Cavansite with Stilbite

specimen number:
2292312

location:
Wagholi, Maharashtra, India

description:
A brilliant sparkling blue ball of crystallized cavansite 1.5 cm in diameter on a matrix of crystallized stilbite. In very good condition all around. Choice miniature for the species.

The Wagholi quarries, located near Pune in Maharashtra, India, are situated within the basalt lava flows of the Deccan Volcanic Province, which extruded approximately 65 million years ago. During the cooling of these thick basalt flows, escaping gases left cavities and fissures where low-temperature hydrothermal fluids circulated. Within these spaces, at temperatures between 120 and 200 degrees Celsius, secondary minerals crystallized, including zeolites like stilbite and the hydrous calcium vanadium silicate mineral cavansite. While cavansite was originally discovered in Oregon in 1967, its most abundant occurrence was found at Wagholi in 1974. Commercial quarrying of the basalt for construction aggregate throughout the late twentieth century opened up these mineral-bearing pockets, revealing the distinct spherulitic rosettes of deep blue cavansite sitting on white stilbite matrices.

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