Calcite

specimen number:
2063063

location:
Gopher Valley Quarry, Yamhill Co., Oregon, USA

description:

Semi lustrous rhombohedral butterscotch colored crystals of calcite to 3.0 cm in size across the top of matrix with small crystals of analcime. This is in very good condition. Neat locality example for the species, collected in the early to mid 1990s. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The Gopher Valley Quarry in Yamhill County, Oregon, is a commercial basalt and gravel quarry where extractive mining operations occasionally exposed gas cavities and vugs within the volcanic rock formations. During the middle 1990s, local collectors and mineral enthusiasts successfully recovered exceptional specimens of lustrous, translucent, butterscotch and yellow cubo-rhombohedral calcite crystals, frequently accompanied by small analcime crystals, from these pockets. These highly prized mineral specimens became well known among regional collectors for their rich color and sharp crystal forms before access to the quarry eventually became restricted.

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