3.3" Intricate, Fluorescent Aragonite Formation - Nevada

Intricate, Fluorescent Aragonite Formation - Nevada #284836

This is an incredible 3.3" cluster of marshmallowy white aragonite crystals from Eureka County, Nevada. The specimen glows a ghostly white under short-wave UV light. They were most likely collected from caves interconnecting the Diamond Mine system.

This and our other Diamond Mine specimens were first collected in the 1950s by the mine's superintendent, Dean Paul Thiriot. The collection was then stored for the next 60 years by a neighbor of Thiriot's family until they recently decided to downsize, revealing this and other spectacular specimens in a metal trunk.

This specimen has been mounted to an acrylic display base.

Aragonite is one of two common calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals: the other is calcite, of which aragonite forms as a pseudomorph. Its crystal lattice differs from calcite, resulting in a different crystal shape. It displays a translucent to white color when pure, and when impure can vary between yellow, green, pink, blue and brown. It typically forms in low-temperature hydrothermal veins, in hot springs, and as precipitates from chemicals in sedimentary rock. It can also form under biological processes: aragonite forms naturally in most mollusk shells, and as the calcareous endoskeleton most corals.

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