Selection of diamonds
These diamonds are from a collection held at the Natural History Museum, London, UK.
“An oblique photograph of Mount Etna looking to the southeast taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station on October 30,2002. The dark plume rising from the top of the volcano is an ash cloud. The broad white cloud streaming from areas of lower elevation is smoke produced by forest fires ignited as a hot lava flow moved through a pine forest. The ash and smoke caused air traffic to be diverted and forced the closing of roads, schools and businesses.”
“Many species of insects are found in the Green River Formation including dragonflies. The wetland margins of Fossil Lake provided ideal breeding and foraging opportunities. National Park Service photo.”
Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars, artwork.
“The first of two identical NASA rovers, Spirit, landed on Mars on 4 January 2004. The second, Opportunity, landed on the other side of the planet on 24 January 2004. The rovers are powered by solar panels (flat, across centre) and are mobile. Cameras mounted on the mast give scientists panoramic views of the Martian surface. This enables them to instruct the rovers which rocks to analyse and where to look for water. Tools on board the golf buggy-sized rovers include spectrometers for analysing rock samples, a microscope and an abrasion tool. Each rover has a 90-day mission on the surface of Mars.”
Geological time: Late Jurassic, 150,8 - 148,5 Ma
Found in Germany
Sand, light micrograph
“Sand is a loose collection of fragments of rock, shell and coral. This sand was collected from a beach in Villefranche on France’s Mediterranean coast. Magnification: x15 when printed at 10 centimetres wide.”
Geological time: Late Cretaceous, 75-71 Ma
Found in Mongolia
Locality: Ohio, USA
Atlantis, South Africa
Geological time: Early Cretaceous, 130 - 125 Ma
Cyanotrichite, Cu4Al2(SO4)(OH)12 . 2H2O
Migmatite gneiss, SW Montana.
Geological time: Late Cretaceous, 89 Ma
Found in Argentina