ph06kg1 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Hello to all, i would like to share with you my Thomsonite crystal findings from the volanogenic parts of Cyprus island! They belong to zeolite family, and globally they are among the rarest zeolites. Enjoy! Large cluster of Thomsonite balls on volcanic matrix (Basalt) Thomsonite crystals texture hhg Gmelinite (orange) with calcite crystals Analcime crystals on matrix 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Not familiar with zeolites but nice looking specimens. Thanks for posting the photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph06kg1 Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 10 minutes ago, Morlock said: Not familiar with zeolites but nice looking specimens. Thanks for posting the photos. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Welcome to the forum! Thanks you for posting these, very nice specimens! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Nice specimens ! Thanks for sharing. We have a great place in Arizona to collect excellent Natrolite ( Zeolite Group) Specimens. Near Horseshoe Dam If I recall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) I collect zeolites when I can find them. I've found some Thomsonite but nothing as nice or large as your specimens. The ones I found were all small clear single crystals on matrix. Yours appears to be Thomsonite-Sr rather than Thomsonite-Ca? Here are some Mesolite clusters with white Chabazite cubes I collected in New Mexico. Both are zeolites. I know where there are a lot of these quality specimens but they are so delicate they are difficult to recover. The one pictured was destroyed when someone blew on it. Edited January 9, 2019 by clay 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Nice specimens! They have those fragile sea urchins at the St. Cloud kitty litter mine in Chloride, N.M. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) I didn't know St Cloud produced any Mesolite? They mine and sell graded Clinoptilolite-Ca and some Ferrierite-Mg which are also zeolite minerals. The Ferrierite can form delicate balls, sprays and botryodial masses too. I found the Mesolite specimen location a few hundred miles down the road from Winston. Edited January 9, 2019 by clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph06kg1 Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 8 hours ago, Au Seeker said: Welcome to the forum! Thanks you for posting these, very nice specimens! Thank you very much! So happy to be here :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph06kg1 Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 5 hours ago, adam said: Nice specimens ! Thanks for sharing. We have a great place in Arizona to collect excellent Natrolite ( Zeolite Group) Specimens. Near Horseshoe Dam If I recall. Thanks! Yes, we also have lots of natrolite in Cyprus, but never accompanied with Thomsonite, as the two minerals are found in totally different areas of the island! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph06kg1 Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 5 hours ago, clay said: I collect zeolites when I can find them. I've found some Thomsonite but nothing as nice or large as your specimens. The ones I found were all small clear single crystals on matrix. Yours appears to be Thomsonite-Sr rather than Thomsonite-Ca? Here are some Mesolite clusters with white Chabazite cubes I collected in New Mexico. Both are zeolites. I know where there are a lot of these quality specimens but they are so delicate they are difficult to recover. The one pictured was destroyed when someone blew on it. I guess i was veeeery lucky, zeolites in Cyprus are found in small lava hills around the only mountain called Troodos! Especially Thomsonite is very rare, and if we are talking about good crystallization is extremely rare! These ones i found them in a single hill (all the others contain lots of calcite, stilbite, heulandite, gmelinite etc..) that accidentally saw just once! It had big veins of Thomsonite all around it, the whole hill was pink! The only bad thing is that they are veeery sensitive, and break quite easily.. Also, they are difficult to clean them because brushing them results in destruction many times.. I have no idea whether its Thomsonite-Sr or not, because the 2-forms are indistinguishable! Can only guess that its Thomsonite-Ca, cause nothing in the area nearby shows the existence of Sr.. Nice sample! Are you sure though the background is chabazite and not calcite? