Michael Anenburg
@manenbu.bsky.social
I make fake rocks & minerals at high pressures & temperatures. Admirer of carbonatites, rare earths, and geological miscellanies. מיכאל.🐪✡️
How do you get copper in post-subduction porphyry deposits? You flush ancient sulfide cumulates with deeper oxidised magmas!
New paper out now with Shiwei Wang from Hefei UoT as lead author: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
New paper out now with Shiwei Wang from Hefei UoT as lead author: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 PM
How do you get copper in post-subduction porphyry deposits? You flush ancient sulfide cumulates with deeper oxidised magmas!
New paper out now with Shiwei Wang from Hefei UoT as lead author: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
New paper out now with Shiwei Wang from Hefei UoT as lead author: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Sydney last week, coming back to Canberra from Brisbane
October 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Sydney last week, coming back to Canberra from Brisbane
Camera doesn’t do justice
August 6, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Camera doesn’t do justice
In carbonatites, alkalis are fluxes that keep melting points low. We discovered that upon reaction with surroundings silicates ("antiskarns"), alkalis are extracted to silicate minerals, solidifying the residual carbonatite magma into crystalline rock.
August 5, 2025 at 8:55 AM
In carbonatites, alkalis are fluxes that keep melting points low. We discovered that upon reaction with surroundings silicates ("antiskarns"), alkalis are extracted to silicate minerals, solidifying the residual carbonatite magma into crystalline rock.
New paper: we discovered a new way for magmas to crystallise (!), and it also made one of the largest known carbonatite REE deposits.
Out now in Nature Communications: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#geology @scienceanu.bsky.social
Out now in Nature Communications: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#geology @scienceanu.bsky.social
August 5, 2025 at 8:55 AM
New paper: we discovered a new way for magmas to crystallise (!), and it also made one of the largest known carbonatite REE deposits.
Out now in Nature Communications: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#geology @scienceanu.bsky.social
Out now in Nature Communications: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#geology @scienceanu.bsky.social
#ThinSectionThursday qeltite marked in pink, together with some gehlenite, wollastonite, nagelschmidtite, magnetite, and kalsilite.
What is qeltite? Good question! See link in reply for the story.
What is qeltite? Good question! See link in reply for the story.
July 24, 2025 at 11:13 AM
#ThinSectionThursday qeltite marked in pink, together with some gehlenite, wollastonite, nagelschmidtite, magnetite, and kalsilite.
What is qeltite? Good question! See link in reply for the story.
What is qeltite? Good question! See link in reply for the story.
Found in my daughter’s workbook
June 27, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Found in my daughter’s workbook
Got a paper accepted, they asked for a graphical abstract. We made one!
June 22, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Got a paper accepted, they asked for a graphical abstract. We made one!
#ThinSectionThursday cathodoluminescence of fluorapatite and REE mineralisation from Nolans Bore, Australia.
Other than being spectacular eye candy, this is very informative and tells quite a lot about the ore. Yay science!
Image taken at CSIRO Microbeam Lab.
@scienceanu.bsky.social
Other than being spectacular eye candy, this is very informative and tells quite a lot about the ore. Yay science!
Image taken at CSIRO Microbeam Lab.
@scienceanu.bsky.social
June 19, 2025 at 10:58 AM
#ThinSectionThursday cathodoluminescence of fluorapatite and REE mineralisation from Nolans Bore, Australia.
Other than being spectacular eye candy, this is very informative and tells quite a lot about the ore. Yay science!
Image taken at CSIRO Microbeam Lab.
@scienceanu.bsky.social
Other than being spectacular eye candy, this is very informative and tells quite a lot about the ore. Yay science!
Image taken at CSIRO Microbeam Lab.
@scienceanu.bsky.social
#ThinSectionThursday Accidental platinum crystals, dissolved by calcium chloride flux from a platinum crucible and deposited on the MgO plate it was standing on
June 5, 2025 at 6:56 AM
#ThinSectionThursday Accidental platinum crystals, dissolved by calcium chloride flux from a platinum crucible and deposited on the MgO plate it was standing on
My kind of science: They found some forgotten proactinium in a back shelf, tried to make something out of it, got something different instead, and published this in Science Advances lol
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
May 24, 2025 at 3:11 AM
My kind of science: They found some forgotten proactinium in a back shelf, tried to make something out of it, got something different instead, and published this in Science Advances lol
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
#ThinSectionThursday
This isn't outer space—this is a reflected light image of silicate glass at ×100 magnification with immersion oil. Bright dots are nanonuggets of mostly silver, but also other elements such as platinum, palladium, and bismuth. Their colour correlates with crystal size.
This isn't outer space—this is a reflected light image of silicate glass at ×100 magnification with immersion oil. Bright dots are nanonuggets of mostly silver, but also other elements such as platinum, palladium, and bismuth. Their colour correlates with crystal size.
May 11, 2025 at 8:34 AM
#ThinSectionThursday
This isn't outer space—this is a reflected light image of silicate glass at ×100 magnification with immersion oil. Bright dots are nanonuggets of mostly silver, but also other elements such as platinum, palladium, and bismuth. Their colour correlates with crystal size.
This isn't outer space—this is a reflected light image of silicate glass at ×100 magnification with immersion oil. Bright dots are nanonuggets of mostly silver, but also other elements such as platinum, palladium, and bismuth. Their colour correlates with crystal size.
#ThinSectionThursday Exsolution and alteration of Fe-Ti-Mn oxides from a weathering horizon of carbonatite in Western Australia
May 2, 2025 at 2:27 AM
#ThinSectionThursday Exsolution and alteration of Fe-Ti-Mn oxides from a weathering horizon of carbonatite in Western Australia
I made some apatite
April 29, 2025 at 4:30 AM
I made some apatite
#ThinSectionThursday
Experimental synthesis of REE-apatite and britholite in silicate glass by an Honours student here at @scienceanu.bsky.social.
Apatite is bright pink, glass is mildly pink, and britholite is almost not luminescent at all.
Experimental synthesis of REE-apatite and britholite in silicate glass by an Honours student here at @scienceanu.bsky.social.
Apatite is bright pink, glass is mildly pink, and britholite is almost not luminescent at all.
April 26, 2025 at 5:29 AM
#ThinSectionThursday
Experimental synthesis of REE-apatite and britholite in silicate glass by an Honours student here at @scienceanu.bsky.social.
Apatite is bright pink, glass is mildly pink, and britholite is almost not luminescent at all.
Experimental synthesis of REE-apatite and britholite in silicate glass by an Honours student here at @scienceanu.bsky.social.
Apatite is bright pink, glass is mildly pink, and britholite is almost not luminescent at all.
Plutonic and (sub)volcanic rocks make excellent footpaths @pavementgeology.bsky.social
April 19, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Plutonic and (sub)volcanic rocks make excellent footpaths @pavementgeology.bsky.social
Google Scholar congratulated me for 1000(+1) citations 🎉🥳
April 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Google Scholar congratulated me for 1000(+1) citations 🎉🥳
Scanning a defocused 500 nA beam on a zircon 😍
April 17, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Scanning a defocused 500 nA beam on a zircon 😍
Please enjoy this 15 kg single crystal of hexagonal apatite
April 4, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Please enjoy this 15 kg single crystal of hexagonal apatite
March 20, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Addressing reviewer comments during manuscript revision
March 11, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Addressing reviewer comments during manuscript revision
Not a pleasant thing to see on my ride to work today…
March 11, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Not a pleasant thing to see on my ride to work today…