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Anhydrite

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QRI750866

Anhydrite

With Antique Label

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Simplon Railway Tunnel, Brig, Valais, Switzerland
Class: 
Massive/Crystalline
Size Range: 
Small cabinet (7-10 cm)
Size: 
7.5 × 3.6 × 2.9 cm
Weight: 
130.00gr
Description

Built during the time span 1898-1921, the Simplon Railway Tunnel was - until recently - the lowest elevation tunnel in the Alps. Besides being a pivotal engineering masterpiece, the tunnel is famous because it did cross some very interesting rock formations. Unquestionably, among the most relevant there is anhydrite.
This specimen consists in fine grained, saccharoid anhydrite. It is very solid, associated to lustrous coarse pyrite chunks with a limited extent oxydation halo (although apparently quite stable). On two sides of the specimen, a few centimetric flakes of apple green talc with good lustre for the specie.
The most impressive feature of the specimen is the pasted label in French, which points to the find of the specimen on the NW end of the gallery (in Swiss territory) and therefore to dating this specimen to at least 100 years ago.
A historical specimen with a great pedigree, very hard to obtain nowadays!

Pasted Label
Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Anhydrite

Formula: 
CaSO4
Strunz: 
7.AD.30
Crystal System: 
Orthorhombic
Hardness: 
3.0 - 3.5
Type Locality: 
Salt mine, Hall valley, Hall, Innsbruck, Inn valley, North Tyrol, Tyrol, Austria

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