Detailed information
Species
Calcite, Dolomite
Dimensions
74 x 124 x 65
mm
Weight
249 g
Locality
Tsumeb Mine Tsumeb, Oshikoto Region Namibia
Condition
No recorded repairs
This fascinating Calcite and Dolomite specimen from Tsumeb mine offers a challenge to work out how many different generations of carbonate mineralization have formed and their order. Forming an elongated, cabinet-sized triangular display plate, it is clear that both sides are encrusted with Calcite crystals, but both with very different habits and appearance: one finely crystallized, colourless and glassy; the other opaque, creamy-white sharp bladed shallow-angled rhombs. Inbetween the two forms of Calcite is a thin layer of crystallized greyish-white Dolomite with a pinkish-brown core, but this is a cast, or epimorphous after earlier still Calcite that has dissolved away. If that is not complex enough, then another generation of Calcite, as glassy, cream-coloured crystals sit upon the opaque bladed Calcite crystals. Ex Weyand Collection.
