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1.3" Vibrant Peach Thomsonite on Sparkling Heulandite - India
This is a 1.3" wide, high quality specimen of the zeolite thomsonite, collected from the Deccan Traps (the world largest basalt flow) in Maharashtra, India. Thomsonite is one of the rarest zeolites found in the volcanic rocks in the area. The fuzzy ball of thomsonite bears a vibrant peach coloration and measures about 1" wide. It has been mounted to an acrylic display base with mineral tack.
Small, gemmy heulandite crystals can be found encrusting the matrix, surrounding the thomsonite "blob" that seemingly oozes across the specimen.
Small, gemmy heulandite crystals can be found encrusting the matrix, surrounding the thomsonite "blob" that seemingly oozes across the specimen.
About The Deccan Traps
The Deccan Traps of western India are one of the largest volcanic features on Earth—an immense series of flood basalts laid down by eruptions around 66 million years ago. These layered lava flows, which stretch across Maharashtra and into Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, cooled and fractured over time, forming countless cavities and vesicles. It’s inside these pockets that mineral-rich groundwater later circulated, depositing a spectacular variety of secondary minerals. Because of this geologic process, the Deccan Traps are world-famous not for dramatic lava formations, but for producing some of the finest mineral specimens ever found.
The most celebrated minerals from the Deccan Traps are the zeolites, a broad group of hydrated aluminosilicates that form in the rock’s open cavities. Notable species include brilliant, transparent apophyllite crystals—often mint green or water-clear—alongside delicate sprays of stilbite, heulandite, clinoptilolite, mesolite, scolecite, and natrolite. These minerals frequently grow together, producing striking aesthetic arrangements: apophyllite perched on peach-colored stilbite “bowties,” needle-like mesolite clusters exploding out of basalt pockets, or shimmering heulandite druses lining geodes. The region is also the world’s premier source for vivid blue cavansite and its rarer green cousin, pentagonite, which form radiant starburst clusters on matrix. While the Deccan Traps are volcanic in origin, they are celebrated globally among collectors for these extraordinary mineral treasures—vibrant, elegant, and unmistakably Indian in character.
The Deccan Traps of western India are one of the largest volcanic features on Earth—an immense series of flood basalts laid down by eruptions around 66 million years ago. These layered lava flows, which stretch across Maharashtra and into Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, cooled and fractured over time, forming countless cavities and vesicles. It’s inside these pockets that mineral-rich groundwater later circulated, depositing a spectacular variety of secondary minerals. Because of this geologic process, the Deccan Traps are world-famous not for dramatic lava formations, but for producing some of the finest mineral specimens ever found.
The most celebrated minerals from the Deccan Traps are the zeolites, a broad group of hydrated aluminosilicates that form in the rock’s open cavities. Notable species include brilliant, transparent apophyllite crystals—often mint green or water-clear—alongside delicate sprays of stilbite, heulandite, clinoptilolite, mesolite, scolecite, and natrolite. These minerals frequently grow together, producing striking aesthetic arrangements: apophyllite perched on peach-colored stilbite “bowties,” needle-like mesolite clusters exploding out of basalt pockets, or shimmering heulandite druses lining geodes. The region is also the world’s premier source for vivid blue cavansite and its rarer green cousin, pentagonite, which form radiant starburst clusters on matrix. While the Deccan Traps are volcanic in origin, they are celebrated globally among collectors for these extraordinary mineral treasures—vibrant, elegant, and unmistakably Indian in character.
$65
SPECIES
Thomsonite & Heulandite
LOCATION
Deccan Traps, Maharashtra, India
SIZE
Entire specimen: 1.3 x 1.3"
CATEGORY
ITEM
#382277
