UV Lights and Fluorescent Minerals - a fun side hobby to metal detecting !

[KingTotsalot]

Now to some Arkansas fluorescent specimens.


These two specimens were collected from the lower level of the main pit of the Martin Marietta Quarry during the 5th Annual CUSMS gathering on the Wednesday, October 11, 2023 field trip by His Majesty, thanks to Ed O’Dell bringing it to my Royal attention! The host rock consists of contact metamorphosed shale from the Stanley Formation (Mississippian). The mineralization was first thought to consist of only fluorite in a thin veinlet, less than 2 mm, that had fractured in the plane of the vein during blasting. Further investigations with a LW 365nm lamp proved otherwise for one of the specimens!

The first piece is a small cabinet specimen of a fluorite-calcite veinlet, well exposed on a fracture surface. Pieces of this mineralization were scattered about on the northwest end of the quarry floor. Several examples were collected for UV examination later. This specimen is the only one that had both fluorescent fluorite and calcite in the veinlet. The first picture is in natural light and the second is in LW 365nm, the fluorite displaying its typical blue coloration and the calcite displaying orange.

The second specimen just shows the general appearance of the broken veinlet surface, and looks like perhaps there are other minerals present in the natural light image (Picture 1), but Picture 2 shows a strong fluorite response to LW 365nm and enough coverage to assume that some of the fluorite is colorless, some purple, and some white from the uniform blue coloration.

Enjoy the pictures. Several more to come from these field trips!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Another Arkansas fluorescent specimen!

This specimen was among a number of grab samples KT collected when the 5th Annual CUSMS gathering was at the Diamond Jo Quarry on 10/11/2023. His Majesty had one small hand specimen already with decent fluorescing sodalite from this site that came out of the Henry de Linde collection and it displays trachytic texture via the feldspars. This one is a cabinet specimen!

Anyway, the first picture is in natural light and the second is in LW 365nm, the sodalite showing its typical orange fluorescence and no phosphorescence. In fact, the sodalite is almost unnoticeable without the use of a LW lamp.

Enjoy the photos!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This is one of two specimens KT obtained from Jim Stoops freebie shoe boxes that he brought to the CUSMS gathering a couple of weeks back. Searching the 5 boxes with the Royal LW UV light, His Majesty only recovered 2 specimens with this late infilling of fluorescent amber calcite. They were both in one box.

Picture 1 shows a cleaved mass of amber-colored calcite in natural light at 10X, taken with The Royal Chinese USB led microscope. The second picture shows its pale yellow response to LW 365nm on the cleavage surfaces, also at 10X. KT is uncertain where in the quarry he collected it. But the rock is nicely vuggy with analcime, aegirine and other common cavity minerals present. The rock appears at least coarse grained if not pegmatitic.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Yesterday KT took Earlene Kennedy, a well known Canadian mineral collector, on a morning trip through Magnet Cove. In exchange, he gifted me this specimen of Agrellite, with associated non-fluorescing Eudialyte, Albite, and Miserite, from the Kipawa Complex, Kipawa River, Quebec, Canada. This view only displays the Agrellite. The first picture shows the mineral in natural light, and the second image is in LW 365nm, showing the typical pink fluorescence for LW. The 3rd picture shows the mineral's weak fluorescence in SW 254nm. This is a nice cabinet piece donated to His Majesty's Royal Collection and self collected by Mr. Kennedy while the site was still open. Apparently it has now been essentially closed to collectors, collecting being restricted by the quarry operators to only a few selective spots, whereas years earlier, collectors had the run of the entire quarry site during visits. This piece is from Agrellite's Type Locality, being the site where it was first described by scientists as a new mineral!

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This specimen arrived in the Royal Mailbox this morning!

All the way from Germany and the specimen had no damage. It was for sale for the Joaquinite-(Ce), but His Majesty wanted it for the Benitoite! It is from the California State Gem Mine, San Benito Co., California, and that is the type locality for both these minerals. The Joaquinite-(Ce) is a micro crystal and not fluorescent, but the much more abundant Benitoite is of course fluorescent blue white in SW 254nm. The German label read: Benitoit, Kalifornien, USA! KT remounted it in a Perky 1.25" cube box because the base is black, non-fluorescing plastic, so a better picture.

