Cavansite with Stilbite
specimen number:
9273012
location:
Wagholi, Maharashtra, India
description: The Wagholi quarry complex, situated just northeast of the city of Pune in the Pune District of Maharashtra, India, was a major cluster of open-pit stone-quarrying operations famous for producing the world's finest specimens of the rare vanadium silicate mineral cavansite, typically found sitting on matrices of white stilbite or heulandite. Geologically, these quarries cut into the massive basaltic lava flows of the Deccan Traps, an immense Cretaceous-age flood basalt province formed around 65 million years ago. During the cooling and subsequent alteration of these volcanic layers, low-temperature hydrothermal fluids containing calcium, vanadium, and silica circulated through vesicles and horizontal structural fractures at estimated temperatures between 120 and 200 degrees Celsius, precipitating vibrant, electric-blue rosettes of cavansite and its rare dimorph, pentagonite. Historically, commercial quarrying for basalt building stone and aggregate began in the area during the 1960s, but the significant horizon of abundant cavansite mineralization was first uncovered by workers in 1988. Over the next three decades, the sprawling complex expanded to include around 40 individual quarries, which provided a steady supply of high-quality mineral specimens to the international market alongside industrial stone production. Extraction activities across the complex steadily declined as urban expansion from nearby Pune encroached on the operations, leading to successive closures of the main specimen-producing pits through 2024.
Attractive cluster of brilliant blue cavansite crystals to .0 cm across set nicely on matrix with stilbite. This is in super condition and is outstanding for the species. The crystals are quite large and bladed.
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