massive crystals found in warwick new york

The crystal in the second picture was found loose in the sand its almost seven inches.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 02:00AM by Glenn Rhein.

First two of the above pictures are almost certainly Diopside. Never seen such a large single Diopside crystal as big as the 2nd one!

My yard will never be the same, I turn over every stone and have pieces everwhere.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 02:01AM by Glenn Rhein.

ok ive been watching this thread and its is very cool to see this stuff makes me want to go there and see it myself. But a question has come to my mind, could this all be from an old mine that is on his property or could his property be on and old mine dump site?


Byron

Bryon,

Have you read all of Mr. Rhein's posts, he fully describes how he found the specimens. This is an old Dana location which was heavily studied in the late 1890s and early 1900s. I hope you realize Mr. Rhein lives on the site. I contacted the New York State Museum several weeks ago and they are going to visit him soon to evaluate the significance of the find, which is substantial. Any permission to visit would have to be given by Mr. Rhein, the property owner, who is nice man and who wants to do the right thing with museums, etc. The location is a low hill which contains a contact zone between granite and/or gneiss and marble.

Best,

Joe

Wednesday four people from the NYS Museum came down and viewed all the minerals and site. It went very well and I think they were impressed.
They would like many of the pieces for the museum and are going to do some testing on some unknowns.
We know Diopside, Scapolite, Fluorapatite, Phlogopite, Clintonite,Tremolite, Chrondrodite,Hastingsite, Hematite, K Feldspar and possibly Fluoredenite

Glenn,

Congratulations! I'm happy the museum is involved and I look forward to seeing some of them on display at the New York State Museum with your family's name on the labels.

Best,

Joe

Excellent news, Glenn. Thanks for posting.

Wow!! sounds awesome glenn!!!!!! thanks for keeping us informed on your finds!!!!Sounds like you are having a lot of fun! keep it up!!!!! Andy

Wow!! sounds awesome glenn!!!!!! thanks for keeping us informed on your finds!!!!Sounds like you are having a lot of fun! keep it up!!!!! Andy

Glenn, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. The specimens you are finding are reminiscent of the ones that put the Franklin Marble region "on the map" among mineralogists in the early 1800s. As more land was cleared and plowed and dug into, such crystal pockets were found here and there over the entire length of the Franklin Marble belt. We've found them here too, at Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg, NJ, just beneath the glacial sands when these were removed. Collectors of the local minerals will recall the large groups of "jeffersonite" (augite) crystals that came from here, with the largest crystal (now on display in the Franklin Mineral Museum) being about 16" long (visual estimate from hazy memory -- but it's BIG). Other minerals found in crystals more than 4" across include garnet, franklinite, scapolite, and gahnite, plus a biotite crystal (still in place) more than 12" in diameter and perhaps 18" long (hazy memory again). Spectacular stuff -- with nature having already dissolved the calcite matrix for us, leaving the crystals, somewhat altered by still perfectly formed, standing in bold relief. These are the specimens that got mineralogists of bygone days so excited. Visiting this locality will be like a step back in time.

In reference to your green-fluorescent mineral, if it's a coating I'd suspect opal (with uranyl ion activator). We have it down here, too, though it's rare. I'll look at the specimen tomorrow if it's handy....

Cheers- Earl

Chondrodite or Uvite ? I think Chondrodite but what do I know. The crystal is about 1 and 1/2 inches wide. Yellow fluoresent



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 02:02AM by Glenn Rhein.

found this today it is mica on marble but has four transluesent Greenish crystals on right side. anyone have any idea what they could be ?
I need a better camera for the close ups.

Glenn Rhein Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chondrodite or Uvite ? I think Chondrodite but
> what do I know. The crystal is about 1 and 1/2
> inches wide. Yellow fluoresent


likely chondrodite with the graphite association. i could be wrong though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A buena hambre no hay pan duro

see if your camera has a setting looks like aflower. macro/super macro or something like that it will allow for more close up fotos

Glenn Rhein Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> found this today it is mica on marble but has four
> transluesent Greenish crystals on right side.
> anyone have any idea what they could be ?
> I need a better camera for the close ups.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A buena hambre no hay pan duro

Apatite?

The marble has this really nice fluorescent light blue and yellow color.

Does anyone know of a site where I can view pictures of millerite ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 02:03AM by Glenn Rhein.

At the bottom of the message board page, just above "search google" is the word " mineral" with an empty box beside it. Write "Millerite" and click the upper search button. Follow the screens by clicking on your highlighted desires.

Hi Glenn,
Nice photos of the fluorescent minerals. Blue is diopside, and yellow is norbergite (or chondrodite). Hard to tell those latter two apart, but down here in Franklin the general guideline (based on analyses by Pete Dunn in his 1995 treatise on Franklin and Sterling Hill) is to call it norbergite if the mineral is of pale yellow color in daylight and shows good fluorescence, but chondrodite if it's brown to dark brown and fluoresces poorly. However, that's only a guideline and should be treated as such. I've seen some medium-brown chondrodite(?) that fluoresces quite nicely, and conversely I've seen some very pale yellow norbergite(?) that fluoresces hardly at all. Identifying minerals down to the species level can be really difficult around here.

Could this be Actinolite ? White fluorescent color



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 02:03AM by Glenn Rhein.