Dolomite

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Dolomite
CaMg(CO₃)₂ trigonal

Dolomite, Azcárate Quarry, Eugui, Esteribar, Navarre, Spain 4.4cm wide	© fabreminerals

Dolomite is a common rock forming mineral in sedimentary and metamorphic (marble) rocks. It is also formed in hydrothermal veins, magnesium rich altered igneous rocks and rarely in pegmatites. Many million tons of fine grained dolomite are quarried each year for use as aggregate.

The mineral forms large rhombohedral crystals, some steep rhombohedrons forming prisms and rarely as tabular crystals. Dolomite is most commonly available as drusy coatings of small crystals forming the matrix for sedimentary specimens of sulfides and fluorite. Good crystals of dolomite are relatively rare. Although they are not as large as other specimens the color of cobaltain dolomite makes specimens from Morocco and Congo very popular with collectors. Dolomite is a relatively common mineral pseudomorphing other carbonates (especially calcite) and forming fine grained coatings on other minerals. Another desirable habit is the saddle shaped crystals (deformed, offset rhombohedrons).


Dolomite
Australia
Tasmania, Queenstown district, Mount Lyell Mines, Prince Lyell Mine




Dolomite
Australia
Tasmania, Zeehan district, North Dundas, Renison Bell Mine




Dolomite
Australia
Western Australia, Comet Vale Township, Lake Goongarrie




Dolomite
Austria
Salzburg, Lungau, Murwinkel, Rotgülden, Lower Rotgülden lake, Water tunnel




Dolomite
Austria
Styria, Bruck an der Mur, Laming valley, Oberdorf an der Laming, Magnesite deposit

Dolomite with Strontianite 12cm	© Josef Huber

Dolomite
Austria
Styria, Niedere Tauern Mts, Hohentauern, Sunk




Dolomite
Austria
Styria, Niedere Tauern Mts, Hohentauern, Sunk, Magnesite deposit




Dolomite
Brazil
Bahia, Brumado

Dolomite & minor Magnesite16cm wide	©

Dolomite & Magnesite 4cm	© Rob Lavinsky

Twinned dolomite 2.9cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Dolomite 7.2cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Dolomite
Canada
British Columbia, Golden Mining Division, Radium Hot Springs, Mount Brussilof mine

Dolomite 6cm	© D.K.Joyce

Dolomite
Czech Republic
Bohemia, Karlovy Vary Region, Horní Slavkov




Dolomite
Democratic Republic of Congo
Katanga

Dolomite var. cobaltan FOV2cm	© Tony Peterson

Dolomite
Democratic Republic of Congo
Katanga, Katanga Copper Crescent, Western area, Kolwezi, Mashamba West Mine




Dolomite
France
Languedoc-Roussillon, Gard, Anduze, Saint-Félix-de-Pallières, Pallières Mines




Dolomite
Greece
Attikí Prefecture, Lavrion District, Lavrion District Mines, Lavrion, Km-3 Mine




Dolomite
Greece
Macedonia Department, Chalkidiki Prefecture, Cassandra Mines, Stratoni operations, Madem-Lakko Mine

Dolomite 7cm	© Ch. Spirom. & Greekrocks.com

Dolomite
Hungary
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén Co., Rudabányai Mts., Alsótelekes, Gypsum-anhydrite quarry




Dolomite
Iran
Hormozgan Province, Hormuz Island




Dolomite
Ireland
Sligo, Aughamore Quarry




Dolomite
Italy
Piedmont, Torino Province, Canavese District, Chiusella Valley, Traversella, Traversella Mine

4cm Dolomite crystals	© GMV - Traversella

Dolomite
Italy
Sardinia, Carbonia-Iglesias Province, Domusnovas, Oridda Valley, Barrasciutta Mine




Dolomite
Kosovo
Kosovska Mitrovica, Trepča valley, Trepča complex, Stari Trg Mine




Dolomite
Mexico
Chihuahua, Mun. de Aquiles Serdán, Santa Eulalia District, East Camp, San Antonio Mine




