Thaumasite

specimen number:
9302352

location:
Paterson, New Jersey, USA

description:

Colorless crystallized and massive thaumasite with little matrix. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video.

The trap rock quarries of Paterson, New Jersey, particularly along the Watchung Mountains, have a rich history of mineral extraction dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries as basalt was quarried extensively for road building and construction. Geologically, these quarries formed within the Mesozoic Newark Supergroup, where volcanic flood basalts cooled and developed secondary vesicles and fractures later filled by low-temperature hydrothermal fluids. Mineralogically, Paterson is world-famous for these secondary assemblages, most notably producing some of the finest, snow-white, silky acicular crystal tufts and prismatic aggregates of thaumasite, a rare calcium silicate sulfate carbonate mineral, alongside a diverse array of zeolites and prehnite.

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