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Vesuvianite

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QRI750876

Vesuvianite

Classic Locality

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Bellecombe, Châtillon, Aosta Valley, Italy
Class: 
Crystals on Matrix
Size Range: 
Small miniature (3-4.5 cm)
Size: 
3.6 × 3.5 × 1.6 cm
Largest Crystal: 
1.20cm
Weight: 
14.00gr
Description

Nice, well balanced miniature specimen consisting of a prismatic crystal of lustrous dark brown-olive vesuvianite, with both pinacoid and secondary pyramidal terminations. The crystal is nicely perched on chloritoid-coated rodingite matrix.
Unlike most classic vesuvianite specimens from Bellecombe, this one shows a 'catting' visual effect, where a fibrous mineral apparently is slowing replacing it. My understanding is that fibrous diopside is locally pseudomorphing the vesuvianite crystal.

Unusual and very aesthetic, this is one of the coolest Italian pseudomorphs I have ever come across. It comes from a find dated back to a few decades ago, when the area was still accessible for collectors. Bellecombe is now off-limits.

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Vesuvianite

Formula: 
(Ca,Na,☐)19(Al,Mg,Fe3+)13(☐,B,Al,Fe3+)5(Si2O7)4(SiO4)10(OH,F,O)10
Strunz: 
9.BG.35
Hardness: 
6.5
Streak: 
White
Type Locality: 
Monte Somma, Somma-Vesuvius Complex, Naples Province, Campania, Italy

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