P. Michael Hutchins' Photo Gallery

L7G-W0TWeloganite Na₂Sr₃Zr(CO₃)₆·3H₂O

Francon quarry, Montréal, Québec, Canada

basal-cleavage fragment of 1 cm. x-sect xl showing distinct, more-triangular core with margins

taken with flatbed desktop scanner

color of core is too red

cf.: "One thin section of a large crystal cut parallel
to tle basal cleavage showed a dbtinct core in
the form of a nearly perfect equilateral triangle
surrgunded by material showing relatively coarse
twin lamellae and patchy extinctions. Along the
welldefined boundaries there was, at places, a
thin yensel of very fine-grained pyrite."

-- Chen & Chao "X.RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF WELOGANITE"
Canadian Mineralogist
Vol. 13, pp. 22-26 (1975)
http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/cm/vol13/CM13_22.pdf

3NT-NQXApatite Ca₅(PO₄)₃(Cl/F/OH) , Garnet Group X₃Z₂(SiO₄)₃ , Feldspar Group

Spruce Pine Mining District, North Carolina, USA

"My First Rock!" self-collected around 1958, at the age of about 10 - and self trimmed

7-diopter extension lenses

xls a little under an inch long

We always called this mineral aquamarine; one learns.

This assemblage is quite common in the Spruce Pine Pegmatites - eg: Sink Hole, but I don't know which mine('s tailings pile) this came from.