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Ettringite & Calcite

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KMF543158

Ettringite & Calcite

Classic Locality

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Description
Locality: 
Wessels Mine, Hotazel, Kalahari, Northern Cape Province, South Africa
Class: 
Combination
Size Range: 
Thumbnail (1-3cm)
Size: 
2.5 × 2.5 × 1.3 cm
Description

An unusual thumbnail that features a very rare and unique occurrence that was only seen on very few occasions from the wessels mine. The ettringite formed as casts and not solid crystals, in other words they were all hollowed out crusts with cavities present in the terminations at either end not much larger than pin holes.

I was advised that this rare phenomenon was due to natural dissolution- dissolving away of the inner soft body of the ettringite by natural causes over extended periods of time leaving only the hard lustrous exterior of the crystals behind. This specimen exhibits not only one such double terminated crystal but furthermore many crusts lined with prismatic water clear calcite crystals! The combination is superb for many reasons. 

There is no damage to the specimen- the bright yellow ettringite crusts are lined on either side by radiating super lustrous elongated calcite crystals which is a very rare morphology for the species in its own right.

The largest cast by inference tells us that the ettringite crystals was huge compared to the complete crystal that you see here, what remains from the large crystal is only on corner of its former self having been almost completely etched  away- on the inside you can clearly see multiple layers of cast like structures.

 

 

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Ettringite

Formula: 
Ca6Al2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O
Strunz: 
7.DG.15
Hardness: 
2.0 - 2.5
Type Locality: 
Ettringer Feld, Western lava flow, Bellerberg volcano, Ettringen, Mayen, Eifel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Calcite

Polymorph of: 
Aragonite and Vaterite
Formula: 
CaCO3
Strunz: 
5.AB.05
Crystal System: 
Trigonal
Hardness: 
3.0
Streak: 
White

Seller Information

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