The first picture is in natural light and the Benitoite is blue and the second in SW 254nm, with the mineral responding as a bright blue white.

Enjoy!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Here we have another specimen from the Girard Chert, near Girard, Burke Co., GA. This was likely collected by John Watley as he had no previous label with the specimen. KT has 3 picture for your viewing pleasure. The first was taken with the Royal Optical Microscope at 24X, and shows a broken banded wavellite sphere on the chert matrix, natural light. The second picture was taken with the Royal Cell Phone camera, and shows the entire cavity in the chert. The third picture was taken like the second but with LW 365nm light for illumination. It is surprising how many wavellite spheres there are and they are all selectively coated with Hyaline (Opal AN), displaying a nice blue reaction to the LW.

Enjoy the pictures! KT keeps busy!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Two specimens arrived today in the Royal Mailbox, one that KT purchased and the second one as a gift from the dealer!

The first specimen, the purchased one, is Phlogopite (a mica) with Diopside, from the Papineau Reg. Co. Municipality, Laurentian Mountains, Quebec, Canada. The first picture is in natural light and the second is in SW 254nm, the Phlogopite responding yellow and the Diopside an strong blue.

The second was an unexpected gift, but His Majesty likes it, of Sodalite syenite from the Poudrette Quarry, Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. The first picture displays the rock in natural light and the second showing the orange response of the sodalite to LW 365nm. KT had another piece or two from this locality in the Royal Fluorescent Minerals Collection, but it is always nice to have a free spare one!

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Recently KT was contacted by Karl Schafer, a long time collector of Mont St. Hilaire minerals, to consider leading a field trip for him and a friend to Magnet Cove. We decided to do that this coming Spring. But in the meantime, he was kind enough to send His Majesty some fluorescent specimens he collected from that locality, so below is the info on these specimens which the Royal Photographer just took this morning.

The first two pictures are of some Sodalite (syenite) from the Poudrette Quarry, Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada, that Karl collected back in 05/1992. They are T/Ns which KT mounted in standard US Perky Boxes. The first picture is in natural light and the second is in LW 365nm.


The second set of photos are of Quartz from the same location that Karl collected in 07/1998. Slightly smoky on the left specimen and darker smoky on the right specimen (also a single crystal). The first photo shows the quartz in natural light, the second photo is in LW 365nm, and the third photo is in SW 254nm. There seems to be some controversy over the cause of the yellow fluorescence of these specimens, perhaps organic traces or some trace element? Smoky quartz from other localities rarely fluoresce, but a couple of specimens I have from the La Sassa carbonatite dike in Italy in also fluoresce yellow and one specimen in the Royal Collection from the Francon Quarry in Quebec also fluoresces yellow. Perhaps something to do with the association of this quartz with alkalic rocks is relevant.

Enjoy the photos!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This specimen is also from Karl Schafer. It took KT a bit of a time of examining this specimen due to not being familiar with it, until KT looked it up in Fluomin.org that the mineral was green in both Long and Short Wave light. Then it was found it pretty quickly! There are 5 crystals of Gaidonnayite on this K-feldspar rich matrix, but they are almost invisible to the naked eye or under microscopic examination, at least until you know exactly where they are! Picture 1. This specimen is also from the Poudrette Quarry, Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada.

Picture 2 was taken in LW 365nm, and one can readily find the 5 crystals glowing a nice rich yellowish green! Picture 3 has its own surprise as the Gaidonnayite is a strong green and the matrix K-feldspar displays a nice pinkish red.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This specimen arrived in the Royal Mailbox today, coming all the way from Afghanistan!

This sphere is ~2.5 “ diameter and was listed as Lapis Lazuli with Scapolite by the seller. The Afghanis cut these spheres out of what KT considers inferior grade Lapiz, not the gem blue with tiny pyrite flakes. But that does not bother His Majesty for Lapiz is not a fluorescent mineral, but the associated Scapolite, var. Marialite, makes it an interesting fluorescent specimen. The first picture shows the mixture of blue lapiz, white minerals, and some opaques in natural light. The second picture is the same view of the sphere bathed in LW 365nm, and the third picture shows the sphere rotated 90 degrees in LW 365nm. The lack of fluorescence on one half the sphere is real, not a shadow, showing the banded nature of the Scapolite layer in the host rock. KT has a couple of these spheres now, and enjoys looking at them in both natural and SW UV light!

