Gmelinite with Chabazite

specimen number:
2282056

location:
Springfield Butte, Lane Co., Oregon, USA

description:
Colorless crystals of gmelinite on matrix with chabazite. Collected by Chuck Trantham in 1960. In good condition.

The Springfield Butte locality, situated in Lane County, Oregon, is a notable basalt quarry widely recognized for its diverse assemblage of secondary zeolite minerals. Geologically, the site consists of a fine-grained Tertiary basalt pluton that intruded older, gently dipping volcanic lava flows. Tectonic activity created a distinct U-shaped zone of brecciated and fractured rock within the basalt, allowing low-temperature hydrothermal fluids to circulate and deposit well-crystallized zeolites including analcime, chabazite, thomsonite, and mesolite within the open cavities and fractures. Industrial quarrying operations at the site began in the mid-twentieth century, primarily to extract crushed basalt for regional road construction and aggregate material, with active rock-crushing and mining documented heavily during the 1950s through the 1970s before operations eventually subsided.

Charles "Chuck" Trantham was a prominent American geologist, field collector, and mineral dealer based in California who left a lasting impact on twentieth-century mineralogy. Operating under the trade name CT Minerals, Trantham combined his professional geological expertise with a deep passion for field collecting, embarking on numerous expeditions throughout California and the western United States from the 1960s through the late twentieth century.

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