Galena with Marcasite

specimen number:
9892186

location:
Picher Field, Tri-State District, Kansas-Oklahoma, USA

description:
A grouping of lustrous cubic crystals of galena, these with secondary crystals that are cube octahedral attached throughout. Several of the crystal grouping faces are richly scattered with crystals of golden bladed marcasite. This is in good condition. Naturally crystallized all around with no points of attachment. Minor sphalerite is present on the bottom side of the crystal grouping as honey colored translucent small crystals.

The Picher Field, spanning northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas as part of the broader Tri-State lead and zinc mining district, experienced a rich history of extraction that began with major commercial mining around 1914 and peaked during World Wars I and II before operations declined and eventually ceased in the late 20th century. Geologically, the ore deposits are hosted within Mississippi-aged, chert-bearing carbonate rocks of the Boone Formation, where regional hydrothermal fluids deposited Mississippi Valley-type sulfide mineralizations, primarily sphalerite and galena, along fractured strata, collapse breccias, and karst solution cavities.

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