04:47:36 »

A few years ago, I took a piece of quartz and several other stones to a rock/mineral show to ask geologist questions about them. All of a sudden, several people were trying to trade or buy what I thought was just a simple piece of blue quartz that I had with me. I was going to trade it for a piece of quartz with gold in it, but a retired geologist talked me out of it. I was told that it appears that the blue in this quartz was not due to inclusions but was being produced by one of the elements that made up its composition which would make it, true blue quartz. So, how rare is true blue quartz?

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Marine Science / Are these marine organisms new to science?

« on: 13/10/2022 04:11:30 »

I have contacted several marine biologists, micro paleontologists, geologist and a number of other scientists trying to ID
these specimens and no one seem to have a clue as to what they really are. There were a few specimens such as the last three in the photos that were identified as foraminifera. These were found inside of sandstone boulders that were littered with some bivalves and gastropods that scientist say are between 2.5-55 million years old. The boulders were picked up from the desert of southern California. There were just way too many of these things found for them to be unknown to science. Does anybody have a clue as to what these things are?
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Chemistry / What element produces a heavy gas bubble?

« on: 28/03/2022 05:21:58 »

I was doing some acid testing on a strange piece of pyrite, and I noticed that a lot of bubbles were sitting in the bottom of the solution. I put a fragment in some acid and watched it under a microscope, on one side a bubble would come out, rise to the top and pop and on the other side a bubble would form and drop to the bottom. Just a bit curious as to what element would produce a heavy gas bubble like this.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Was Mars once a oxygen rich planet?

« on: 21/08/2021 05:11:03 »

I read that Mars gets its red color from all of the iron oxide that covers it. I have also read that when iron oxide lacks oxygen it shows up as a greenish color and that it only turns red when in the present of oxygen. Is the iron oxide on Mars red because it was once rich with oxygen or is there another process that can make iron oxide red without the presents of oxygen?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Can anyone explain these insect fossils?

« on: 17/08/2021 05:49:20 »

I've come across some insect fossils that no one can seem to explain. I have contacted several entomologist who were able to help ID some of the specimen but none could explain the state of preservation these specimen are in. I did contact one paleo entomologist who told me that these specimen have somehow been mummified but he could not explain how this could have happened, I was told to keep searching because someone has to know.
These two specimen were found in loose sediments, others have been found inside of sedimentary and igneous rocks nearby. Anyone ever come across anything like this??
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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Why are there so few paleo entomologist?

« on: 28/07/2021 20:43:51 »

If you do a search for paleo entomologist, you might come up with 3-4 names, maybe. Why are there so few in this field? Is it because there are so few insect fossil to be found?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Did prehistoric marine worms have calcium shells?

« on: 04/04/2021 04:27:15 »

While digging some very old gastropods and bivalves out of some sandstone boulders, I came across what looks like some sort of marine worms. Did some prehistoric marine worms have calcium shells?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Can silicon morph into calcium?

« on: 04/04/2021 04:20:21 »

Under certain conditions minerals can morph into something different than what they started out as. Can a mineral such as jasper which is mostly silicon be forced to morph into something that is mostly calcium?

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / What type of plants are these?

« on: 12/09/2020 21:56:07 »

Came across some strange plants that I'm trying to identify. These were found in the California desert. Anyone have any ideal what these plants are?
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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What's the oldest mummified lifeform

« on: 04/08/2020 23:14:18 »

What is the oldest mummified lifeform that has been found and are they only found in amber?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / How common are crystalized steinkerns

« on: 19/07/2020 06:06:04 »

From what I've read, fossilized steinkerns are mostly made of sediments. Is it common to find hundreds of crystalized steinkerns in one area??

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Is this coloured material a mineral?

« on: 23/02/2020 04:56:46 »

This stone was found out in the middle of the desert, it was washed out of the side of a mountain by rain. When it was scanned I was told that it appears to be a mineral but there was nothing in the database that matched that composition. A close look at that colored material shows that it was boiling hot and outgassing when it was splattered on that quartz.
It has fused with the quartz and is about as hard as the quartz, takes a hammer and chisel to remove a piece of it. 
Any ideals as to what it might be and if this is a mineral, at what tempt would such a mineral boil and why such high oxygen?   
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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / How do metallic and icy asteroids form?

« on: 17/02/2020 05:25:03 »

The solar system started out as a cloud of gas and dust. I understand how rocky bodies form from the accretion process, but what causes gas and dust to become metal and ice? Is it possible that the formation of the sun has something to do with causing gas and dust to form ice and metal?

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Marine Science / What type of marine organism is this?

« on: 17/02/2020 05:18:31 »

Came across these things while digging some old gastropod and bivalves out of some sandstone boulders that were found out in the desert. These things are very small, some less than a millimeter in size, they appear to be some sort of colony connected by a web like structure. Are these some sort of diatom, bryozoan or maybe radiolarians? The structure is about 8mm x 10 mm x 0.50mm. They appear to be embedded in what looks like some sort of resin. I'm told that the fossils found in these stones are between 2.5 - 55 million years
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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / How would you confirm a basaltic meteorite?

« on: 02/02/2020 05:12:04 »

From what I have read basaltic meteorite are extremely rare and difficult to confirm. They can look just like a typical basaltic stone found here on earth. Most have little to no metal at all so a metal detector and the magnet test is of very little use. There does not appear to be many visual markers that can be used so what method could one use to confirm/verify a basaltic meteorite?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What type of quartz is this, and what are the shiny brown inclusions?

« on: 25/01/2020 04:22:07 »

When looking at this piece of quartz up close, it looked as if it had a lot of glitter-like inclusions. After breaking it open there was this copper colored substance inside which seemed somewhat odd. I can't find anything on the web to explain what I'm looking at here. Is this typical quartz or something a bit different?
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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What type of glass is this that I found in some rock fragments?

« on: 18/01/2020 23:18:10 »

I've come across several pieces of what I think is glass inside of several different rocks and some even had glass coating the outside. It's found in both igneous and sedimentary rocks, this was an area where a lot of the rocks would set off a metal detector. These photos were all taken with a digital microscope.
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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can planets form without a star?

« on: 17/01/2020 03:31:08 »

If a cloud of dust and gas does not have enough gas to form a star, can planets still form or will you just end up with a lot of asteroids?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Is this suevite with shocked glass?

« on: 19/12/2019 06:31:16 »

Based on the researched that's been done it would appear that this stone is what's called suevite impact breccia. Is that shiny area what's referred to as shock glass
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