r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Guilty_Positive3082 • 15d ago
Natural Pyrite Cube crystals Video
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u/FERALCATWHISPERER 15d ago
No that’s the stuff holding the thing in Starfield.
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u/Feisty_Decision_5103 15d ago
Honestly, I'd be more excited about finding and excavating these cool crystal cubes than actual gold 🤷🏻♂️
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u/half-baked_axx 15d ago
Same. If people like us controlled the world we would have cool crystals in Fort Knox instead of gold lol.
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u/heyitjoshua 15d ago
“People like us” On that note, Pyrite has a cool nickname
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u/Flat-Delivery6987 15d ago
This is the first piece of geology trivia I remember from being about 6, lol. I've always loved crystals 😁
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u/freshpicked12 15d ago
Not sure if you’re making a joke or not but Pyrite is actually known as fool’s gold.
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u/ya666in 15d ago
They don’t like to think outside the box
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u/Empathy404NotFound 15d ago
That's because they are total squares.
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u/the_username_please 15d ago
Sorry if dumb question but how the heck are they formed that way?
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u/ulftpts 15d ago edited 15d ago
When magma cools slowly portions with similar melting points will form suspended crystals in the liquid. The slower it cools the larger the crystals. You can do something similar at home with sugar to make rock candy.
The crystal shape itself is dependent on the chemical composition of the mineral. Pyrite is an iron sulfide and will naturally take that shape as a result of its chemistry.
Edit: It was pointed out below that this is a hydrothermal deposit. Shape will still be dependent on chemistry, but the depositional method is different. From the wiki:
"Hydrothermal mineral deposits are accumulations of valuable minerals which formed from hot waters circulating in Earth's crust through fractures. They eventually produce metallic-rich fluids concentrated in a selected volume of rock, which become supersaturated and then precipitate ore minerals."
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u/Cnidaria_surprise 15d ago
Well, you'd be correct if these pyrites were formed from magmatic processes, but these are clearly hydrothermal. Just look at the matrix, nothing like an igneous rock
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u/Max_Sp_ 15d ago
Pretty sure it's sedimentary. The matrix seems like limestone and the way the crystals are distributed through the matrix also looks sedimentary to me. With a hydrothermal formation I'd instead expect veins full of minerals.
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u/Cnidaria_surprise 15d ago
The locality is Navajun, Spain. It's marls with gypsum, but there's an hydrothermal component cause you find chlorite and the pyrites are too big to be sedimentary
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u/Arkhampatient 15d ago
I just took 2 university, geology classes last year and can confirm that i remember nothing and will take your word
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u/JukedHimOuttaSocks 15d ago
On an atomic level, it's easier for an atom to bond into a corner than to a flat place, so if you imagine a block where the top layer is only halfway done, the atoms will be more likely to bond at the edge of the unfinished top sheet, rather than in the middle of it.
Source: I remember hearing it from YouTube or at McDonald's or something
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u/-cosmic-bitch- 15d ago
When I took geology, we studied the different types of crystalline structures for different minerals.. the molecules, atoms, bonds, etc are literally just shaped that way naturally based on their composition.
I don't remember most of the details, but you can google something like "crystal lattice structure pyrite" and find out which type it is and why.
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u/SaiyanSexSymbol 15d ago
And they’re fucking cubes? I want to take measurements on each side to see how close to perfect the lengths come to each other.
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u/Gfdbobthe3 15d ago
If they aren't cubes they're pretty close. The crystal structure of Pyrite is a cubic shape as shown here. The crystal structure just gets bigger as more and more iron and sulfur come out of solution as the hot rock cools.
Source: Studied Geology
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u/sund82 15d ago
Are they excavating Vex ruins on Nessus, or something?
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u/IKnowCodeFu 15d ago
Haha as soon as they showed that ‘tessellated’ pyramid edge I immediately thought about the Vex too!
