~ Early Web Links ~

John A. Jaszczak, a physicist at Michigan Technological University, has compiled a comprehensive reference on graphite mineralogy covering crystal structures, properties, spirals, spherical forms, and notable localities from around the world. The site features atomic force microscopy images, links to published research papers, and detailed documentation of unusual graphite occurrences including cones, pseudocubes, and meteoritic graphite.

Webmineral.com presents a comprehensive reference for the Nickel-Strunz Classification System, organizing over 4,700 minerals into a systematic hierarchy of chemical groups from elements and sulfides to silicates and organic compounds. Built with contributions from mineralogist James A. Ferraiolo whose classification scholarship dates to 1982, the site serves as a serious database tool for mineralogists, crystallographers, and collectors.

Created by Ronnie Van Dommelen, this site is a dedicated reference guide to the mineralogy of Nova Scotia, Canada, covering locality information, mineral images, species studies, and reported minerals from the region. It highlights the province's world-class zeolites, Bay of Fundy collecting sites, and serves as an online resource for mineral enthusiasts and collectors worldwide.

Lavajunkie.com is a passionate photography gallery dedicated to the volcanic activity of Kilauea, Hawaii, featuring extensive collections of lava flows entering the Pacific Ocean, surface flows, dawn shots, and even images purportedly showing the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele. With over 20 gallery pages organized into themed collections, this site captures the raw spectacle of new earth being formed and invites armchair lava junkies to experience the phenomenon from their screens.

Mineralienatlas is a comprehensive German-language encyclopedia and community platform covering mineralogy, geology, paleontology, and mining, supported by thousands of members worldwide. Visitors can search minerals by chemical properties, browse fossil and mineral portraits, explore collecting locations, and dive into crystallography and systematic mineralogy.

The Maryland Geological Society is a non-profit club founded in 1991 for amateur and professional fossil and mineral collectors, open to all who share a passion for the geological sciences. Visitors will find meeting schedules, field trip announcements, fossil and mineral FAQs, a gallery, newsletter archives, and articles by contributing scientists.

Excalibur Mineral Corporation offers a detailed sales catalog of meteorites and tektites, listing specimens by name, find date, locality, weight, and price. The catalog includes rare pallasites, chondrites, and scientifically documented samples with SEM imagery and quantitative chemistry, making it a destination for serious collectors.

Steve Allen's detailed reference site on the history and technical implications of leap seconds, delta time, and precision time scales used in astronomy and timekeeping. It features plots, tables, historical data, and analysis of the ongoing ITU-R debate over whether to abandon leap seconds from UTC.

John Betts built this extraordinary virtual mineral museum housing over 194,000 photographs of more than 63,000 mineral specimens from localities around the world. With educational articles, field trip guides, searchable species and locality databases, and decades of collector expertise behind it, this site is an unparalleled reference for mineralogy enthusiasts.

Webmineral is a comprehensive mineralogy database created by David Barthelmy, cataloging 4,714 individual mineral species with detailed descriptions, crystal structure viewers, X-ray data, chemical formulas, and an extensive image library. Its interactive Java-powered crystal viewers, searchable indexes across dozens of physical and optical properties, and multi-language support make it an invaluable reference for geologists, collectors, and mineral enthusiasts alike.