3.4" Green Augelite Crystals on Quartz (Japan Law Twins) - Peru

This is a beautiful crystal association that came out of the Mundo Nuevo Mine in Peru. It features green augelite crystals that formed from a bed of clear quartz crystals, some of which formed as japan law twins! There is also some hubnerite near one edge of this specimen. Some of the augelite crystals on this specimen exhibit a very faint green fluorescence under short wave UV, an attribute typically only found in specimens from Peru.

It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Augelite (chemical formula Al2PO4(OH)3) is an aluminum phosphate mineral that occurs as a product of metamorphism in phosphate-bearing sedimentary rocks, in granitic pegmatites, and in veins of high-heat hydrothermal ore deposits. Crystals can be colorless or exhibit green, yellow, white, blue, pink and red coloration, depending on impurities present during formation. Due to augelite's relatively low hardness and brittle tenacity, it is seldom used for faceting into a gemstone.

Quartz is the name given to silicon dioxide (SiO2) and is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Quartz crystals generally grow in silica-rich environments--usually igneous rocks or hydrothermal environments like geothermal waters--at temperatures between 100°C and 450°C, and usually under very high pressure. In either case, crystals will precipitate as temperatures cool, just as ice gradually forms when water freezes. Quartz veins are formed when open fissures are filled with hot water during the closing stages of mountain formation: these veins can be hundreds of millions of years old.


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DETAILS
SPECIES
Augelite, Quartz & Hubnerite
LOCATION
Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, La Libertad, Peru
SIZE
3.4 x 2.1"
CATEGORY
ITEM
#173387