#serpentinite

OKAY so, obviously its a basic bitch answer but i DO love columnal basalt, its such an incredible example of how the chemical structure of particular minerals can affect the structure on a macro level!!!

Plus I played the Myst series a lot as a kid, and Amateria in Exile features columnal basalt which gives it this fantastically otherworld feel

BUT since thats such a basic answer, I gotta also give a shoutout to TROVANTS which are actually a type of rock which GROW and MOVE!!! They look all bulbous and weird:

Now, scientists originally thought this was the result of concretion (which is basically the process concrete is made thru for anyone reading who doesnt know) BUT there isnt a central nucleus AND theyre basically the same minerals as the sandstones beneath them! Its thought that they are undergoing a similar process though, where rainfall quick-dissolves and redeposits the sediment that make them up. (really not calling it concretion is a matter of semantics but hey all science is built on semantics soooooo)

But since I'm talking about concretion and how it results in fascinating formations, I ALSO have to bring up the similarly bizarre concretion examples known as Gogottes

These weirdos are made through ACTUAL concretion and a number of other chemical and geological processes over millions of years, and are functionally just bizarre chunks of sandstone!

As for regular, common minerals, I am partial to my namesake Jade, specifically the Jadeite side of it (Theres really two entirely different mineral groups which we call Jade, because taxonomy is funny), because it has some gorgeous subtle coloration differences. I also gotta give a shoutout to serpentinite because its a very neat mineral which makes up a lot of my local area

Turtle Vase

Ancient Egypt 3600-3300 BCE (Nagada II)

Serpentinite, H 2.6 x W 6.2 cm

The increasing number of wildfires is linked to the effects of climate change. The increasing presence of a carcinogen is a result of those fires.

It's widely known that wildfire smoke is bad for your health, but a group of researchers recently found a known carcinogen in California wildfire ash, raising concerns about just how harmful it could be to breathe the air near a blaze. According to a study released in Nature Communications last week, researchers discovered dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium in samples of ash left behind by the Kincade and Hennessey fires in 2019 and 2020. Workers in the manufacturing industry who've been exposed to elevated levels of hexavalent chromium,or chromium 6, have higher rates of lung cancer, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Scott Fendorf, a professor at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University who worked on the study, said he was shocked by the results. "Up until that point, if we had a wildfire, I was pretty cavalier about it, to be truthful. We get the alerts and I would still go outside and exercise, thinking exercise was the better factor for my health," Fendorf said. "Now it completely changes my calculation. When we start to get wildfire warnings or smoke warnings, I'm going to be wearing an N95 mask." In some affected areas, the study found that the concentration of chromium 6 was up to seven times that of unburned land. [ ... ] Metals such as chromium naturally exist in the environment, such as in rocks like serpentinite. In this case, Fendorf said, the wildfires' intense heat appears to have transformed chromium into its hexavalent state. "The fire changes a benign metal into a very toxic form of that metal," he said. Hexavalent chromium is also known as the "Erin Brockovich chemical," named for the consumer advocate whose legal battle to help a small California town affected by the compound was immortalized in a now famous film starring Julia Roberts. The Stanford team only tested ash from several areas in California, but Fendorf said the test sites contained various types of geology and vegetation, leading researchers to believe the results would be applicable to many regions across the globe. The study's findings also open the door to further investigation of possible wildfire exposure risks for other toxic metals.

The simplistic view of climate change is that Earth's thermostat is just being turned up. But as CO2 and other greenhouse gases increase, a complex series of chain reactions is taking place. The spread of hexavalent chromium is another product of those reactions.

bonus Serpentinite in the Serpent Shrine Scene with her Iridescent Scaleback (say that 10 times fast hehe)

Marble souvenir "Rat on a log"