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Schedule of Upcoming Featured Minerals
Stilbite-Ca, Jalgaon District, Maharashtra, India. |
JANUARY 2012 STILBITE-CA Our stilbite-Ca specimens were
collected at basalt quarries in the Jalgaon District in the state of
Maharashtra in the Republic of India. Jalgaon is located within the
Deccan Traps, a huge volcanic province that formed some 65 million years
ago and consists of basalt formations as thick as 6,000 feet. Our
specimens were extracted from vesicles that formed from gas bubbles in
the original magma. Later, these cavities filled with mineral-rich
groundwater that precipitated crystals of quartz, calcite, and various
zeolite minerals. Basalt quarrying is an important industry throughout
the Deccan Traps region of India. Crushed basalt is used as ballast and
fill for roads, rail beds, foundations for buildings and dams, and
cement additives. Our stilbite-Ca specimens were recovered by
professional specimen miners who contract with quarry managers for
permission to extract zeolite specimens when they are exposed by
quarrying operations |
Muscovite and Fluorite, White
Mountains, Inyo County, California |
FEBRUARY 2012 MUSCOVITE and FLUORITE A new find! Our composite
muscovite-fluorite specimens were collected in the White Mountains in
Inyo County, California. The White Mountains are a 60-mile-long,
20-mile-wide, north-south-trending, fault-block mountain range with two
peaks above 14,000 feet and six peaks above 13,000 feet. Some 500
million years ago during the Paleozoic Era, the ancient sea that covered
this region deposited thick layers of sediments that later lithified
into sandstone, dolomite, and other sedimentary rocks. Crustal stresses
generated from distant tectonic collisions then slowly, but
dramatically, uplifted sections of the crust to create geologically
complex mountains. Our muscovite specimens formed during the uplift of
the White Mountains when granitic magma intruded country rock. This
magma cooled slowly and solidified into large bodies of granite that
retained a central core of residual magma enriched with such unusual
elements as fluorine. This residual magma forced its way into
surrounding fissures and cracks to form pegmatite veins with muscovite
in an unusual combination with purple fluorite. |
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MARCH 2012 Stalactitic Quartz, Maharashtra, India. March 2012 marks
the sixteenth anniversary of our Club, and we have very special pieces
to send you in celebration! We're still working with the Indian
geologist who supplied us the specimens as to how they formed in this
unusual way. The March write-up should prove to be absolutely
fascinating! |
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