#Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (#HUR) provided an estimate of #Russia’s stockpile and output of cruise missiles, including types such as #Zircon, #Oniks, #Kalibr, and #Kh-69.
Russia has launched against Kyiv five 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile within the last three months, Kyiv City Military Administration reported on April 1.
When not writing stories about #zircon for #MinCup23 (hooray!), I can be found on occasion doing other #scicomm. This is from an event over the weekend at the #Australian Parliament House Open Day (to mark 35 years since the opening). Geoscience Australia were invited to tell the stories of the beautiful architectural #stone from around the world used in the design of the building (see examples in the picture). We also threw in some local rocks and #fossils and some of our awesome interactive tubs. It was a busy day but always interesting to talk to the public. Big thanks to the GA and APH organisers for a great day!
It’s had to wait 4.4 billion years but the Time Lord’s time has finally come! Zircon is the champion of #mincup23!
🏆 🤩 🎉
Congratulations #Zircon, #TeamZircon! #MineralCup2023
With so many tight matches, it’s going to take us a day to put together the traditional Victory Parade. Please feel free to celebrate (or mourn) and we’ll see you tomorrow.
PSA:
While #Zircon continues to have a strong lead, the ratios are shifting and we’re seeing an uptick in the proportion of #Perovskite votes. #MinCup23 is far from decided!
#Zircon shock twins in zircon with planar fractures in Chicxulub quartz-monzodiorite dike. Do not be complacent #TeamZircon. Call your grandma and your Great Uncle Bob. Rally your colleagues and students. Pester your parents. Annoy your neighbors. This is it! We still need some zircon magic to keep the votes coming! #ZirconRemembers#MinCup23
Deep Time is a concept that surpasses our ability to comprehend. It is time for continents to collide, rift apart, & collide again. Time for mountains to rise, erode away, & arise again. Seas come & go. Life evolves. There is one mineral that remembers. #Zircon#TeamZircon#MinCup23
How does #Zircon remember? This zircon is 4.4 BILLION years old and records the isotopic and chemical characteristics of the rock in which it is formed. Zircon can survive erosion, deposition, partial melting, and fracturing. #DeepTime#MInCup23
32 minerals have battled for your hearts, but only one can claim the Championship. Will it be #Zircon, the eternal timekeeper, or #Perovskite, the cubical rain on brown dwarf stars?
This story has us diving into the Adriatic Sea to look at some very small creatures called foraminifera. Foraminifera are these amazing single-celled organisms that feed with strands of ectoplasm from their cell wall and often build a small shell around themselves from various materials. The microscopic shells can be important markers in the sedimentary record for time and environmental conditions. (I still fondly remember a University undergrad assignment being amazed by the diversity of shell types while spending hours picking through a collection of foraminifera shells under a microscope. It was also a very Zen exercise and pretty everyone in the class spent extra time doing it…).
Somewhere, right now, in the Adriatic Sea there is a species of benthic foraminifera called Psammophaga zirconia that are literally surrounding themselves with #zircon grains. P. zirconia’s specialty is picking zircon grains in the sediment to make it’s shell (see the Sabbatini et al 2016 paper at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299381635_Selective_zircon_accumulation_in_a_new_benthic_foraminifer_Psammophaga_zircona_sp_nov). Not quite sure why, perhaps it’s a buoyancy thing to pick denser minerals stay anchored on the sea floor, but P. zirconia is going to a lot of trouble to select #zircon in particular which isn’t common in the surrounding sediment.
It also has interesting implications for the microfossil record because foraminifera like P. zirconia may have been here since the Precambrian and may have left little accumulations of zircon in ancient sedimentary rocks if we know to look for them. I also think there may be some interesting implications in understanding how a single-celled organism is able to differentiate minerals…
So, if Psammophaga zirconia is working hard to pick #zircon, so can you! Vote #zircon in the #MinCup23 final
#Stibnite vs #Perovskite?
I know I'm supposed to care, but I really don't.
Pick one. Vote. Or not.
And #Zircon? Yawn, Whatever.
Yay....
All that's left are expansion teams. #MinCup23
Authorities: Russia uses 5 Zircon hypersonic missiles against Kyiv in 2024 (kyivindependent.com)
Russia has launched against Kyiv five 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile within the last three months, Kyiv City Military Administration reported on April 1.