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Identity HelpAutunite/meta-autunite/autunite group?

22nd May 2012 23:36 UTCMichael Otto

The Autunite is on a large Smoky Quartz crystal collected in Litchfield county,Ct. I have others from the same pocket that fluoresce bright green at the contact points but Autunite cannot be seen without SW. With this particular crystal it is possible to see the Autunite with the naked eye. Should they be labeled the same or one meta and the other Autunite or all just plain Autunite group?

23rd May 2012 01:42 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

May just be uranyl ions in calcite or opal, green fluorescence does not necessarily mean it is autunite.

23rd May 2012 08:03 UTCMichael Otto

Reiner Mielke Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> May just be uranyl ions in calcite or opal, green

> fluorescence does not necessarily mean it is

> autunite.

I should have mentioned Autunite is listed for this locality, Calcite and Opal are not. I should have it's radioactivity checked.

23rd May 2012 19:10 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Michael, you say, " but Autunite cannot be seen without SW." In that case you see Uranyl ions as Reiner says and not necessarily autunite.

23rd May 2012 19:13 UTCDon Saathoff Expert

Also, both calcite & opal, being nearly ubiquitous, are not often mentioned in a species list unless they are significant.

Don

24th May 2012 11:59 UTCFred E. Davis

If you can only see it fluoresce in SW, then it's not autunite. Autunite will fluoresce brightly in LW, and even brighter in SW.

24th May 2012 15:36 UTCRonald John Gyllenhammer Expert

Hi Michael,

This is almost certainly Opal-AN, as Reiner and Don suggested.

Ron

28th May 2012 12:36 UTCMichael Otto

Thanks for the help w/ID. The photo of the same view of the point of the crystal without SW light shows the white material, which fluoresces bright green, and is clearly seen with naked eye. Some of the contact points with other crystals fluoresce brightly, but material cannot be seen without SW.

28th May 2012 15:56 UTCDonald Peck

Hi Michael,

Is your quartz crystal from the East Morris Dam quarry pit? A number of large smokey quartz crystals have come from there and there significant uranium minerals in that area. Most of it is carnotite, but I see no reason that others that fluoresce would not be there also.

12th Jun 2012 13:06 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

Definitely opal-AN, which is basically everywhere in Conn. if you look enough with a UV lamp.

Little or nothing has been written about this quarry other than a few lists in guidebooks or club bulletins without supporting data. Even the bedrock quadrangle map done by Gates in 1951 does not show the Nonewaug (aka Woodbury) Granite extending into the hill where the quarry is (which is shown by the topo lines) even though it clearly does (he shows it nearby though). The accompanying text gives only a general description of the petrology and mineralogy of this formation, with no mention of uranium minerals. As far as I know, carnotite in Connecticut is restricted to the sandstones of the Hartford basin, well documented at the Old Newgate Mine in East Granby.

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