[Rockhounds] NEW ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES UNEARTH A TROVE OF UNUSUAL MINERALS

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

THE LANDSCAPE OF Kamchatka Peninsula steams with sulfurous vapor, its 29
active volcanoes forming a hazy backdrop for the region’s herds of reindeer
and rivers of salmon. One of the most geologically active places in the
world, Kamchatka juts out from the eastern coast of Russia to resemble a
larger version of Florida. A process almost like alchemy occurs here: Like
a set of roiling cauldrons, Kamchatka’s volcanoes mix unusual combinations
of atomic elements to forge minerals that are unlike anything anywhere else
in the world.

And in the past few years, researchers have discovered several new minerals
on Kamchatka. “They pop up by accident,” says Joël Brugger, a geologist at
Monash University in Australia, who helped discover a new mineral on the
peninsula called nataliyamalikite in 2017. “You just have to keep your eyes
open.” Researchers don’t set out to make these discoveries, usually.
Instead, they stumble upon new minerals during their studies of broader
geologic processes that might, for example, cause rare metals to collect in
unusually large concentrations in a specific volcano.

https://www.wired.com/story/geologists-discover-specks-new-minerals-earths-extremes/