Calcite

specimen number:
2102361

location:
Berry Materials Quarry, North Vernon, Indiana, USA

description:
Attractive amber colored mostly gemmy crystals of calcite measuring to 3.2 cm in size on matrix. This is in good condition.

The Berry Materials Corporation Quarry, located just outside North Vernon in Jennings County, Indiana, is a prominent open-pit aggregate operation famous among mineralogists for its exceptional golden-honey calcite crystals and silicified Devonian corals. Geologically, the quarry exposes an important sedimentary stratigraphic section consisting of Upper Devonian New Albany Shale overlying Middle Devonian carbonate units, specifically the highly fossiliferous Beechwood and Jeffersonville Limestones, and the underlying, massive Geneva Dolomite. Hydrothermal fluids migrating through these marine strata formed localized vugs and fracture fillings where complex, highly lustrous calcite crystals precipitated alongside associated sulfide minerals like marcasite, pyrite, and sphalerite. Organized quarrying at the site began as a localized stone-crushing enterprise in the early 1900s to supply aggregate for regional railroad and highway construction. Developed heavily mid-century under the Berry Materials banner, the pit served as the principal regional reference section for the Vernon Fork Member of the Jeffersonville Limestone, sustaining high-volume open-pit extraction of industrial limestone and commercial gravel for decades before active operations eventually slowed and transitioned late in the twentieth century.

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