Ronnie Van Dommelen's Photo Gallery

Francis X. Sousa

Mr. Francis (Frank) X. Sousa (b. 1951), of Tuscon, Arizona, USA. In his photo he is underground at the 79 Mine. Frank's interest in minerals began at age 9 and he started collecting minerals, especially Pb-bearing minerals, in his teenage years. He is a strong promoter of mineral collecting and is a dedicated volunteer, including at multiple Arizona museums.

The mineral franksousaite is named in his honor.


Image courtesy of F. Sousa.

Asagi-iro, a traditional color of Japan

Asagi-iro (浅葱色), RGB=(72,146,155), a traditional color of Japan.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_colors_of_Japan

The mineral asagiite is named for the color.

Yurii A. Senkevich

Yurii Alekseevich Senkevich (4 March 1937, Choibalsan, Mongolia – 25 September 2003, Moscow, Russia) (alternate spellings, Yuri Aleksandrovich Senkevich, Юрий Александрович Сенкевич), "outstanding Russian traveller, medical officer, researcher of the behavior of the human organism in extreme conditions, famous TV reporter and journalist."

The mineral senkevichite is named in his honor.


Further biographical information:
http://tinyurl.com/2vu6k6fw - Russian Wikipedia translated to English.

The image was obtained from Wikipedia. Its use here is considered fair use.

Nikolai P. Ermakov

Nikolai Porfirievich Ermakov (Николай Порфирьевич Ермаков) (16 November 1913, Kondurchinskaya fortress, Samara province, Russia - 25 September 1993, Moscow , Russia), professor of mineralogy, head of the thermobarogeochemistry lab and founder of the Earth Science Museum at Moscow State University (Russia).

The mineral ermakovite is named in his honor.


Further biographical information:
http://tinyurl.com/mryj6ch8 - Russian Wikipedia, translated to English.

Use of the image here is considered fair use.

APE-XHTFranksousaite PbCu(Se⁶⁺O₄)(OH)₂ , Anglesite PbSO₄

El Dragón mine, Porco Municipality, Antonio Quijarro Province, Potosí, Bolivia

Field of View: 1.35 mm

"A microscopic view of blue franksousaite enclosed in a large colourless anglesite crystal, making the whole anglesite crystal look blueish."

Image appears as Figure 2 in:
Yang, Hexiong, McGlasson, James A., Gibbs, Ronald B., Downs, Robert T. (2022) Franksousaite, PbCu(Se6+O4)(OH)2, the Se6+ analogue of linarite, a new mineral from the El Dragón mine, Potosí, Bolivia. Mineralogical Magazine, 86 (5) 792-798 doi:10.1180/mgm.2022.90
That publication is Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sergei S. Smirnov

Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov (Серге́й Серге́евич Смирно́в) (2(14) September 1895, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Vladimir province, Russian Empire - 20 August 1947, Leningrad, USSR), famous Soviet geologist, academician, and a renowned specialist in the mineralogy of ore deposits. The Dorsa Smirnov ridge on the Moon is named after him.

The mineral sergeismirnov is named in his honor.


Further biographical information:
http://tinyurl.com/yck9y8bc - English translation of Russian Wikipedia page

Image obtained from Wikipedia. Use of the image here is considered fair use.

Arne Magnéli

Arne Magnéli (6 December 1914, Stockholm, Sweden - 22 July 1996, Stockholm, Sweden), chemist known especially for his studies of nonstoichiometric phenomenon, transition metal oxides and alloys and their homologous series. The famous Magnéli phases, named after him, are substoichiometric oxides of titanium.

The mineral magnéliite is named in his honor.

Further biographical information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Magn%C3%A9li - Wikipedia
Kihlborg, L., Olovsson, I. (1997) Arne Magnéli, 1914–1996. Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations of Crystallography, 53 (2). 103-104 doi:10.1107/s0108767396014249

Use of the image here is considered fair use.

Evgeniy G. Sidorov

Evgeniy Gennadievich Sidorov (Евгений Геннадьевич Сидоров) (26 April 1955, Kichuy, Almetyevsk district, Tatarstan, USSR – 20 March 2021, Russia), geologist and mineralogist at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He played a significant role in the discovery of the Koryak-Kamchatka platinum belt and is a co-author of 71 new minerals discovered in Kamchatka.

The mineral sidorovite is named in his honor.

Further biographical information:
Kutyrev, A. V. (2021) In memory Evgeniy Gennadievich Sidorov. Mineralogical Almanac, 26(3), 54. https://www.mindat.org/reference.php?id=16895596
Tolstykh, N. D. (2021) Evgeniy Sidorov - the legend. Mineralogical Almanac, 26(3), 61-62.
http://www.minbook.com/site_files/26-3_RU_p61-62.pdf

Photo courtesy of Andrei Barkov. Also thanks to Robert F. Martin.

A4H-8KVCalcite CaCO₃ , Chabazite-Ca (Ca,K₂,Na₂)₂[Al₂Si₄O₁₂]₂·12H₂O

Advocate Bay side, Cape D'Or, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, Canada

Field of View: 4.6 cm

A pretty and sharp calcite crystal on pale beige chabazite. The reflected light hides the fact that the crystal is quite transparent.

This combination of a rhombic termination with a steep scalenohedral waist is common at Cape D'Or. This one has a set of smaller faces of a second rhombohedron as well.

The calcite fluoresces very brightly white in LW UV and phosphoresces green.

KRF-L9MAnalcime Na(AlSi₂O₆)·H₂O , Apophyllite Group AB₄[Si₈O₂₂]X · 8H₂O , Heulandite Subgroup (Na/Ca/K)_5-6[Al_8-9 Si_27-28 O₇₂]· nH₂O , Quartz SiO₂ , Calcite CaCO₃

Amethyst Cove, Kings Co., Nova Scotia, Canada

Field of View: 3 cm

There are five species in this 3 cm FOV picture. White trapezohedrons of analcime (middle and left edge) occur on top of nicely colored green apophyllite, both on somewhat granular grayish-white quartz. Large rhombic prisms of beige heulandite are all around. The fifth species is calcite. Three crystals can be seen (none in sharp focus) as beige blocky crystals, one at the upper right of each of the analcimes crystals and the third at the lower right of the quartz. These fluoresce brightly white and phosphoresce green.

Many specimens have been collected from this zone of large heulandites and analcimes (there is a 4 cm analcime just out of view of this photo), but I've never seen one with apophyllite before. The analcime occurring on top of the apophyllite (i.e. forming later) is also interesting.

Collected by Dino Nardini.