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@bin210.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 11:12 PM

Come on #Monazite buddy! Won't be fair losing against a low-T stuff. Please, don't let us down. You got this, mate!! #MinCup26

@bin210.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 10:53 PM

Not a low-T-stuff fan. Obvious that I have to go for a time-capsule friend #Monazite, even though odds not in our favor. #MinCup26

@blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 8:46 PM

This #sapphire with #zircon and #monazite is my laptop wallpaper!

As a zircon fan, knowing monazite is pals with, and acts as another timekeeper, is a plus! I love the fact that it traps helium and when it has fewer radioactive elements it changes colors with different light sources.

#MinCup26

@drjbbalta.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 5:51 PM

When you synthesize monazite with specific cations in a lab, you can make quite the rainbow. Here are La, Nd, Gd, and Yb monazites (technically xenotime for Yb, almost the same structure but different enough that it has its own name). Nd was always my favorite. #mincup26 #mincup #monazite

A sequence of synthetic monazites, each crystal made in a lab from flux growth methods. In order, La, Nd, Gd, and Yb monazites (last is technically xenotime).

Two crystals of Nd monazite, tip of tweezers for scale.

Multiple crystals of La-monazite, tweezers for scale.

@eos.org Sep 7, 2026, 3:24 PM

#Monazite helps preserve microfossils so well you can even see their wee cell structures a billion years later. It’s got our vote in this #MinCup26 matchup.
eos.org/articles/pal...

Smooth, weathered rock slabs with grey inclusions that hide ancient microfossils

Series of microscopic images of single-celled microfossils

@kleinergeologe.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 3:12 PM

despite this, #Monazite-(Ce) shockingly doesn't show intense metamictisation. It's possible that its color is partially the result of damage to the crystal lattice, which can be annealed by exposure to higher temperatures. Afterwards, monazite appears colorless.

completely colorless monazite grain, taking up roughly 1/4 of the image.
Viewed through a binocular microscope, cropping the field of view at ~400 micrometers

@kleinergeologe.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:59 PM

#Monazite-(Ce) also incorporates very little common lead. Resulting in a rather easy to work with geochronometer which can be utilized by EPMA. While uranium content reaches a couple wt.-%, Th can be as high as 30+ wt.-%!

@kleinergeologe.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 1:37 PM

Monazite-(Ce) can also be vivid green, not dissimiliar to olivine!
As it crystalises from a granitic melt (either plutonic or anatectic), it not just records its melt/metamorphic history, mnz also traps melt inclusions, giving us a direct view into silicic melt formation.
#Monazite-(Ce)
#MinCup2026

hundreds of olive-green monazite grains of various sizes against a white background.

A dozen green monazite grains cobbled together next to the tip of a needle, ~1 mm thick). Viewed through a binocular microscope, the grains and the needle are centred in the roughly 1 cm wide image

Two enlarged ~400 micron sized monazite grains, one at the top of thw image, the other at rhe bottom.
Tiny inclusions like bubbles are visible in the semi-transparent mineral grains

Enlarged image of a single monazite grain with a polished surface.
Image width is 300 microns, the grain takes up almost all the visible space.
Three mineral inclusions can be seen in the semi-transparent crystal.
One larger rounded and two crystal shaped ones with pointy ends

@mexporg.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 10:54 AM

Large #Monazite crystal from Iveland, Norway.

#MinCup26 #MinCup #mineral #crystal #mineralogy #mineralexpert #pegmatite

@gspeng.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 4:50 AM

#Monazite (pictured on right ) is rich in Cerium, which is used in making tunable UV lasers. Continuous wave, not pulsed!
It can also contain trace radioactive elements that allow you to date the rocks, geochronology.
I like Andalusite for jewelry, but cmon, vote for the geochronometer Monazite

@microtopico.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 4:44 AM

I use lanthanids a lot for research, so #Monazite it is.

@davidfetter.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:57 AM

#Monazite #Moproblems

@brandontbishop.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:53 AM

The presence of rare earth elements has made #Monazite a target of interest lately, especially in the context of recovering it from mine waste from other, non-rare earth element containing minerals.

@brandontbishop.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:45 AM

#Monazite --surprisingly!-- is actually relevant to the rare earth stuff.

It'll happily form crystals with Cerium, Lanthanum, or Neodymium rare earth elements in addition to radioactive Thorium.

That Thorium bit has also made it an important geochronometer for rocks it occurs in.

#MinCup26

@gingergeologist.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:42 AM

Tough call but, as a paleontologist , had to go with the timey-wimey one 🤷🏻‍♀️
#Monazite

@janelleshane.com Sep 7, 2026, 2:28 AM

If you had to make one of today’s #MinCup26 contestants into a laser, it would be #Monazite. Extract the handy cerium out of it, and infuse that into some other crystal to make a UV laser. Maybe even a nice pulsed UV laser!

@ksircombe.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 2:25 AM

Vote #Monazite: the phosphate with the most-est for #MinCup26 ⚒️🧪
* Hangs out on beaches
* Provides rare earths for your phones and earbuds
* Sophisticated #geochronology mineral
* Fascinating crystal structure
* Beautiful shades of yellow & orange
* Has a street named after it (Mount Garnet, QLD 🇦🇺 )

Yellow street sign reading “MONAZITE ST” with a black left-pointing arrow mounted on a metal pole. The sign stands beside a dry grassy roadside in a rural or suburban area. A light-coloured building is visible on the left, a narrow road and scattered trees extend into the background, and part of a green vehicle is visible on the right. Above, a partly cloudy sky with patches of blue fills most of the image.

@alexwitze.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 1:57 AM

Oh noooooo

What’s a vowel-consonant swap among friends

#Monazite

@chukg.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 1:47 AM

I voted for #Monazite but I do like how andalusite got its name

@louisedawe.bsky.social Sep 7, 2026, 1:13 AM

I'm voting for #monazite-(Ce) in this round of #MinCup26! In hydrothermal experiments reported in @actacrystb.iucr.org, it occurs intergrown with, and included within, newly formed thorium-bearing silicates, helping to reveal how Th moves through mineral systems. journals.iucr.org/b/issues/202...