Fluorapophyllite-K with Calcite

specimen number:
2062897

location:
Chantilly Quarry, Loudoun Co., Virginia, USA

description:
Lustrous colorless pseudo-cubic crystals of fluorapophyllite to 1.3 cm in size covering the top of matrix. Tiny amber colored crystals of calcite are scattered sparsely throughout. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Reger collection with a date on it of 1975.

The Chantilly Quarry is situated within the Mesozoic Culpeper Basin, a geologic province characterized by sedimentary strata that were intruded by extensive, dark, fine-grained igneous rocks known as diabase. As molten magma forced its way through older sedimentary layers, contact metamorphism created zones of hornfels that hosted various secondary minerals. Economically, the site has long operated as a commercial stone quarry to extract crushed diabase for construction, road building, and aggregate uses. Over the decades, the active industrial excavations and associated contact zones also became exceptionally well-known among mineral collectors and researchers for yielding notable specimens of zeolite group minerals and other hydrothermal crystallization products.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.