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![Banded iron formation](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218193527im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/media/image/12120251.jpg?itok=psDh2w9r)
Mineral Sciences
**Due to the COVID-19 closure of the Natural History Museum our shipping offices are closed. DO NOT send any packages to Department of Mineral Science staff at this time as there are NO STAFF MEMBERS ON SITE to receive them.**
Using the Collections
Our collection of over 600,000 specimens is available for study by researchers worldwide. Find specimens and request a loan using the links below.
![Rock Creek sapphires](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218193527im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/media/image/13069335.jpg?itok=6m94k6NI)
Instrumentation
Seminar Schedule
Date | Title | Speaker |
---|---|---|
Jan 8 | Using Jack Hills zircons to decode the secular evolution of the early Earth | Michael Ackerson, Mineral Sciences |
Jan 15 | Implications of isotopic heterogeneity of short-lived systems for Earth formation, long-term evolution, and present processes | Richard J. Walker, University of Maryland |
Jan 22 | Interpreting Redox-Sensitive Minerals to Understand Soil Environmental Conditions | Martin Rabenhorst, University of Maryland |
Jan 29 | In situ x-ray diffraction studies of minerals under dynamic loading | Sally J. Tracy, Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Division |
Feb 5 | ||
Feb 12 | ||
Feb 19 | Heavy iron isotope composition of iron meteorites caused by core crystallization | Peng Ni, Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Division |
Feb 26 | Rocks from Space! | Wendy Bohon, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology |
Mar 4 | From millennia to minutes: Timing magmatic processes using mineral diffusion chronometry | Euan Mutch, University of Maryland |
Mar 11 | Postponed: Metamorphism and The Evolution of Plate Tectonics | Robert Holder, Johns Hopkins University |
Mar 18 | No seminar (LPSC) | |
Mar 25 | Postponed | Giovanni Sosa, UNAM |
Apr 1 | Postponed | Michelle Muth, University of Oregon |
Apr 8 | No seminar | |
Apr 15 | No seminar | |
Apr 22 | To be announced | Joy Buongiorno, Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Division |
Apr 29 | To be announced | Andrew Steele, Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Division |
May 6 | To be announced | |
May 13 | To be announced | Tanya Harrison, Planet Labs DC |
May 20 | Symposium in honor of Carter Hearn | |
May 27 | To be announced | Robert Hazen, Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Division |
Jun 3 | To be announced | Dina Bower, NASA |
Jun 10 | To be announced |
Seminars are held on the fourth floor of the east wing of NMNH and run from 10 to 11 a.m. unless otherwise noted. Smithsonian personnel who are not members of the department can buzz in at the entrance to the department in the fourth floor elevator lobby prior to 10 a.m. Visitors without SI badges should call the department from the visitor services office, located at the 10th and Constitution Ave entrance to the museum, by dialing Phyllis McKenzie at x31808 or Ioan Lascu at x31815.