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

The first of 4 exciting fluorescent specimens, at least to His Majesty! HA HA This piece arrived in the Royal Mailbox today!

This sample was labeled Bustmanite (pink) with Willemite and minor Calcite from Franklin Mine, Sussex County, New Jersey. A little research revealed that Franklin Mine is the Type locality for Bustmanite. Bustmanite is a member of the Wollastonite Group.

The first image shows an “old gray-white rock” with a scattered bit of pinkish coloration in the fairly uniform appearing matrix (Picture 1). But this rock comes alive with color under SW 254nm (Picture 2), with greenish veinlets of willemite, a red-orange spot or two of calcite, and a background of blue Hardystonite! The seller said he saw little to no blue in his images, but does not tell what wavelength of UV he used to photograph the specimen. And KT loves the texture! The natural light picture gives little clue of this rock’s texture, but it is surprising in SW 254 nm! In this view, some of the green Willemite veinlets follow a joint set, while others are folded back on themselves!

The 3rd picture displays the opposite side of the specimen in natural light, and also gives little impression of the texture. Yet again in the 4th picture the specimen is strongly fluorescent with Willemite parallel veinlets revealing themselves, a few additional scattered red-orange calcite blebs, and the matrix of fine-grained Hardystonite. A very attractive, but slightly less complex texture, all revealed by SW 254nm light!

The specimen is a nice hand specimen and will make a fine addition to the Royal Collection!

Enjoy the photographs!

 

[KingTotsalot]

The 2nd of the 4 specimens that KT is excited about arrived in the Royal Mailbox this morning!

Purchased from a dealer in Sweden, 85 year old Lennart Borg, who deals in some spectacular fluorescent minerals, mostly from Swedish localities, but also from Africa, Germany, and elsewhere!

He described the rock as banded Willemite and Calcite, but it looks to KT like a banded skarn composed of Willemite and Calcite, which I did find was present in the Boliden Garpenberg Zn-Pb-Ag-Cu deposit at Hedemora Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden.

The first picture is the specimen in natural light and it is quite unimpressive! HA HA. But the second picture reveals its hidden beauty in SW 254nm light. It reminds me of some of the banded willemite-calcite ore from the Sterling Mine in New Jersey, but the calcite is a bit redder. I like it cause its a “Merry Christmas” rock to all my friends! I have to say I really like looking at such a “leaverite” and discovering it is NOT! LOL

Yes, the SW picture was taken with 3 SW lamps, the 60+ year old UV Products 2 bulb SW from the bottom, perched on a box that His Majesty painted flat black. The second lamp is on the left of the image and is the 18 Watt tube model, and the third lamp is the Royal hand held tight focus flashlight from a distance of 3 feet and elevated to ~45 degrees on the right of the specimen. Image taken with the Royal Google Pixel 7 cell phone camera. This is pretty much the normal SW 254nm UV set up.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Here is the 3rd specimen which arrived today in the Royal mailbox!

KT had been waiting for its delivery from Pakistan with patience because the tracking on the package indicated it would arrive around Dec. 6th, but it got here more than a week early! His Majesty was both surprised and happy about that!

Anyway, the specimen is a fist-sized piece of Diopside matrix containing both Scapolite, var. Wernerite, and Afghanite from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Unfortunately there seems to be several localities in this region of that country that are yielding these types of specimens, but no one seems to care to give a more specific locality, so it is impossible to get specific location information. Pakistani dealers and Indian dealers are bad about that!

