The Earth Story

I bought a 365 nm UV light to unlock forbidden colors in my minerals. Top is my manganoan calcite I got last week at a rock show (most fluorescent specimen I have in my collection, it turns a pink-orange which is pretty cool) and on the bottom is my cassiterite (not fluorescent) but I found that uv light will shine on dust so it was kinda interesting.

The photo I have does not do the fluorescent property ANY justice, it is very bright IRL. Maybe I'll see if I can take a better photo in the future.

Blood Garnet on mixed matrix; Visible light (left) and UV (right).

by meMiner on yt

Recent fossil finds from a couple walks. Still have not ID’d them but I think they are something in the family Turritellidae. Pretty cool that they respond to UV light but my photo is crap. July 4, 2019

“Third Find” Wollastonite (orange) in calcite (red) with minor barite (pale blue) from Franklin, New Jersey.  Shown under short wave ultraviolet and white light.  

Benitoite from the Dallas Gem Mine in San Benito County, California, the type locality.  Pictured under short wave ultraviolet light and white light.  Benitoite was discovered in 1907 and is the State Gemstone of California.  It crystalizes in the rare ditrigonal-dipyramidal crystal structure.  You can see this cool rock at a different angle here:   https://arockmaniac.tumblr.com/post/183595828185/benitoite-crystals-with-a-small-crystal-of-black

A cluster of pale green hexagonal aragonite (CaCO3). The mineral is fluorescent pink under long-wave UV light. From the Giumentaro Mine, Capodarso, Enna, Enna Province, Sicily, Italy. The Giumentaro Mine closed in 1984 and these specimens were collected between 1970 and 1980 at the -430 meter level. 

Mixed fluorescent minerals including afghanite, calcite, albite, scapolite, phlogopite, and others yet to be identified from Badakhshan, Afghanistan.  Pictured under white light, long wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, and short wave ultraviolet.  You can see the other side of this amazingly cool rock here:  https://arockmaniac.tumblr.com/post/183099375015/mixed-fluorescent-minerals-including-afghanite   

Chalcedony from Hidalgo County, New Mexico under short wave ultraviolet and white light.

Svabite & Calcite Langban, Värmland, Sweden

Baratovite from the type locality of the Dara-i-Pioz Glacier (Dara-Pioz), Alai Range (Alayskiy), Tien Shan Mtn, Districts of Republican Subordination, Tajikistan under short wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, and white light.  The baratovite fluoresces bright bluish white under short wave UV.  Also incorportated in the specimen are agrellite (fluorescent pink), albite (fluorescent red), aegirine (black, non-fluorescent), and an unknown fluorescent green mineral.  The likely candidates for the unknown are willemite & thorite as they are known from the location.  The location is in an extremely remote and dangerous area accessible only by helicopter.