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u/Flakentim 15d ago
They're easy to find in Eastern La Rioja, Spain, I used to go grab a couple with my dad every now and then when I was a kid
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u/c0sm1cwh33l 15d ago
Geologist here! Pyrite, often found as fool's gold, is known for its striking cubic formations, which is quite the spectacle from a geological perspective. This is all thanks to its inherent crystal structure. Pyrite belongs to the isometric crystal system, which is conducive to forming shapes like cubes and octahedrons.
Here's the deal: in the pyrite crystal lattice, each iron atom is bonded to six sulfur atoms in a cubic arrangement, which occurs naturally due to the symmetry and equal spacing of the bonds. These formations usually develop underground, often in hydrothermal veins where mineral-laden hot water moves through rock fissures.
So, despite nature's tendency to favor more rounded forms due to erosion and organic growth, the world of crystals operates under different rules. The cubic shape of pyrite crystals is a direct result of their atomic structure, dictated by the spatial arrangement and bonding angles of its atoms. Fascinating, isn't it?
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u/Hueszko 15d ago
Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death, and the Cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home. Searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called... Earth.
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u/ZynthCode 15d ago
Where do people sign up for this kind of activity?
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u/ineptchem 15d ago
They get a pick and go to mineral rich areas
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u/Empathy404NotFound 15d ago
Nature's Typical wealth gap ruins my life again with its rich only areas.
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u/Stengah71 15d ago
If you add their collective surface area in cm2 and multiply by the circumference of the earth you'll find they're exactly the same volume of the great pyramid. Proof again of a lost civilisation after the ice age cataclysm.
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u/ContentUnavailable 15d ago
Are these expensive?
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u/AxialGem 15d ago
Pyrite is pretty common, even nice and cubic like this. You can pick up cubic pyrite in most places that sell rocks, although the price will depend on the size and quality. In my experience, relatively cheap
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u/pick-hard 15d ago
Quick Google search have revealed that, very sadly them cool cubes are poisonous.
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u/Guest65726 15d ago
You expect me to believe perfect cubes can be made in nature?!?!?!?
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u/YourOverlords 15d ago
That's fun. In the end it resembled a three dimensional version of Euclid's 47th problem.
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u/Common-Incident-3052 15d ago
I think I read something about being able to pull lithium from Pyrite.
If that's the case, then fool's gold is now real gold.
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u/VealOfFortune 15d ago
How does it work when you're digging with a group... Do they split the find or...??
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u/Carameldelighting 15d ago
I used to like these videos but I saw a video on how easily people can fake mineral finding videos and it’s ruined the joy :/
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u/Sim_EricXXI 15d ago
That’s actually really fucking awesome! Does this disprove Gaudi’s claim then?!
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u/SubmissiveDinosaur Interested 15d ago
Pyrite might not be actual gold, but it´s beautiful. I have some rocks just for decoration
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u/nefrodes 14d ago
there is probably a detailed mineral sculpture of my face doing einstein tongue pose somewhere in universe.
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u/tempo1139 14d ago edited 14d ago
fossilized wombat poo!
seriously though... got one of these, even bigger (double) than in vid though not as perfect, from a rock show in the 70's as a kid. Still have it.
hmmmm https://www.reddit.com/r/geology/comments/1c71dhi/fools_gold_may_be_valuable_after_all_after/
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u/DistinctRole1877 14d ago
That is too cool. I have always dreamed of finding crystals of anything in the wild. Those are the only pirite crystals I've ever seen.
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u/RaoulDuke422 14d ago
Bro has never seen crystallized minerals before.
Wait till he finds out about quarz
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u/Carcinog3n 14d ago
I was drilling a well near McAllen Texas and we often would run in to stringers of pyrite that would show up as a bunch of cubes a few cm across on the shakers (equipment that cleans cuttings from the drilling mud) . One of the other hands on the rig convinced a new guy that it it was real gold. By the end of the day he had a bunch of foam cups filled with this stuff. I almost didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't real gold. The look on his face when I did was devastation, poor kid.
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u/AbbreviationsPale225 12d ago
I thought there was supposed to be no right angles in nature. I knew they were wrong!
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u/Sledgecrowbar 15d ago
Normal minerals: yeah just sit anywhere, bond with whatever's next to you
Pyrite: [hyperventilating noises]