Scolecite (SIL-0011)

specimen number:
9273179

location:
Junnar, Pune, Maharashtra, India

description:

A beautiful spray of colorless gemmy terminated scolecite crystals. This is in very good condition.

The Junnar area, located in the Pune district of Maharashtra, India, is famous for its historical stone-cut architecture rather than commercial ore mining, though it relies heavily on local basalt quarrying. Geologically, Junnar sits entirely within the massive Cretaceous to Eocene-aged Deccan Traps, a vast large igneous province composed of layered, thick sequences of sub-horizontal tholeiitic basalt flows. These uniform volcanic rock layers are dense and durable yet highly carvable, containing localized amygdaloidal pockets lined with secondary zeolite and quartz crystals. Quarrying and rock-carving at Junnar began on a monumental scale between the first century BCE and the third century CE, when ancient artisans excavated over two hundred Buddhist cave temples across hillsides like Lenyadri and Manmodi. While those ancient excavation dates represent the site's primary historical operational era, the surrounding region continues to host small-scale, modern quarrying operations that extract basalt blocks for local construction, infrastructure, and regional building materials.

Scolecite is a common calcium tectosilicate mineral belonging to the natrolite subgroup of the zeolite group, and it crystallizes in the monoclinic system. Geologically, it forms as a secondary mineral inside the amygdaloidal cavities, fractures, and gas bubbles of weathered basaltic and andesitic volcanic rocks, where low-temperature hydrothermal fluids deposit calcium, aluminum, and silica over long periods. The mineral typically occurs as striking, radiating aggregates of acicular or slender prismatic crystals, though it can also form fibrous masses that exhibit a vitreous to silky luster and range from colorless and white to pale shades of pink or yellow. It is widely recognized for its pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties, and when heated under a blowpipe flame, it exhibits a characteristic curling behavior like a worm, a phenomenon that originally inspired its name in the early nineteenth century.

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