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Natural fluorite mineral has ornamental and lapidary uses. Fluorite may be drilled into beads and used in jewelry, although due to its relative softness it is not widely used as a semiprecious stone. It is also used for ornamental carvings, with expert carvings taking advantage of the stone's zonation.
Fluorine is a relatively new element in human applications. In ancient times, only minor uses of fluorine-containing minerals existed. The industrial use of fluorite, fluorine's source mineral, was first described by early scientist Georgius Agricola in the 16th century, in the context of smelting.
The Atacama Desert has large quantities of halide minerals as well as chlorates, iodates, oxyhalides, nitrates, borates and other water-soluble minerals. Not only do those minerals occur in subsurface geologic deposits, they also form crusts on the Earth's surface due to the low rainfall (the Atacama is the world's driest desert as well as one ...
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Amethyst crystals – a purple quartz Apophyllite crystals sitting right beside a cluster of peachy bowtie stilbite Aquamarine variety of beryl with tourmaline on orthoclase Arsenopyrite from Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico Aurichalcite needles spraying out within a protected pocket lined by bladed calcite crystals Austinite from the Ojuela Mine, Mapimí, Durango, Mexico Ametrine ...
Most people plan to either be buried or cremated when they die, but there is another, environmentally friendly option: Human composting. "So instead of being cremated and turned into ash, you're ...
Fluorite, the primary mineral source of fluorine, which gave the element its name, was first described in 1529; as it was added to metal ores to lower their melting points for smelting, the Latin verb fluo meaning ' to flow ' gave the mineral its name. Proposed as an element in 1810, fluorine proved difficult and dangerous to separate from its ...
The human population exploits and depends on many animal and plant species for food, mainly through agriculture, but also by exploiting wild populations, notably of marine fish. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Livestock animals are raised for meat across the world; they include (2011) around 1.4 billion cattle , 1.2 billion sheep and 1 billion domestic pigs .