États-Unis

Banded fine-grained pyrite in shale from the Precambrian of Australia. (public display, Leadville Mining Museum, Leadville, Colorado, USA) A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 4900 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates. The sulfide minerals contain one or more sulfide anions (S-2). The sulfides are usually considered together with the arsenide minerals, the sulfarsenide minerals, and the telluride minerals. Many sulfides are economically significant, as they occur commonly in ores. The metals that combine with S-2 are mainly Fe, Cu, Ni, Ag, etc. Most sulfides have a metallic luster, are moderately soft, and are noticeably heavy for their size. These minerals will not form in the presence of free oxygen. Under an oxygen-rich atmosphere, sulfide minerals tend to chemically weather to various oxide and hydroxide minerals. Pyrite is a common iron sulfide mineral (FeS2). It’s nickname is “fool's gold”. Pyrite has a metallic luster, brassy gold color (in contrast to the deep rich yellow gold color of true gold - www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/sets/72157651325153769/), dark gray to black streak, is hard (H=6 to 6.5), has no cleavage, and is moderately heavy for its size. It often forms cubic crystals or pyritohedrons (crystals having pentagonal faces). Pyrite is common in many hydrothermal veins, shales, coals, various metamorphic rocks, and massive sulfide deposits. The rock shown above consists of numerous bands of fine-grained pyrite interbedded with dark shale. Published research has shown that the pyrite is diagenetic, formed by sulfate reduction from sulfate-bearing groundwater that moved along bedding planes of the Urquhart Shale host rocks (see Painter et al., 1999). The sulfate source was evaporitic gypsum-anhydrite-barite in the same stratigraphic unit. Stratigraphy: Urquhart Shale, Mount Isa Group, Mesoproterozoic, ~1655 Ma Age of metamorphism: peak greenschist-facies metamorphism at ~1505 Ma during the Isan Orogeny Locality: Mount Isa Mines, northwestern Queensland, northeastern Australia Some info. from: Kawasaki & Symons (2010) - Dating of Mesoproterozoic metamorphism in the Mount Isa and George Fisher Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag deposits, Australia, by paleomagnetism. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, Abstract GP33C-0953. Painter et al. (1999) - Sedimentologic, petrographic, and sulfur isotope constraints on fine-grained pyrite formation at Mount Isa Mine and environs, northwest Queensland, Australia. Economic Geology 94: 883-912. Photo gallery of pyrite: www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3314

Banded iron formation from the Precambrian of Wyoming, USA. (~10.9 cm across at its widest) Banded iron formations, or BIFs, are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite. Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees. BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth. Some iron mines in west-central Wyoming exploit BIFs in the Goldman Meadows Formation, a Mesoarchean unit exposed in the Wind River Range. These rocks have been multiply metamorphosed during the Precambrian. The result of this metamorphism is highly contorted folding and fracturing. The rock shown above is a folded quartz-hematite-limonite meta-BIF. Stratigraphy: iron formation member (probably the upper iron formation member) of the Goldman Meadows Formation, upper Mesoarchean, 2.87 Ga (metamorphosed in the Archean at 2.8 Ga and in the Mesoproterozoic at 1.4 Ga) Geologic context: northwestern flank of the South Pass Greenstone Belt, southern Wind River Range Locality: Atlantic City Iron Mine (open-pit mine; sample possibly collected from tailings piles around the now-flooded pit) (E1/2 of section 26, T30N, R100W, Miners Delight 7.5' USGS topographic quadrangle), South Pass-Atlantic City Mining District, along Rt. 28, southwestern side of South Pass, north of Atlantic City, southwestern Fremont County, west-central Wyoming, USA (mine is at 42° 32' 45" North latitude, 108° 44' 33" West longitude)

Khaan fossil holotype IGM 100/1127.

Falcarius skeleton reconstruction, Utah Museum of Natural History.

