Epidote with Quartz

specimen number:
2292341

location:
Green Monster Mtn., Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, USA

description:

Deep green lustrous crystallized epidote on matrix with crystallized quartz. In good condition.

Green Monster Mountain, located on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska, features a copper-rich skarn deposit that formed where Cretaceous-period granodiorite intruded into the much older marbles of the Wales Group. This geological contact metamorphism subjected the limestone to intense heat and migrating hydrothermal fluids, depositing minerals such as andradite garnet, diopside, and epidote. Historically, the area was first prospected for copper, iron, and precious metals around 1915. However, the site gained significant recognition in the 1930s when mining and scientific expeditions, including one by the Smithsonian Institution, uncovered pockets containing sharp, lustrous, dark-green crystals of epidote. Over subsequent decades, dedicated mineral collectors braved the remote, rugged terrain and wet climate of the island to retrieve these specimens, establishing the mountain as one of the premier North American localities for crystallized epidote.

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