3.7" Yellow Cubic Fluorite, Calcite & Dolomite Association - Spain

This is an alluring, 3.7" wide yellow fluorite crystal cluster that's associated with dolomite and calcite crystals, collected from the Villabona Mines in Asturias, Spain. The fluorite crystals are translucent, fluorescent and display a beautiful deep yellow color. Under both long wave and short wave UV, these fluorite crystals fluoresce a beautiful deep yellow color, while the calcite fluoresces orange-pink. Some fluorite crystals from this locality will display gorgeous fluorescent phantoms within the cubic crystal, dependent on impurities present during formation.

This fluorite cluster comes with an acrylic display stand.

Fluorite is a halide mineral comprised of calcium and fluorine, CaF2. The word fluorite is from the Latin fluo-, which means "to flow". In 1852 fluorite gave its name to the phenomenon known as fluorescence, or the property of fluorite to glow a different color depending upon the bandwidth of the ultraviolet light it is exposed to. Fluorite occurs commonly in cubic, octahedral, and dodecahedral crystals in many different colors. These colors range from colorless and completely transparent to yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, or black. Purples and greens tend to be the most common colors seen, and colorless, pink, and black are the rarest.

Calcite, CaCO3, is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Calcite crystals are trigonal-rhombohedral, though actual calcite rhombohedra are rare as natural crystals. However, they show a remarkable variety of habits including acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular forms, and prisms. Calcite exhibits several twinning types adding to the variety of observed forms. It may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form.

Dolomite is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate (CaMg(CO3)2).

The mineral dolomite crystallizes in the trigonal-rhombohedral system. It forms white, tan, gray, or pink crystals. Dolomite is a double carbonate, having an alternating structural arrangement of calcium and magnesium ions. It does not rapidly dissolve in dilute hydrochloric acid as calcite does. Crystal twinning is common.

Dolomite was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1768, and in 1791 it was described as a rock by the French naturalist and geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu. He first recognized the material in buildings of the old city of Rome, and later as samples collected in the mountains known as the Dolomite Alps of northern Italy.

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DETAILS
SPECIES
Fluorite, Dolomite & Calcite
LOCATION
Villabona Mines, Asturias, Spain
SIZE
3.7" wide
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#98710