• A hexagonal mineral that is opaque, textured, and off-white. The sides aren't straight across but invert slightly in the middle, and it has some growth lines at the points angled toward the center, for a shape like a snowflake. It also has an irregular cluster of mineral on it.
  • Closer view of the front of the piece, showing the surface texture. It is like cauliflower, as if the mineral is composed of small rounded pieces of aggregate. The irregular cluster on top is composed of flatter layered material.
  • The piece on edge, closer view showing the side opposite from the mineral cluster. One of the six arms of the snowflake is not fully formed, stepping down a level at that corner. The piece has a brick-red color dusted over the surface.
  • The piece on a shelf, a more distant view of it stood on edge. The texture looks crackled from a distance
  • The piece stood on-edge, showing the face with a cluster of minerals. It doesn't have the the most perfect snowflake silhouette, edges aren't straight and symmetrical.
  • The piece on its side, showing different sides with craggier inverted lines down the sides
  • The piece on its side, showing the full depth of the piece and detail of the inverted line down each side. It looks as though the grain of the mineral separates there.
  • The piece on-edge, looking at the side. The piece has uneven depth due to the uneven corner
  • The piece fluorescing bright orange, with the formation on it an off-white color
  • The piece phosphorescing a yellow-green color in the dark
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, a bit over an inch and a half across
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Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

$32.00 USD
$32.00 USD
Sale Sold out
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Locale: New Mexico

Approx dimensions: 1.5 x 1"

Approx weight: 93g

 

These unusual pseudomorphs of dolomite after aragonite have earned the name “snowflake” because of their hexagonal shape which is often striated to give the mineral an appearance like a chunky snowflake. ‘Pseudomorph’ means the mineral initially grew as aragonite, and then through geological processes the aragonite was replaced with dolomite. The new mineral will retain the shape of the original growth. 

With dolomite snowflakes, the aragonite crystal habit is referred to as ‘pseudo-hexagonal’ because it is the result of cyclic crystal twinning. It is essentially formed of multiple crystals that have grown in rotational symmetry radiating out like the arms of a snowflake (as opposed to the mirrored symmetry of a parallel growth twin). Common purple aragonite and sputnik aragonite also have a pseudo-hexagonal habit and get their hexagonal crystal shape from cyclic twinned growth—studied closely you can see similarities with the crystal growth of dolomite snowflakes.

UV reactivity This material reacts well, fluorescing strong orange  under 365nm UV light. It also has moderately strong phosphorescence of a yellowish-green color. This specimen also has an irregular cluster of attempted-twinned-growth on one side, which fluoresces whitish.

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