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 11 hours ago, clay said: I didn't know St Cloud produced any Mesolite? They mine and sell graded Clinoptilolite-Ca and some Ferrierite-Mg which are also zeolite minerals. The Ferrierite can form delicate balls, sprays and botryodial masses too. I found the Mesolite specimen location a few hundred miles down the road from Winston. Good for you Clay! I don't know exactly what mineral the sea urchins are. I know they are a zeolite mineral. Curtis Melton (St. Cloud Mining) used to spend a lot of time at the Schmidt cabin in Chloride and he left one in the "collection". There is one specimen at NMBMMR in Socorro and one at the Branson Library at NMSU from that mine as well. It looks very similar to the specimen in your photo but exactly what mineral it is I have no idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, ph06kg1 said: Nice sample! Are you sure though the background is chabazite and not calcite? I'm confident this is Chabazite. It's quite a bit harder than Calcite (about 5 on the Mohs), doesn't react to acids and comes from a location well known for it's abundance of Chabazite psuedo cubes. Edited January 9, 2019 by clay 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 10 minutes ago, clay said: I'm confident this is Chabazite. It's quite a bit harder than Calcite (about 5 on the Mohs), doesn't react to acids and comes from a location well known for it's abundance of Chabazite psuedo cubes. Alum Mountain. You lived right on top of that zeolite deposit didn't you? Lots of really cool zeolite minerals happening on the Middle Fork. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob(AK) Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 5 hours ago, clay said: I'm confident this is Chabazite. It's quite a bit harder than Calcite (about 5 on the Mohs), doesn't react to acids and comes from a location well known for it's abundance of Chabazite psuedo cubes. I agree with Clay's chabazite, looks right from the photo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 21 hours ago, clay said: I collect zeolites when I can find them. I've found some Thomsonite but nothing as nice or large as your specimens. The ones I found were all small clear single crystals on matrix. Yours appears to be Thomsonite-Sr rather than Thomsonite-Ca? Here are some Mesolite clusters with white Chabazite cubes I collected in New Mexico. Both are zeolites. I know where there are a lot of these quality specimens but they are so delicate they are difficult to recover. The one pictured was destroyed when someone blew on it. How in the world do collectors and dealers get these to mineral shows unscathed? I also wonder about crocoite from New Zealand as well. Most crystals are stubby but I've seen some really fine ones. Supposedly they ship in soap powder but that doesn't mean there's no movement or breakage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 On 1/9/2019 at 4:53 PM, Morlock said: How in the world do collectors and dealers get these to mineral shows unscathed? I also wonder about crocoite from New Zealand as well. Most crystals are stubby but I've seen some really fine ones. Supposedly they ship in soap powder but that doesn't mean there's no movement or breakage. The ones taken from St. Cloud mines were packed in corn starch to support them. Corn starch is used to protect delicate fossils and animal specimens too. I bet something weird and light like fumed silica could be poured over them to fill the voids. Anyhoo, they usually sift in light material they can vacuum out with a little dental suction tool. They use thixotropic liquids to support the latticework of DNA. If they can do that then I bet there is a high tech way to pack and unpack a sea urchin made of alum powder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 On 1/8/2019 at 8:17 PM, clay said: I collect zeolites when I can find them. I've found some Thomsonite but nothing as nice or large as your specimens. The ones I found were all small clear single crystals on matrix. Yours appears to be Thomsonite-Sr rather than Thomsonite-Ca? Here are some Mesolite clusters with white Chabazite cubes I collected in New Mexico. Both are zeolites. I know where there are a lot of these quality specimens but they are so delicate they are difficult to recover. The one pictured was destroyed when someone blew on it. 15 hours ago, Bedrock Bob said: The ones taken from St. Cloud mines were packed in corn starch to support them. Corn starch is used to protect delicate fossils and animal specimens too. I bet something weird and light like fumed silica could be poured over them to fill the voids. Anyhoo, they usually sift in light material they can vacuum out with a little dental suction tool. They use thixotropic liquids to support the latticework of DNA. If they can do that then I bet there is a high tech way to pack and unpack a sea urchin made of alum powder. I know they use some type of powder whether it's corn starch or soap powder to preserve crocoite when shipping. But what about specimens like the one Clay showed where that specimen was destroyed simply by one blowing on it? How do those make it unscathed for the mineral shows? Just don't see anyway to do it unless they prep it somehow to make those "needles" stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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