Almost Perfect Cubes Formed in Nature

[u/Stevemoriarty]

These amazing pyrite crystal specimens are found in Navajún, La Rioja, Spain. Believe it or not, these cubes have not been cut or polished to shape. They are found just like this within the marl matrix.

[u/Bobbers_the_whale]

I LOVE PYRITE, the cubes are so precise and smooth

[u/koolaidismything → u/Bobbers_the_whale]

Can’t those squares have actual gold inside sometimes? I was watching a YouTube video where there was a like.. 2 ounce gold nuggets half hanging out of a grouping of these pyrite formations.

[u/uluvmebby]

poor man's gold

another name for them I believe

[u/Stevemoriarty → u/uluvmebby]

Or a fool’s

[u/Lostinaredzone → u/Stevemoriarty]

Speaking of fools, I was about nine and we had gone to Georgia for vacation. We stopped at this mineral deposit with a water sluice for screening the dirt for gems. I found a chunk of pyrite, went to bite it like they do in movies and cracked a tooth. r/kidsarefuckingstupid

[u/PeterNippelstein → u/uluvmebby]

Close enough

[u/adamhanson]

But nature doesn't do checks notes right angles

[u/SimilarTop352 → u/adamhanson]

Biology maybe. "simple" chemistry does every angle achievable with a crystal matrix. There are lots of possibilities tho and 90° is just one

[u/TotallyNotaBotAcount → u/SimilarTop352]

Came hoping to find this reply..

[u/TotallyNotaBotAcount → u/SimilarTop352]

Came hoping to find this reply..

[u/TotallyNotaBotAcount → u/TotallyNotaBotAcount]

I came twice

[u/TotallyNotaBotAcount → u/adamhanson]

Came looking for this comment.

[u/midnightlady_]

what in the minecraft world

[u/keklik58 → u/midnightlady_]

hello me

[u/UserCannotBeVerified → u/[deleted]]

So funnily enough there was a French Explorer back in the 1500s called Jaques Cartier who was abit of a div - he went out in search of precious metals and passage to asia, when he hit canada and thought hed struck lucky. He had men mine the lands there and brought back 2 whole ships to France full of gold, silver, and diamonds... that all turned out to be iron pyrite (fools gold), mica, and quartz. I can't imagine being the one to tell him how much he fucked up 😅

Eta: this wasn't on his first trip to Canada either, he'd been there twice before, returning with his "super valuable loot" on his third voyage...

[u/OldWhiteGuyNotCreepy → u/UserCannotBeVerified]

In the 1500's, I think mica was pretty valuable.

[u/UserCannotBeVerified → u/OldWhiteGuyNotCreepy]

Regardless, it wasn't the gold silver or diamonds that he'd promised the king

[u/BahamutLithp → u/[deleted]]

I mean, yeah, people HAVE thought it was gold, & that's why it was given the nickname "fool's gold," because people have gained some & thought it was gold?

[u/sing2nite]

Tesseract!

[u/CaptainPineapple200]

This reminds me of the fact that I hated my secondary school art teacher for not letting us use rulers because "there's no straight lines in nature" despite the fact there very clearly are several thousand things in existence that are very clearly straight!

Sorry had to get that off my chest.

[u/fatmanstan123 → u/CaptainPineapple200]

I think people who say that are mostly talking about large geographical features.

[u/PlantsVsYokai2]

FLINT AND STEEeeeel

[u/tactlessscruff2]

The old adage "there are no straight lines in nature" seems to be BS...

[u/No_Zucchini_2021]

[u/Saurlifi]

Imagine showing this to somebody hundreds of years ago and trying to convince them you just found it like that

[u/SuperannuatedAuntie]

I find little ones (“devil’s dice”) in my yard all the time.

[u/TheRebelMastermind]

[u/jessieallen]

I would love to see the action adventure twins come across this

[u/Funfetti_The_Rat]

I love pyrite

[u/AcidRefluxRaygun]

Spanish pyrite is my fave!!

[u/zozorama]

[u/_CMDR_]

Pyrite cubes are so metal. But only partially.