Calcite green fluorescence activator
4th Jun 2012 01:44 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager
Last night I discovered that a large calcite aggregate placed in my garden is so fluorescent. All fluo calcites in my collection turns to pink with UV but this one turns to green. Can somebody tell me how rare is this?
I have understood that the activator of pink fluorescence in calcite is manganese. Have you any idea about wich element could be the activator of green fluorescence in calcite?
Very thanks for your comments.
Parallel grow calcite aggregate with karstic origin on Miocene bioclastic conglomerate.
45 x 35 x 30 cm
Same view under LW UV LED.
Side view.
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Even if it were aragonite, green fluorescence would be uncommon. But not, is not aragonite, as the crystals are so large, was easy to check the cleavage as pointed by Henry: always rhombohedrons with 3 cleavage planes.
Perhaps is not rare at all, I found another calcite in my collection with greenish fluorescence. The mystery remains in the activator. I imagine the proportion of activator element is so low that it will not appear in a XRD nor a EDS.
Thanks and greetings.
Calcite
Candesa Quarry, Verdenueva Height, Camargo, Cantabria, Spain.
10 x 7 x 7 cm
With halogen lamp:
With LW UV LED:
Even if it were aragonite, green fluorescence would be uncommon. But not, is not aragonite, as the crystals are so large, was easy to check the cleavage as pointed by Henry: always rhombohedrons with 3 cleavage planes.
Perhaps is not rare at all, I found another calcite in my collection with greenish fluorescence. The mystery remains in the activator. I imagine the proportion of activator element is so low that it will not appear in a XRD nor a EDS.
Thanks and greetings.
Calcite
Candesa Quarry, Verdenueva Height, Camargo, Cantabria, Spain.
10 x 7 x 7 cm
With halogen lamp:
With LW UV LED:
Thanks David, the list seems a good recipe! Thanks Don for the reference.
Below I post another calcite from same Roman quarry, also very fluorescent.
I'm beginning to think that this material could not be rare, the quarry is full! However, I have some other stalactite samples from different places and are not fluorescent.
The quarry is the Gibralter Strait Natural Park, not far from de beach but 200 m.a.s.l. There is no road, is a 30 minutes walk from home. Next new moon I will go to check if the quarry is all fluorescent...
18 x 14 x 14 cm
With halogen lamp:
With LW UV LED:
Below I post another calcite from same Roman quarry, also very fluorescent.
I'm beginning to think that this material could not be rare, the quarry is full! However, I have some other stalactite samples from different places and are not fluorescent.
The quarry is the Gibralter Strait Natural Park, not far from de beach but 200 m.a.s.l. There is no road, is a 30 minutes walk from home. Next new moon I will go to check if the quarry is all fluorescent...
18 x 14 x 14 cm
With halogen lamp:
With LW UV LED:
More surprises with this calcite. Yesterday I walk up to the Roman quarry where this material come from and I picked up another piece of karstic calcite. When, at night, I checked the fluorescence with a UV LED lamp, I can't belive that I see: this piece has a pink fluorescence, not green as the other pieces from same area.
There is many karstic calcite veins in this area, I imagine that different fluorescence colors must be due to different activators. One of these nights I will check the fluorescence "in situ" and I will post the results. Meanwhile, comments will be very welcome.
The quarry was used by Romans to construct Baelo-Claudia, in Tarifa, Cadiz, Spain. They prepare rough column sections at place, then they roll them to the beach (pine forest are new, this slope was a dunes erg), and transport the blocks by sea to Baelo-Claudia, 3 miles away.
The karstic calcite is in some veins as can see in the center of the wall.
Karstic calcite under halogen lamp.
Karstic calcite under UV LED lamp.
There is many karstic calcite veins in this area, I imagine that different fluorescence colors must be due to different activators. One of these nights I will check the fluorescence "in situ" and I will post the results. Meanwhile, comments will be very welcome.
The quarry was used by Romans to construct Baelo-Claudia, in Tarifa, Cadiz, Spain. They prepare rough column sections at place, then they roll them to the beach (pine forest are new, this slope was a dunes erg), and transport the blocks by sea to Baelo-Claudia, 3 miles away.
The karstic calcite is in some veins as can see in the center of the wall.
