Datolite

specimen number:
2102391

location:
Millington Quarry, Somerset Co., New Jersey, USA

description:
Glassy yellow green gemmy crystals of dolomite across the front of matrix. In good condition.

The Millington quarry, situated in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, New Jersey, is a historic open-pit stone quarry renowned among collectors for producing exceptional zeolite and prehnite specimens. Geologically, the quarry is carved into the Hook Mountain Basalt, a thick sequence of Early Jurassic volcanic lava flows that forms part of the Watchung Mountains within the Newark Basin. As the basalt cooled, trapped gas bubbles created large vesicular cavities that were later filled by low-temperature hydrothermal fluids, precipitating an exceptional suite of well-crystallized minerals including prehnite, apophyllite, stilbite, heulandite, and native copper. Commercial operations at the site began in 1895 under the Morris County Crushed Stone Company, focusing entirely on the heavy extraction and processing of crushed basalt for railway ballast, road construction aggregate, and asphalt paving. For over a century, the quarry operators maintained a friendly relationship with the mineralogical community, allowing organized groups to collect world-class mineral specimens from the freshly blasted rock faces. Due to shifting local zoning laws, encroaching residential developments, and reaching the physical limits of the property, all active stone quarrying operations permanently ceased at Millington in November 1999, after which the deep pit was systematically reclaimed and stabilized.

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