Paul Broyles' Photo Gallery

U56-MFXAlbite Na(AlSi₃O₈)

Harding Mine, Picuris District, Taos County, New Mexico, USA

Dimensions: 4 inches x 3 inches x 2 inches


Albite (after spodumene?)

Nice fluorescence

Not sure if stiations are polysynthetic twining, need to research

ELT-LXVFluorapatite Ca₅(PO₄)₃F , Quartz SiO₂ , Lepidolite

Harding Mine, Picuris District, Taos County, New Mexico, USA

Dimensions: 5 inches x 4 inches x 3 inches


Really nice blue-green apatite crystals in here. Glow super bright yellow under SW UV.

7JX-W7VEucryptite LiAlSiO₄ , Fluorapatite Ca₅(PO₄)₃F

Harding Mine, Picuris District, Taos County, New Mexico, USA

Dimensions: 6 mm x 5 mm x 3 mm
Weight: 169 g


169g of sweet Eucryptite! Verified SW FL, Hardness, and SG.

Contains pink inclusions of Fluorapatite, making a nice red and yellow bright FL.

Most fluorapatite he is blue/green (?)

I picked it up because it looked different from other rocks, more like marble. Should be alteration product of Spodumene.

Crater from west rim (looking a little southwest before dusk from the east rim)

Kilbourne Hole, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, USA


Apollo astronauts trained here, supposedly, in 1969. Due to flooding I hiked several miles to get here. I don't recommend that.

From wiki:

Kilbourne Hole is a maar volcanic crater, located 30 miles (48 km) west of the Franklin Mountains of El Paso, Texas, in the Potrillo volcanic field of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Another maar, Hunt's Hole, lies just two miles south of Kilbourne Hole. These holes are rare examples of volcanic action without a mountainous rim.

The theory of maar formation is that rising magma super-heats water-saturated earth, far enough below the surface that a high pressure can be contained. At some point, the pressure is too much, and a steam explosion occurs, throwing the earth out in a catastrophic event. Country rocks are fragmented and expelled in the atmosphere (together with fragments of the magma), eventually creating a deep crater, the bottom of which sits below the pre-eruptive ground surface. Estimates of the age of the crater vary from about 24,000 to about 80,000 years.

F2N-291Forsterite Mg₂SiO₄ , Basalt

Kilbourne Hole, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, USA

Largest Crystal Size: 100 mm

Cracking open bombs. Quality varies...

LYL-A22Cerussite PbCO₃

Kelly Mine, Magdalena Mining District, Socorro County, New Mexico, USA

Field of View: 50 mm

Nice Cerussite xtls on face of rock. I cannot photograph but xtls are perfect a clear under microscope.

FWF-C5YEnstatite Mg₂Si₂O₆ , Diopside CaMgSi₂O₆ , Forsterite Mg₂SiO₄

Kilbourne Hole, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, USA

Dimensions: 25 mm x 25 mm x 5 mm


Little piece of broken bomb. I am quoting another mindater who identified dark green is diopside, pale olive color as fosterite, and blackish color as enstatite.

Child picture is close-up.

65X-X2JBeryl (Var: Morganite) Be₃Al₂(Si₆O₁₈)

Harding Mine, Picuris District, Taos County, New Mexico, USA

Largest Crystal Size: 150 mm

Nice pink/white beryl from the beryl zone (var. morganite). A little pinker in real life...

From UNM's, "The Harding Pegmatite"

"All the beryl is white to light pink in color and almost always without crystal form. The masses resembled quartz and feldspar. The beryl has a resinous or greasy luster and often basal cleavage..."

FTW-8RAChalcedony (Var: Agate) SiO₂

Balmorhea Lake, Balmorhea, Reeves County, Texas, USA

Largest Crystal Size: 150 mm


Hard to find nice Balmorehea Blue agate. This one is really just a thin seam in basalt, but it shows the color and lights up under UV. See child photo.

QFU-LG3Microcline K(AlSi₃O₈)

Harding Mine, Picuris District, Taos County, New Mexico, USA

Largest Crystal Size: 100 mm


Surprised to see some bits of light-colored Amazonite (green/blue microcline) here. These are sitting on a very nice spodumene xtl (not seen) with some lepidolite.