Celestine

specimen number:
2102449

location:
Hoosier Stone Quarry, Salem, Indiana, USA

description:
Very choice gemmy blue glassy crystal of Celestine with minor quartz. In good condition, very fine for the locality.

The Hoosier Stone Company quarry, later operated by the Hoosier Stone and Concrete Corporation and Hanson Aggregates, is a limestone operation located near Salem in Washington County, Indiana. Geologically, the quarry exposes a thick stratigraphic section of Mississippian-aged sedimentary rocks, primarily targeting the Salem Limestone Formation, which is capped by layers of the St. Louis Limestone. Hydrothermal fluids migrating through the limestone strata produced mineralized pockets and vugs containing well-crystallized specimens of celestite, calcite, quartz, marcasite, and sphalerite. Industrial extraction at the site began in the late nineteenth century to produce crushed stone aggregate, agricultural lime, and building materials. The quarry remained active as a large-scale commercial aggregate operation throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.

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