This specimen appears to have been given an acid bath from its surface texture, so KT assumes that part of the matrix was a carbonate, now removed. Anyway, Picture 1 shows the specimen in natural light. The Scapolite (Wernerite) is basically indistinguishable from the Diopside matrix, both minerals being white, and the Afghanite is a nice rich blue. The second picture is in LW 365nm, with the Wernerite displaying a strong yellow color and the Afghanite a dull tannish orange. The Diopside appears to be a distinct blue, however, that might be due to the reflection of the visible blue end of the spectrum from my LW lamps. The third picture is in SW 254nm and the Wernerite is a pastel yellow, the Afghanite non-reactive, and the Diopside a bluish white, definitely fluorescing as the Royal SW lamps emit very little visible light.

KT checked the specimen for phosphorescence with both LW and SW lamps and got absolutely none.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This is the 4th specimen KT has been waiting on and it arrived in today’s Royal Mail, along with our neighbor’s mail! Ha Ha. KT can always tell when the postal sub is working rather than our regular delivery lady! But we texted the neighbor that we were dropping off their mail as we went out to run errands this morning!

Anyway, this dealer always includes a freebie “gift” specimen, and today it was the same thing that was ordered, but from a bit different locality, according to the labels.

The specimens consists of a mix of normal sphalerite that fluoresces orange in SW and Cleiophane, an Fe-free Zn Sulfide, considered a variety of sphalerite. The first 3 pictures are of the specimen from the Sterling Hill Mine, Ogdensberg, Sussex County, NJ. The second 3 pictures are of another specimen, but from the Taylor Road Site, Franklin Mining District, Franklin, Sussex County, NJ.

The first picture is the first specimen in natural light. The second in LW 365nm, pink grains which are brighter in person are mixtures of both Cleiophane and Sphalerite, and bluish white grains are Cleiophane. The third picture is the same specimen in SW 254nm. The sphalerite fluoresces orange with a few small specks of willemite (green).

The 4th picture is the Taylor Road Site specimen in natural light. The 5th picture is it in LW 365, sparse pink grains are again mixtures, and bluish white is pure Cleiophane. The 6th and last picture is in SW 254nm. Again sphalerite fluoresces strong enough orange that it washes out any Cleiophane response.

Cleiophane is defined as colorless to white sphalerite, due to lack of Fe in the structure, unfortunately the grain size is small and well embedded in the matrix so a microscopic examination does not show its color, but due to the lack of Fe in the structure, it fluoresces pink. Not much write up in either fluomin.org or mindat.org on the fluorescence. Fluomin.org shows it is orange in both SW and LW, also the Sterling Hill book states essentially the same, but it helps when one has multiple references to check. Manuel Robbins in his book, Fluorescence….Gems and Minerals Under Ultraviolet Light, has an interesting discussion of sphalerite specimens from the Franklin Mines, noting typical orange, but also pink and blue which he describes as Cleiophane, occurring as small colorless grains in a dark matrix.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Corundum is a mineral of significant interest, simply because it sometimes fluoresces.

So, today some Montana sapphires arrived in the Royal Mailbox. KT spent a bit of time researching Sapphires from Montana, in reference to localities and the colors and mines that have produced them down through the years. The best known gemstone areas are the Yogo Gulch location with many mine names in central Montana, and the various mines and prospects in western Montana. Blue sapphires predominate from the various mines in the classic Yogo Gulch area, whereas the western localities produce more of a variety of colors. The principal mine available at present for tourists to buy concentrates and find them is the Gem Mine on Rock Creek in the Sapphire Mountains of western Montana. His Majesty's best guess for these specimens, due to the variety of colors and the irregular shapes of the grains, is the Gem Mine.

Picture 1 is taken in natural light and the Royal Photographer forgot to include a scale. Note the variety of natural colors, including one blue grain. Picture 2 includes a scale and was taken in LW 365nm, and picture 3 also includes a scale and was taken in SW 254nm. The first picture is on a white background and the other two on a black background….black construction paper was not a good choice as the texture of the paper is too coarse...usually not a problem when taking photos of larger specimens. There is a total of slightly over 20 carats of rough gemstones in each of these photos.

KT had a hard time finding much data on the fluorescence of sapphires...seems everyone knows about rubies, but not as much literature on sapphires, but you will note a decent variety of colors displayed with LW. Literature tells us that Cr+3 is the essential element in rubies, but in sapphires there appears to also be some Cr+3 present, as several of them are pink to reddish. His Majesty found no additional info on other fluorescent colors of sapphire in general, and even less on the sapphires of Montana!

