• A hexagonal mineral, 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
  • Front view in full sun, detail highlighting the surface texture like is cauliflower, as if the mineral is composed of small rounded pieces of aggregate.
  • Full view held in fingers for scale, held at an angle to show the depth of the piece and the inverted pattern of the sides.
  • The piece stood on edge, showing one face with good snowflake pattern
  • Closer view of that side of the piece, with snowflake-like lines on some corners, and the upper left corner is a step lower than the rest
  • A more distant view of the piece stood on edge and the other face of the piece showing the texture looks crackled from a distance
  • The piece stood on edge, showing irregular inverted patterns between corners
  • The piece on its side, showing a diagonal inverted crevice on one side, with a split pattern like lightning
  • The piece on its side, showing an inverted crevice on one side, with mineral texture almost like shredded wheat on either side
  • The piece fluorescing, white-orange base color with some orange spots
  • The piece phosphorescing a yellow-green color in the dark
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, a bit under two inches across
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Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

$32.00 USD
$32.00 USD
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Locale: New Mexico

Approx dimensions: 1.75 x 1"

Approx weight: 131g

 

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 white with orange spots under 365nm UV light. It also has moderately strong phosphorescence of a yellowish-green color.

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