2014_06_02_CIE_esther-lasheras

Professor Esther Lasheras conducted a guided visit to the exhibition "Los Minerales: año internacional de la Cristalografía", formed by pieces from the Museum of Natural Sciences of the University of Navarra, in a joint experience with all the Science museums of the northern route.

A geologist and expert in mineralogy, Lasheras recently spoke at a series of activities organized on the occasion of the International Year of Crystallography. Lasheras explained some basic aspects of minerals, such as what they are and from what they are formed, and deciphered others that are not so well known, such as the conditions of training and their internal three-dimensional structure.

The specialist pointed out that we always tend to think of large, well-formed crystals, with development of perfect flat faces, but it is normal not to see them so large, "which does not prevent this microscopic internal order from continuing to manifest itself".

He also dedicated part of the talk to analyze how the processes that have taken place over the last 4.5 billion years have made possible the presence of minerals of different compositions and complexities. In this sense, he emphasized that "both those that take place in the interior of the earth (training of igneous rocks) and those that are formed in the outer part of the crust (sedimentary rocks) carry with them a compositional arrangement that is evidenced by the appearance of one or another mineral".