• A hexagonal mineral, opaque, textured, and light tan colored. The sides aren't straight across but invert slightly in the middle, with triangular cut-outs down each side. It has some growth lines at the points angled toward the center, creating a pattern like a snowflake. The piece angled into the sun.
  • Front view of the piece in full sun, showing it has a crisp snowflake silhouette. There is a small white line across part of the face as if the piece has been damaged.
  • View of the side of the piece in full sun, showing the depth of the piece and highlighting the surface texture. It is like cauliflower, as if the mineral is composed of small rounded pieces of aggregate.
  • The piece on a shelf, a more distant view of it stood on edge and angled. The texture looks crackled from a distance
  • The piece standing on edge, a close view of the face with the white line. Texture and snowflake symmetry are apparent.
  • The piece on edge, looking at the sides which have irregular inverted patterns down each side
  • The piece on its side, showing the depth of the piece and the inverted crevices down each side
  • The piece on its side, showing a different side and the large grain to the aggregate
  • The piece fluorescing a white base color with orange spots
  • The piece phosphorescing a yellow-green color in the dark
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, about two and a quarter inches across
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Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

Dolomite snowflake (dolomite ps. after aragonite)

$46.00 USD
$46.00 USD
Sale Sold out
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Locale: Roswell, New Mexico

Approx dimensions: 2.25 x 1.5"

Approx weight: 225g

 

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’ meaning the crystals that appear hexagonal are actually formed of multiple intergrown crystals (twinned growth). The pseudo-hexagonal crystals grow similar to the arms of its namesake snowflake, forming six symmetric small pointed pie-wedges (you may be able to tell, the boundary between crystals is about halfway between points). This specimen has especially distinct edges.

This pseudo-hexagonal crystal habit is common in aragonite! 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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