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Hematite and Quartz after Ilvaite (?) - Sold


Quartz and hematite are two well known minerals of rather simple chemistry. Hematite is a binary compound of iron and oxygen while quartz is a binary compound of silicon and oxygen.

This material consists of prismatic crystals changed to a mixture of hematite and quartz, brick-red and dull, and also coated in minute quartz crystals. While the prismatic form of the precursor mineral is evident, its crude form does not permit the distinction between orthorhombic and monoclinic angles. Many believe these pseudomorphs were originally epidote, a calcium iron aluminum silicate. But samples from this locality do not contain much aluminum, even as associated mica or clay. Instead this material is rather aluminum poor, suggesting an iron silicate precursor without aluminum, such as ilvaite. This specimen is a single crystal, broken at one end and covered in minute quartz crystals. Two sides of the prism are completely covered in secondary quartz, while breaks in the coverage on the other two sides allows view of the interior brick red mixture.