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

This is a hand specimen of Gypsum, var. Selenite, and Calcite from the Gessocungo Mine, Caltanissetta, Caltanissetta Province, Sicily, Italy. This mine was a major sulfur producer and is best known for its specimens of orange to yellow “popcorn” sulfur on calcite or gypsum.

The first picture is the specimen in natural light. One can note the discoidal habit of the Selenite, set on a druse of tiny dog tooth habit calcite crystals. All white to cream color. The specimen is relatively clean. The second picture was taken in LW 365nm from a moderately low angle and the calcite crystals look like they have dirt between them, due to shadowing between the crystals. The shadowing causing a lack of fluorescence, but it does show their texture. The Calcite displays a purplish gray fluorescence. The Selenite is a blue white with minor phosphorescence.

The third picture is in SW 254nm, displaying a uniform blue for both the Calcite and Selenite.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Here are 2 Uranium species.

The first one consists of Autunite crystals on smoky quartz, from the Assuncao Mine, Aldeia Nova, Ferreira De Aves, Satao, Viseu, Portugal. A classic locality for this mineral with many pictures in Mindat.org. Major mineralization at this location is quartz, feldspar and beryl.

The first picture was taken in natural light. The second picture in LW 365nm. And the 3rd in SW 254nm. Classic uranium mineralization fluorescence.


The second specimen is of Parauranophane crystalline aggregates from the Roca Grana Qy., Montoso Quarries, Cuneo Province, Bagnolo, Piedmont, Italy. There are 10 quarries listed in Mindat.org under Motoso Quarries, Italy! But a search turned up only 1 with Parauranophane listed in the quarry mineral listing….Roca Grana Quarry! The original label left that info off! Thanks to Mindat.org His Majesty was able to find it.

The Parauranophane on this specimen are tiny aggregates and the 4th picture shows them in natural light. The 5th picture is in 365nm and the 6th picture is in SW 254nm.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Here is a T/N specimen of Garnet, var. Spessartine and Hyaline (AN-Opal) from the Wushan Spessartine mine, Fujian Province, China. When these specimens first came out a few years back, the micros were inexpensive and KT purchased around 50 specimens to give out at Micro Symposia. Out of all of those, only one had colorless, essentially invisible, Hyaline on it that fluoresced a brilliant green. That specimen still resides in the Royal Fluorescent Mineral Collection!

This piece arrived today from China and it was advertised as having fluorescent green “jade droplets” on it. HA HA. KT just loves how these dealers when they do not know what they have, just make up something off the top of their head! Anyway the specimen on a T/N matrix has nice micro garnet in the first picture. And the second picture shows the response of the Hyaline to SW 254nm. The fluorescence is so intense it wiped out the meter on the Royal cell phone, showing whitish in the center of the fluorescent area.

Enjoy the pics!

 

[KingTotsalot]

An interesting specimen arrived at the Royal Castle's Mailbox today, all the way from Afghanistan via a Pakistani mineral dealer!

It consists of greenish blue sodalite with calcite and scapolite (var. wernerite) from Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
The first picture is in natural light. The second picture is in LW 365nm and the sodalite responds orange with the calcite being a bluish white. A small portion of the specimen in the lower left shows the yellow of the wernerite. The third picture was taken of the same view with both SW 254nm and LW 365nm lamps. Some of the calcite is responding a weak red!
The fourth picture is of the reverse side of the specimen in natural light. Here the sodalite is a thin colored vein crosscutting the specimen and you can notice the lower right of the picture where the wernerite is a different gray color than the whitish cream calcite of the matrix. The 5th and final picture is in LW 365nm and again the sodalite vein displays orange, the calcite bluish white and the wernerite a bright yellow.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Unfortunately, in the above post, the pictures wound up juggled From the manner in which His Majesty posted them. Oh well, viewers are smart enough to figure out from KT’s descriptions which are which!
no. 1 is pic 4; no. 2 is pic 3; No. 3 is pic 2; no. 4 is pic 1; no. 5 is pic 5! (Just in case!).