Minerals: Treasures of the Earth

December 10, 2025 – April 2026

Minerals are the major components of the rocks we encounter every day, yet their striking crystalline structures often capture our attention with their beauty, color, texture, and form. You see them all the time, including quartz, the pink potassium feldspar found in your granite kitchen countertops, or the red colored corundum found in a ring, you know it well as ruby. However, minerals are far more than the building blocks of our planet's rocky structure—they are records of the geologic and hydrologic processes that continue to shape Earth today. Each mineral carries a story, whether it formed a billion years ago or in the last 25, written in its structure, composition, and origin. We invite you to explore Minerals: Treasures of the Earth, an exhibit from our Paleontology and Geology division highlighting some of the Museum at Texas Tech’s most beautiful and scientifically significant mineral specimens and the remarkable stories they tell of the earth we inhabit.