Bavenite

microcollector · Post by **microcollector** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:29 am

Bavenite from Poudrette quarry (Demix quarry; Uni-Mix quarry; Desourdy quarry; Carrière Mont Saint-Hilaire), Mont Saint-Hilaire, Rouville RCM, Montérégie, Québec, Canada
FOV = .47 mm
Image cropped from full frame. Stackedusing 250 frames of 350 frame set.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:05 pm

Bavenite - Ca4Be2Al2Si9O26(OH)
Ok, if you say so.

If you hadn't known the source, would you ever know, without highly technical analysis ?
Or is there somthing you can see which tells you?

naturephoto1 · Post by **naturephoto1** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:33 pm

ChrisR wrote:Bavenite - Ca4Be2Al2Si9O26(OH)
Ok, if you say so.
If you hadn't known the source, would you ever know, without highly technical analysis ?
Or is there somthing you can see which tells you?

Chris,

With over 3,000 known minerals, it can get tough.

There are a lot of things to look for including the crystal form, associated minerals, hardness, streak, kind of rock that the mineral is in (including just in general kind if it is it an igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rock) ...

Rich

microcollector · Post by **microcollector** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:00 pm

ChrisR

My source for the MSH material has been active in the research on the minerals found there. For the difficult to ID one the provided samples or similar ones were analyzed. In the case of tiny crystals like this, visual ID would be difficult at best. It helps somewhat that MSH has a number of different mineralogical environments. Each has its own suite of minerals although there is some overlap.

Some of the MSH specimens I have are from the type lots used to describe new mineral species.

Doug