Dolomite
Mexico
Chihuahua, Mun. de Saucillo, Naica




Dolomite
Mexico
Guanajuato, Mun. de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, San Juan de Rayas Mine




Dolomite
Morocco
Oriental Region, Oujda-Angad Province, Touissit District, Touissit

Dolomite 12cm wide	© Jorge M. Alves

Dolomite
Morocco
Souss-Massa-Draâ Region, Ouarzazate Province, Tazenakht, Bou Azzer District, Aghbar, Aghbar Mine

Dolomite var. cobaltoan 5cm wide	© Martins da Pedra

Dolomite
Morocco
Souss-Massa-Draâ Region, Ouarzazate Province, Tazenakht, Bou Azzer District, Bou Azzer

Dolomite var cobaltoan 4.2cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Dolomite
Morocco
Souss-Massa-Draâ Region, Ouarzazate Province, Tazenakht, Bou Azzer District, Bou Azzer, Bou Azzer East deposit

Dolomite var cobaltoan FOV 7mm wide	© Gianfranco Soraci

Dolomite
Namibia
Otjikoto Region, Tsumeb, Tsumeb Mine

Dolomite var cobaltoan 5.4cm wide	© Steve Hardinger

Dolomite & Calcite 7cm wide	© 2002 John H. Betts

Dolomite
Portugal
Beja District, Castro Verde, Neves-Corvo Mine

1cm Dolomite xls with Chalcopyrite	©

Dolomite
Portugal
Castelo Branco District, Covilhã, Panasqueira, Panasqueira Mines




Dolomite
Romania
Maramures Co., Baia Mare, Chiuzbaia, Herja Mine

Dolomite on Quartz 6cm wide	© Weinrich Minerals

Dolomite
Romania
Maramures Co., Baiut

Dolomite 6cm wide	© willy

Dolomite
Romania
Romania, Maramures Co., Cavnic




Dolomite
Spain
Aragón, Teruel, Ojos Negros, Ojos Negros iron mines

Dolomite 12cm	© Rafa Muñoz Alvarado

Dolomite
Spain
Aragón, Teruel, Teruel, Salobral ravine

Dolomite xls ~1cm	© Rob Lavinsky

Dolomite
Spain
Castile-La Mancha, Guadalajara, Setiles, Castilla quarry

2cm Dolomite xl	© E-Minerales

Dolomite
Spain
Navarre, Esteribar, Eugui, Azcárate Quarry

Dolomite, main xl 1.7cm wide	© fabreminerals.com

Dolomite ~15cm wide	©

Dolomite 5cm wide	© fabreminerals.com

Dolomite ~10cm wide	©

Dolomite
Spain
Valencian Community, Valencia, Chelva, Domeño, CV-35 Highway cut

1.5cm Dolomite xl	© Martins da Pedra

Dolomite
Switzerland
Grischun, Engadin, Scuol, Tarasp

Banded sinter dolomite.




Dolomite
Switzerland
Wallis, Binn Valley, Freichi area, Wyssi Flue




Dolomite
Switzerland
Wallis, Binn Valley, Im Feld, Lengenbach Quarry




Dolomite
Switzerland
Wallis, Brig, Simplon pass area, Simplon Railway tunnel

Dolomite FOV 5.5cm wide	© Christian Bracke

Dolomite
USA
Arizona, Pinal Co., Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, Vekol Mts, Vekol District, Kohatk, Reward Mine




Dolomite
USA
Arkansas, Lawrence Co., Lawrence County Zinc District, Black Rock




Dolomite
USA
Kansas, Cherokee Co., Tri-State District, Picher Field, Baxter Springs

Back side of left	© Charles Creekmur

Dolomite
USA
Kentucky, Lincoln Co., Halls Gap, US 27 roadcut




Dolomite
USA
North Carolina, Alexander Co., Stony Point
Dolomite to 10cm. Associated with muscovite and rutile from pegmatites. We need a photo of this.


