Crabtree conundrum

[scott]

A very strange piece from crabtree. Each of those brown yellow spots are six sided. They are distorted from alteration or remelting. When viewed with a loop many of them have green rinds around them.

[amythestguy]

man that is an odd looking piece...strange

[colorshapetexture]

Garnet would be the first thing to try to rule out. Or Beryl? Neat piece. Not seen anything quite like it from there. Jim

[ira]

Okay...

For the most part I've been very content to merely check out the different materials everyone has been collecting....

Until I saw this posting.

Here in Denver at North Table mountain, I have collected something identical to what I see in the photo above.

So since I know absolutely nothing about Crabtree... my first question is...

Did the host rock happen to be basalt?

Here at North Table there are an abundance of zeolites contained within the basalt cliffs. I would question whether what we are both finding is a form of zeolite... or is it something totally different. Hmmmmm.

IRa

[lauriesrocks]

Scott, is that from the Crabtree Quarry or the Crabtree Emerald Mine?

[Dicky the Rockhunter]

;D Welcome to the forum - the Colorado contingent grows - yea.

I have not been up to table mtn but do hear there are some good things up there. The basalt deposits in Colo to my knowledge are grey and hard-- and vary from smooth interior to very porus ( air pockets ) and does contain lot of things- garnetts, peridot etc. .I refer you to the Colo Rockhounding book and also to colo rockhounding site- www.peaktopeak.com/colorado/index.php3

You now live in the mineral belt with fantastic specimens - many worldclass. Only prob is most are small. Perhaps when I come north in about 3 weeks we can meet. I will be comming to the kimberlite pipes to eval a posible commercial digging operation for the diamonds.

Let me know more about ya!

Dicky

[lauriesrocks]

If it's from the Emerald Mine, my guess would be apatite, which can have that type of color zoning. Check it for fluorescence, as most of the apatite from the Spruce pine District does fluoresce. Of course it could still be apatite and not be fluorescent. Unlikely possibilities include, phlogopite (not known from there), zoisite (color and zoning consistent, but wouldn't be six-sided) monazite (too big, color zoning unlikely) or beryl (doesn't look like any beryl I have ever seen from the district).

[ira]

Dicky....

Thanks for your response... all of you.

The reason for my response was due to the uncanny resemblance of a specimin found at North Table. My question was whether the specimin in the photo was found in basalt or similar igneous rock.

Anyhow I was going to try and figure out what type of mineral I had found but never got around to it... like so many other projects.

Bottom line... I did some research and figured out what it was... I'm 98.5% sure at least. The answer was right in front of my nose...

Dicky you suggested that I check out Peak to Peak... which I'm on all the time... but down at the bottom of all the various zeolites (and other notable minerals) on the North Table page, is an oddball that I've never even heard of... at least until Lauriesrocks mentioned it.

Phlogopite.

Turns out that there are occurances of Phlogopite on North Table.

Sweet!

So thanks to everyone I learned something... and I haven't even been on this forum for 24 hours yet.

When I get home today I'll try and round up the rock in question and photograph it. Like I said... it looks just like the one in the photo above.

Now I'm going to go back to work and use the word Phlogopite in a sentence. ;D

Ira

[lauriesrocks]

Ira, it is definitely not in basalt. i have not heard yet if it is from the Crabtree Quarry or the Emerald Mine, but neither are basalt. The Emerald Mine is in a pegmatite. If it is from the quarry, the matrix would be albite.

[41dave]

Laurie,

the piece is from the Crabtree Emerald Mine in Spruce Pine, and I've seen the piece in person, at first glance i would call it stained quartz. I havn't seen it under a loupe with the green fringe that Scott mentioned.

I'm going with stained quartz that coincidentally looks like a beryl pseudo but really isn't. Of course, could dravite be thrown in the mix?

-Dave

[lauriesrocks]

Sounds like a hardness test is in order. If it is quartz, a hardness test would determine so easily, eliminating the softer alternatives.

[Dicky the Rockhunter]

I agree it does look like quartz. cant say stained as lots out here is that color-- radiation. Hardness test would help.


Speaking of hardness test -- I was breaking the matrix containing ruby-vermiculite- and found some great sapphires and some other I suspect is kyonite but survived the quartz scratch test??
Will picture when I can.

Dicky