Gypsum

specimen number:
1655518

location:
Arfoud Pachalik, Draa-Tafilalet, Morocco

description:
Attractive stalactitic crystal grouping of gypsum.

The Arfoud Pachalik, centered around the desert town of Erfoud in the Draa-Tafilalet region of southeastern Morocco, is an arid expanse historically tied to nomadic trade routes, local agriculture near the Ziz Valley oasis, and modern fossil and mineral economies. Geologically, the region features extensive sedimentary sequences, ancient evaporite basins, and windblown sand-dune systems of the Sahara Desert that overlie fossil-rich Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata. Mineralogically, the area is famous for producing abundant gypsum, which frequently crystallizes within the saline, sandy sediments to form intricate, petal-like rosette clusters known widely as desert roses. These gypsum formations, along with commercial fossil extraction, have shaped the local artisanal mining culture and international mineral trade for generations.

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