Rock&Gem Magazine
WALRUS TEETH
This Faceting Focus column is a bit different this time in two ways. First, this project does not have a design and is faceted freehand. Second, the material used is not transparent. Instead, the material is opaque, and this example is made using a fossilized walrus tooth from Alaska.
4 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Swallowed from Below!
What's going on deep beneath the American Midwest?
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
What Stone is That?
An excerpt from The Minerals Encyclopedia by Rupert Hochleitner, the Deputy Director of the Mineralogical State Collection of Munich since 1993, with a doctorate in mineralogy with an expertise in systematic mineralogy. (Firefly Books, 2022)
3 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Toxic Metal Pollution in Soils
Mapping the risks
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
When BROKEN Is Good
Understanding Breaks in Gemstones
6 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
THE LURE OF ULURU
In a classic example of understatement, most Australians simply call it “The Rock.” Rising 1,142 feet in awesome and solitary grandeur above the surrounding flat desert, it is one of the world’s best-known natural features. It’s also a sacred site representing 30,000 years of human habitation and an iconic image of Australia and that nation’s vast Outback. Previously called Ayers Rock, “The Rock” is today known as Uluru (ool-a-roo), a name of great antiquity that even predates the Ice Ages.
4 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Viewing the Deep Sea Floor
It's a rare event!
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
ROCK & GEM FIELD GUIDE: Peridot
Peridot is the bright green gem-quality variety of the mineral forsterite, a magnesium silicate.
2 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
A Shift Noted in Earth's Hydrological Cycle
It's being described as \"an irreversible decline in soil moisture.\" Earth's hydrological cycle, it seems, has entered a new phase, and it is global in scale.
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
More Stories from Distant Ancestors Human
Everyone loves genealogy. The further back you trace, the better.
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Spinosaurus Rebirth
A dino well-adapted to life in the water—or not.
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Promoting an Educational Outreach Program
Most amateur rock clubs are 501(c)(3) nonprofits. This requires a dedicated mission usually including charitable offerings.
6 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Was Myanmar's Great Quake a Supershear?
When a magnitude 7.7 earthquake ripped across Myanmar last March, 3,000 people were killed instantly and damage rippled into Thailand, where a high-rise building under construction collapsed.
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
An Iron Deposit of a Whole New Scale
A discovery in Australia is one for the history books!
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Fluorite Ridge
Collecting Light Green & White Fluorite
9 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
MAW SIT SIT
Maw Sit Sit is a rare, electrifying green stone only found in the surrounding region of the village of Tawmaw, north of Myanmar. Sometimes called “Chrome Jade,” many believe this stone to be a type of jade or jadeite.
2 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
FROM TEXTBOOK TO REAL LIFE
A High School Geology Buff’s Dream Classroom & Club
4 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Mars Excitement & disappointment all at once!!
With Mars exploration, it's two steps forward, one step back.
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Happy Birthday!
A new source of helium for party balloons!
1 min |
August 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
What Really Caused the Biggest Extinctions
As long as there's been life on Earth, there has been extinction.
1 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Finding the Phosphorus Feeding Early Life
The biomolecules fueling life on Earth are heavily dependent on phosphorus. In fact, phosphates are said to be the second-most abundant mineral in the human body.
1 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
A Moon as Old as Earth? Almost!
Earth is estimated to be 4.543 billion years old, and it's believed our Moon was born from a violent collision between the newly formed Earth and another young Mars-sized protoplanet dubbed Theia not long thereafter. But how long was \"not long?\"
1 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
ROCK & GEM FIELD GUIDES
Emerald is the green variety of beryl, colored by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes also vanadium.
2 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
HARDROCK GAMES
The Enduring Appeal of Mine-Drilling Contests
8 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
The Color of Early Mammals
Pretty dull!
1 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
State Rocks, Minerals & Gemstones
A Collective Look at our Geosymbols
8 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
POLISH FLINT
Flint has often been used throughout history and is thought to be as old as 160 million years.
2 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Exploring Oregon Beach Fossils
There's an old saying that finding fossils in Oregon is not about where to look, but where not to look.
6 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Jolted Alive by Microlightning?
Ancient asteroids hold all the right organic compounds for life, and those same compounds were likely present on early planet Earth-or delivered here by impacting asteroids.
1 min |
July 2025
Rock&Gem Magazine
Earth's Oldest Impact Crater Yet
Scientists estimate the age of Earth at 4.543 billion years.
1 min |