Dolomite
USA
Pennsylvania, Lancaster Co., Manheim Township, East Petersburg, Binkley-Ober Quarry




March 8, 2011.



Edited 19 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2011 12:12PM by Rock Currier.

David,
Nice start. For some reason the BB code using height instead of width does not seem to allow the images to go next to other but insists on putting one above the other, and I have not figured out yet what is going on with that. When I get the time, Ill tweak your images around a little to make them look better.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

David,
Co. Sligo, Ireland has produced abundant and excellent specimens of Dolomite, which are frequently seen at mineral shows in the UK. A few are pictured under that locality, especially from Aughamore Quarry and Abbeytown mine & quarry. Stephen Moreton has collected many excellent specimens (including one large one in my collection), and will be knowlegeable about the locality. I am sorry that I don't have the equipment to photograph my own. Becky

David,
The Rabbit Lake Mine at Wollaston Lake, Saskatchewan produced some nice dolomites that you may want to include. An example follows.
Michael

Michael,
That is indeed a fine dolomite and might be included in the article, however it would first have to be uploaded to the Mindat image bank. Do you know how to do this procedure?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Dave,
I have tweaked the formatting a little to bring it more in line with the rest of the articles.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

[www.mindat.org]

This mine produced outstanding dolomites. Ask Roger Lang for an appropriate photo.
There are two more German localities that merit to be included in a best-of-species list:

(1) Grevenbrück: [www.mindat.org]
(2) Rammelsbach: [www.mindat.org]

Both produced dolomite pseudomorphs after calcite. I'm not familiar with the situation at Grevenbrück, but Rammelsbach produced plates to several tens of centimeters with pseudomorphs to more than 10 cm in size. When they were first discovered, they were abundant, but the productive zone is now quarried away. Large specimens were often rather boring, though, because of the uniform crystallization and lack of associated minerals. I will try to contribute a picture.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2011 01:13PM by Peter Haas.

A few snapshots of dolomites from Trepca, with courtesy of the other collectors who kindly gave me these specimen.

In fact, everybody should be aware that the chemical and mineralogical composition of Trepca carbonates slide within a kind of double pyramid having at its peaks dolomite, ankerite, siderite, kutnahorite, calcite, rhodochrosite...







Warm regards

Jean

Feraud,
Thanks for the pictures. Just to let you know we can not use them unless they are first uploaded to the mindat gallery. Do you know how to do that? If you would like to do that, let me know and I will raise you to a level one and give you a link to the instructions on how to upload images to the mindat gallery. We don't show any images in Best Minerals unless they have first been uploaded to the mindat gallery. When you upload the images you will choose between several different flavors of copyright protection. Also, we rarely show pictures in Best Minerals other than images of the entire specimen, although if there are interesting features on the specimen we will sometimes show the full picture and next to it, a close up of the interesting part. Your pictures are pretty good and I would imagine that at least one or two of them would be included in the article. However, the person who writes the Best Mineral article about a particular country has the authority to choose what ever images they wish to put in the article. Thats about all the reward they get other than their name on the article for doing the large amount of work involved.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Thank you Rock for your efforts

I am 63 and (despite the constant progress of medecine) it takes me long efforts to publish on the web. I'm just pactising Word, Pdf, Ppt, Excel and sometimes Access. Within 2 years I will be retired and (they say) I expect plenty freetime at that time, enough to fully collaborate with the other desperate collectors, scientists and goodwilling people your are.

Therefore I think it is untimely to promote me to the upper level, or at least it would be worth do be done but I do not promise to feed the databank as generously as I imagine I will do within two years.

Anyway, I'm sure Mindat will survive (despite it needs from you to sum up huge work and to face many disappointments)

So, please, wait for me, i'm coming soon !

Cheers

Jean

Azogue is my surname because I am, among other perversions, an expert of mercury mines)

Azogue,

I will look forward to the day when you can more fully participate with is in building this site. You will be welcome.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.