~ Early Web Links ~

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.

The Fluorescent Mineral Society hosts a stunning photo gallery showcasing minerals from around the world photographed under shortwave, midwave, and longwave ultraviolet light, revealing their glowing colors. Specimens from famous localities like the Franklin and Sterling Hill mines in New Jersey, Tsumeb in Namibia, and sites across China, Australia, and Brazil are featured with photographer credits and mineral identification.

The Mineral Gallery is a comprehensive online reference dedicated to minerals, featuring detailed descriptions, chemical formulas, physical properties, and photographs of hundreds of mineral specimens. It serves as an invaluable resource for collectors, geology students, and enthusiasts seeking in-depth information on everything from common quartz varieties to rare sulfosalts.

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.

Le Regne Mineral is a French bimonthly mineralogy magazine covering earth sciences with original articles and high-quality mineral photography from renowned specialists like Jeff Scovil and Mick Cooper. Considered one of the top five mineral magazines in the world after four years of publication, it serves collectors, rockhounds, and mineralogy enthusiasts across Europe and beyond.

Mineral Webzine is a bilingual French-English non-commercial online magazine dedicated to rockhounds, mineral collectors, and geology enthusiasts. Featuring photographs of specimens like garnet, wulfenite, and cinnabar contributed by collectors from Canada and France, it serves as a reference for mineralogy, crystallography, and gemology.

Geologyshop is a comprehensive geological reference hub offering curated links to over 1200 worldwide geology websites organized by subject, covering topics from dinosaurs and volcanoes to chalk formations and channel tunnel geology. Visitors can access free geological documents, maps, field guides, and educational content for students, teachers, and professionals interested in earth sciences.