Achelousaurus horneri skull, collected in Glacier County, Montana, at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. The Ceratopsidae are those dinosaurs with head frills. There are three large subgroups of Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae, Ceratopsinae, and Chasmosaurinae. The Triceratopsini are a "tribe" of the Chasmosaurinae -- a genus so vast that it gets the special name "tribe". The Pachyrhinosaurini are a "tribe" within the Centrosaurinae. Achelousaurus is a genus within the Pachyrhinosaurini. So far, only three skulls and some limited skeletal remains have been collected anywhere in the world -- and all of them in Montana. Their bony frills are quite similar to the Styracosaurus albertensis, although their other skull features (such as big bony bosses on the nose and behind the eyes) are not.

Anhanguerid pterosaur Uktenadactylus wadleighi (Lee, 1994), SMU 73058, Tarrant County, Texas, USA, Albian. In anterior (A1), leftlateral (A2), palatal (A3) and right lateral (A4), and dorsal (A5) views. Photographs by BH

Cast of a Scaphognathus crassirostris, a kind of pterosaur. On display as part of the exhibit "Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs" at the Cleveland Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. This animal lived about 150 million years ago. This fossil was found in the Solnhofen formation in Germany. This is a cast; the fossil itself is held by the Institute of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Bonn.

Chert & phosphorite in the Permian of Wyoming, USA. The Permian-aged Phosphoria Formation has a significant component of phosphorite, a scarce, phosphate-rich sedimentary rock. This material is mined in southern Idaho as a source of phosphorus for the fertilizer industry, the fireworks industry, and other uses. Phosphorites are generally considered to have >15-20% phosphate content. Texturally, phosphorites can be obviously granular, with fossil fragments or oolites or peloids or lithic fragments, or they can be composed of extremely fine-grained, phosphate-rich mud. Compositionally, the phosphate component in phosphorites is principally a mix of apatite minerals: chlorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3Cl), fluorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3F), hydroxyapatite (Ca5(PO4)3OH)), and carbonate fluorapatite (Ca10(PO4,CO3)6F2-3). Phosphorites are generally marine sedimentary rocks. They range in age from Precambrian to Holocene. In modern oceans, they tend to occur along the eastern margins of some ocean basins where deep-water upwelling occurs under areas of high biologic productivity. Stratigraphy: Rex Chert Member over Meade Peak Member, Phosphoria Formation, Roadian Stage to Wordian Stage, lower Guadalupian Series, mid-Permian Locality: roadcut on the northern side of Route 26/Route 89 at the town of Astoria Hot Springs, Snake River Canyon, southern Teton County, northwestern Wyoming, USA

Life restoration of the large, Middle Triassic Nevadan ichthyosaur Cymbopsondylus petrinus. This illustration is primarily based on specimen UCMP 9950, with much of the tail restored following UCMP 9947. The size of the eye was reconstructed based on UCMP 9954 and UCMP 9913. The unknown distal portions of the flippers, as well as some of the tail, was reconstructed after the related genus Xinminosaurus. References Merriam, J. C. (1908) Triassic Ichthyosauria: With special reference to the American forms, Berkley, California: Berkley: The University Press Klein, N.; Schmitz, L.; Wintrich, T.; Sander, P. M. (2020). "A new cymbospondylid ichthyosaur (Ichthyosauria) from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) of the Augusta Mountains, Nevada, USA". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 18 (14): 1167-1191. DOI:10.1080/14772019.2020.1748132. Jiang, D.; Motani, R.; Hao, W.; Schmitz, L.; Rieppel, O.; Sun, Y.; Sun, Z. (2008). "New primitive ichthyosaurian (Reptilia, Diapsida) from the Middle Triassic of Panxian, Guizhou, southwestern China and its position in the Triassic biotic recovery". Progress in Natural Science 18 (10): 1315. DOI:10.1016/j.pnsc.2008.01.039.

Close up of the Eulithomyrmex rugosus holotype head. Museum of Comparative Zoology specimen UCM17019. Priabonian; Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA

Outcrops of the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) aged Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

Ceratosaurus skeleton mount, Wisconsin

Ceratosaurus skeleton mount, Wisconsin

The Tyrannosaurus rex, Dromaeosaurus, Triceratops, and Struthiomimus diorama in the Third Planet exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States).

The Tyrannosaurus rex, Dromaeosaurus, Triceratops, and Struthiomimus diorama in the Third Planet exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States).

The Tyrannosaurus rex, Dromaeosaurus, Triceratops, and Struthiomimus diorama in the Third Planet exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States).