3.5" Yellow-Orange, Botryoidal Aragonite Formation - Peru

This is a beautiful formation of red-orange colored aragonite (aka cave calcite), collected from the Pachacayo Mine in Junín, Peru. This aragonite formed as botryoidal masses. When viewing the mineral under UV lighting, this specimen fluoresces a faint, yellow color. Following UV exposure, the aragonite displays phosphorescent properties that remain for only a few seconds.

Aragonite is one of two common calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals: the other is calcite, of which aragonite forms as a pseudomorph. Its crystal lattice differs from calcite, resulting in a different crystal shape. It displays a translucent to white color when pure, and when impure can vary between yellow, green, pink, blue and brown. It typically forms in low-temperature hydrothermal veins, in hot springs, and as precipitates from chemicals in sedimentary rock. It can also form under biological processes: aragonite forms naturally in most mollusk shells, and as the calcareous endoskeleton most corals.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Aragonite
LOCATION
Pachacayo Mine, Huancayo City, Junín, Peru
SIZE
3.5 x 2.8"
CATEGORY
ITEM
#181762