Karstic calcite under halogen lamp.
Karstic calcite under UV LED lamp.
I hope not to bore you with this topic but I want to show you this. In this layered karstic calcite, some layers are fluorescent and some others are not, as can see in last pictures. Today I discovered a big piece with some layers turning to pink and some others to green under LW UV. Different layers have different activators due to different crystalizing conditions and / or different composition of water salts?
With UV LED 390 nm:
With halogen lamp:
With UV LED 390 nm:
With halogen lamp:
Ron, following your advice, I signed up in FMS. Is a very interesting site and now I need some time to read and digest the large amount of information it contains, these days I'm busy and I still could not do it. Very thanks for your help.
Earl, thanks very much, your explanation is very helpful to understand what my eyes are seeing. I had noticed a slight phosphorescence but I thought it was psychological, from now will observe this phenomenon with more attention.
Regarding the origin of activators, the more I learn, the less I understand. At first I thought maybe you could correlate the fluorescent layer in the different veins of the quarry and see if they are contemporary, as we do in a sedimentary geological formation. But I'm not so sure I see that the cementation of the sandstone limestone containing calcite is also fluorescent at some points and they are scattered without any apparent order.
The geological history of these sandstones is short and quite thrilling. Are very young, dated as Early Pleistocene, deposited in proximal marine environment and are currently about 200 meters above sea level. Tectonic movements in the Strait of Gibraltar led to his fast climb, during which eroded most of the deposit, leaving only isolated outcrops here and there in discordant contact on older materials.
I think I will need a lot of dedication to study the fluorescence of these materials and to draw conclusions useful for the understanding of these sandstones.
I will come back again when the checks and photos of the quarry are done.
Greetings.
Wall cut from the Roman quarry. In the cave lies the fluorescent calcite:
Wall section of fluorescent calcite:
Earl, thanks very much, your explanation is very helpful to understand what my eyes are seeing. I had noticed a slight phosphorescence but I thought it was psychological, from now will observe this phenomenon with more attention.
Regarding the origin of activators, the more I learn, the less I understand. At first I thought maybe you could correlate the fluorescent layer in the different veins of the quarry and see if they are contemporary, as we do in a sedimentary geological formation. But I'm not so sure I see that the cementation of the sandstone limestone containing calcite is also fluorescent at some points and they are scattered without any apparent order.
The geological history of these sandstones is short and quite thrilling. Are very young, dated as Early Pleistocene, deposited in proximal marine environment and are currently about 200 meters above sea level. Tectonic movements in the Strait of Gibraltar led to his fast climb, during which eroded most of the deposit, leaving only isolated outcrops here and there in discordant contact on older materials.
I think I will need a lot of dedication to study the fluorescence of these materials and to draw conclusions useful for the understanding of these sandstones.
I will come back again when the checks and photos of the quarry are done.
Greetings.
Wall cut from the Roman quarry. In the cave lies the fluorescent calcite:
Wall section of fluorescent calcite:
Just to confirm that Mark is right assuming this sandstone has marine fossils:
This is a bioclastic sandstone containing many fossils, specially bivalve molluscs. Is locally conglomeratic (in photo), with some boulders up to 10 cm and fossils up to 5 cm:
Here karstic calcite "in situ" near to a conglomeratic zone:
I hope to post soon some pictures of the quarry by night with UV lighting.
This is a bioclastic sandstone containing many fossils, specially bivalve molluscs. Is locally conglomeratic (in photo), with some boulders up to 10 cm and fossils up to 5 cm:
Here karstic calcite "in situ" near to a conglomeratic zone:
I hope to post soon some pictures of the quarry by night with UV lighting.
From many years I know these sandstones and associated calcite, it is common to find these materials on the beaches of the area. As well many years ago I "discovered" (not been mapped on the geologic map of the area) the outcrop of the Roman quarry, currently without access road and lost in the vegetation. However, just a couple of months I realized that this calcite was fluorescent. It was not until last night I went up to the quarry equipped with camera, tripod and several ultraviolet LED flashlights...
