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/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?