Majorite garnet

Post your images and discussions about meteorites and tektites here!

Moderators: PinkDiamond, John

Post Reply
User avatar
rocks2dust
Posts: 742
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Majorite garnet

Post by rocks2dust »

The Earth supposedly has some of this deep in the lower mantle, but the majorite found on the surface has been from within a few meteorites. While I would love to have a ring-size stone, the only majorite examples that manage to occasionally come onto the market are tiny (dustlike). I finally teased one out of its capsule (no breathing during that operation) to photograph. The photo is not too sharp due to the handheld secondary light source, and I blanked out the distracting background from the Zots adhesive, but it'll have to do for now:
Image
r2d

surplus odds and ends that I have on ebid.net
· Xtra gemstones
· Xcess fossils, minerals and rough
· Everything else
User avatar
PinkDiamond
Posts: 15411
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Ozark Mountains

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by PinkDiamond »

rocks2dust wrote: I finally teased one out of its capsule (no breathing during that operation) to photograph.


Now that's minuscule! :o
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* It all begins inside of you. ;)
User avatar
rocks2dust
Posts: 742
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by rocks2dust »

I'd estimate about 250 µ - maybe less - and tiny enough that the slight convective air current in the room caused it to drift off the targeted little adhesive pad just below the lip of the capsule. A major "uh-oh" moment (dare I say a "major-yike!"), but fortunately it landed on the small white plastic tray I was using underneath so I didn't lose it. I needed the practice, though, since I want to permanently mount some similar size garnets. I think it is usually better to have small mineral specimens still attached to the matrix, but often the very rare stuff isn't available except as specks like this.
r2d

surplus odds and ends that I have on ebid.net
· Xtra gemstones
· Xcess fossils, minerals and rough
· Everything else
User avatar
SwordfishMining
Posts: 4216
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 3:06 pm
Location: Denio, NV USA
Contact:

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by SwordfishMining »

Neat stuff. like my specimens with no m involved. I do have some small stuff tho'. Last ciggie foil is of little clear spheres like blasting beads out of the placers at Cherokee. <2mm. Tin said they were worth something. Forgot what exactly. Maybe just Zircons. Those are the placers they found the diamonds in.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
User avatar
PinkDiamond
Posts: 15411
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Ozark Mountains

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by PinkDiamond »

That is a big YIKES r2d! Do you have a ceiling fan in the room that was causing abnormal air currents? I'm so relieved it didn't go far, and suggest if you work with it again that you do so over a white sheet just in case.... :idea:

How will you mount it. :?: And I don't suppose it can be weighed, can it? :?: :?:

Mounting it under a magnifying lens would work. :lol: Come to think of it, there are gem jars with magnifying lids, but even at 1/2" they'd be too big for something that microscopic. I'm curious how you'll do it. ;)
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* It all begins inside of you. ;)
User avatar
rocks2dust
Posts: 742
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by rocks2dust »

SwordfishMining wrote:Last ciggie foil is of little clear spheres like blasting beads out of the placers at Cherokee. <2mm. Tin said they were worth something. Forgot what exactly. Maybe just Zircons. Those are the placers they found the diamonds in.

I hope you remember what they are. That sounds similar to something I read years ago, but I'm not remembering exactly what.

PinkDiamond wrote:That is a big YIKES r2d! Do you have a ceiling fan in the room that was causing abnormal air currents? I'm so relieved it didn't go far, and suggest if you work with it again that you do so over a white sheet just in case.... :idea:

How will you mount it. :?: And I don't suppose it can be weighed, can it? :?: :?:

Mounting it under a magnifying lens would work. :lol: Come to think of it, there are gem jars with magnifying lids, but even at 1/2" they'd be too big for something that microscopic. I'm curious how you'll do it. ;)

No ceiling fan, just air movement that is hardly felt, but what one observes when dust floats through a shaft of sunlight. My scale supposedly goes down to .005 ct, but I don't trust it the lower it goes, just because I have no known weights that small to ensure calibration. Still may not register at that precision, anyway.

I have asked around in micromount hobby forums without getting a usable solution. Some use cactus spines or cat whiskers to mount tiny specimens, but they use water-soluable glue, which I'd like to avoid (too messy and danger of losses in order to dissolve if you want to examine on a slide, then you have to re-glue after you're done). I'll likely continue using acrylic pedestals, then mount using a removable adhesive, as I did in the photo below. The only tiny-micromounts I've bought from dealers have used double-sided sticky tape, so I've been using that until recently for dust-size specimens. However, I don't know how long-lasting that is. After trying the clear, removable Zots brand sticky dots, I think I'll be using that for smaller pieces until something better comes along. It is supposedly non-acidic, archival quality. It does hold securely. Now keeping bits of actual dust from sticking to the Zots before I get the clear covers/lids back on the specimen boxes is another challenge, but one that's not as big a problem :shock:
Image
r2d

surplus odds and ends that I have on ebid.net
· Xtra gemstones
· Xcess fossils, minerals and rough
· Everything else
User avatar
PinkDiamond
Posts: 15411
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Ozark Mountains

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by PinkDiamond »

Sweet!! I'll have to look into the Zots. Where do you get them? :?:
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* It all begins inside of you. ;)
User avatar
rocks2dust
Posts: 742
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Re: Majorite garnet

Post by rocks2dust »

Michael's and JoAnn's have them (in the scrapbooking section). You do have to be careful to get the removable type, as most of the variations are the permanent adhesive dots (which sort of defeats the purpose). Here is the company website: http://www.thermowebonline.com/p/zots-%E2%80%A2-medium-removable?pp=24
r2d

surplus odds and ends that I have on ebid.net
· Xtra gemstones
· Xcess fossils, minerals and rough
· Everything else
Post Reply