Please, see a complete report here:
http://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=79332#79332
FOV: 2,5 m
FOV: 3 m
FOV 1,5 m
Please, see a complete report here:
http://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=79332#79332
FOV: 2,5 m
FOV: 3 m
FOV 1,5 m
Just to show some of last photos from another outcrop in this Roman quarry. Here can see thick karstic calcite sections and some pockets. Some areas have a very strong fluorescence, with an amazing color combination.
I would appreciate suggestions and comments about these fluorescences. Thanks for your interest.
Can see a complete report of this quarry here:
http://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7867
This wall is a section of a big geode colapsed by karstic calcite. On top can see some smaller pockets with acute rombohedral calcite pyramids almost covered by lichens, one of them pinnace filled:
FOV: 1,2 m
Same wall, here by night with LW UV LEDs. Some crystals fluoresce pink and some others do green:
FOV: 1,5 m
Total fluorescence festival.
FOV: 2 m
Please click on the image to see it in HD:
I would appreciate suggestions and comments about these fluorescences. Thanks for your interest.
Can see a complete report of this quarry here:
http://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7867
This wall is a section of a big geode colapsed by karstic calcite. On top can see some smaller pockets with acute rombohedral calcite pyramids almost covered by lichens, one of them pinnace filled:
FOV: 1,2 m
Same wall, here by night with LW UV LEDs. Some crystals fluoresce pink and some others do green:
FOV: 1,5 m
Total fluorescence festival.
FOV: 2 m
Please click on the image to see it in HD:
Rob, thanks for your comment, I like you enjoy as I do.
Yanick, that's a good idea, you can suggest it in General section of messageboard, probably many more people will support this iniciative.
Karstic calcite "in situ" under LW UV
Baelo Claudia - San Bartolomé Roman quarry, Tarifa, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain
FOV: 2,5 m
FOV: 1 m
Yanick, that's a good idea, you can suggest it in General section of messageboard, probably many more people will support this iniciative.
Karstic calcite "in situ" under LW UV
Baelo Claudia - San Bartolomé Roman quarry, Tarifa, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain
FOV: 2,5 m
FOV: 1 m
After many visits to this amazing quarry http://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7867, I can say there is two different types of fluorescence under LW UV:
1 - A pink (under LW UV LEDs) / orange (under M-LW UV "black light" tube) fluorescence. This occurs always on surface or very close to surface.
2 - A yellow- green fluorescence, wich continues to the interior of the mineral body. This fluorescence changes to first type in surface. In fact, yellow-green flurescence can be observed only in recent fractures. Is not a question of layers, when the exterior surface is perpendicular to growing layers, the pink/orange zone is also perpendicular to growing layers.
A chemist friend who accompanied me the other night to the quarry thinks that could be due to alteration by sunlight of any organic activator.
Information or comments about this possibility will be very welcome. Thanks.
Karstic calcite
Baelo-Claudia San Bartolomé quarry, Tarifa, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain
22 x 20 x 10 cm
Same piece under LW UV LEDs. Right side was in the surface of the outcrop, left side was interior.
Another piece from the same outcrop, under M-LW UV "black light" 20W tube, with less blue visible light than LEDs. That you see pink with LEDs, here under "black light" tube is orange.
There is a exterior orange layer and a yellow-green interior, wich is more orange in the outer zone.
1 - A pink (under LW UV LEDs) / orange (under M-LW UV "black light" tube) fluorescence. This occurs always on surface or very close to surface.
2 - A yellow- green fluorescence, wich continues to the interior of the mineral body. This fluorescence changes to first type in surface. In fact, yellow-green flurescence can be observed only in recent fractures. Is not a question of layers, when the exterior surface is perpendicular to growing layers, the pink/orange zone is also perpendicular to growing layers.
A chemist friend who accompanied me the other night to the quarry thinks that could be due to alteration by sunlight of any organic activator.
Information or comments about this possibility will be very welcome. Thanks.
Karstic calcite
Baelo-Claudia San Bartolomé quarry, Tarifa, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain
22 x 20 x 10 cm
Same piece under LW UV LEDs. Right side was in the surface of the outcrop, left side was interior.
Another piece from the same outcrop, under M-LW UV "black light" 20W tube, with less blue visible light than LEDs. That you see pink with LEDs, here under "black light" tube is orange.
There is a exterior orange layer and a yellow-green interior, wich is more orange in the outer zone.
