登录
Calcite - Photo Gallery
6AJ-XH8Calcite CaCO3
Dimensions: 11.4 cm x 11.0 cm x 4.5 cm
"The Rudny Star" as I like to call it. Large calcite crystals with a yellowish core growing in all directions with a second generation of paler crystals in the center. At the bottom the sulfide-rich matrix is also visible. This is a great example from the famous Rudny Mine in Kazakhstan. One of my favorite localities.
U1Q-8Y1Calcite CaCO3 , Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2
Largest Crystal Size: 4.5 cm
Single crystal composed by an equant combination of forms: {012} flat rhombohedron (Miller indices in white), {211} scalenohedron (black) and {100} prism (yellow), perched on dolomite
Smaller faces belonging to other polyhedrons were discussed in Complex Calcite
***
9UL-12ECalcite CaCO3 , Native Copper Cu
Dimensions: 4.9 cm x 3.8 cm x 3.5 cm
An exceptional and unusual copper in calcite from the great Onganja Mine. A large sharp transparent calcite 3.8 cm across sits on and is included by copper. The matrix is partly copper, malachite and chalcotrichite. The calcite is unlike most from Onganja in that it is a simple modified rhomb without the complex habits or twinning that is typical from here. This displays well from most any angle, in very good condition with only very minor rub spots.
As a devotee of copper specimens, I've observed (anecdotally) that copper-included calcite most often seems to have scalenohedral forms. This is one of the few pieces in my collection where the calcite is rhombohedral instead. My wife does not consider this observation sufficiently fascinating to justify more mineral purchases, but still humored me with this piece as a gift when I had it on my Christmas list.
Don Windeler collection, acquired 2021 from Well-Arranged Molecules.
NOTE, 8/13/26: This specimen was damaged in 2026 during set-up of a display cabinet and has been repaired. The calcite has been glued back onto the matrix; not apparent from the display face, but should be noted.
XGF-L0WCalcite CaCO3 , Native Sulphur S8
Dimensions: 4 cm x 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm
Fully luminescent scalenohedral calcite and sulphur lying on marlish limestone matrix
Mining activity in La Serrata sulfur deposit began in the mid-nineteenth century and after some ups and downs the extraction ended definitively in 1959
Collected in the sixties
UV source: WTC 9W Hg vapor duolamp 365 & 255 nm, filtered
***
6VM-AMECalcite CaCO3
Dimensions: 3.3 cm x 3.7 cm x 1.2 cm
Golden-yellow calcite crystals sitting on a thin layer of matrix from Elk Creek, South Dakota. What I think makes this one particularly interesting is where I got it from. I acquired this on May 30, 2017 at the Wall Drug Store (Wall, South Dakota). This town has less than 1000 people, but this store, which originally opened up as a small pharmacy in 1931 during the Great Depression, is now a popular tourist stop. I certainly was not expecting to find mineral specimens for sale there.
A2P-X5UCalcite CaCO3 , Quartz SiO2
Dimensions: 11 cm x 11 cm x 6.5 cm
Weight: 194 g
Dolomite is described as commonly forming "saddle-shaped" crystal aggregates, and so when I first photographed this amazing piece in 2020 for the owner, who bought it from a miner in Dalnegorsk in the 1990s, I just assumed this is dolomite. But after some discussion and a 2025 careful look at minor cleavage along the edge reveals it is calcite! The Mohs hardness is 3 and it fluoresces orange-red under SW and MW UV. But most diagnostic is that it instantly fizzes when dilute HCl is applied. The aggregate is basically one crystal-width thick. The cleavages go completely through and show a clear, unzoned interior basically ruling out the possibility of calcite crystallized over dolomite. It is coated by a thin layer of microcrystalline quartz that in a few places becomes coarse grained enough to be called drusy. A second generation of frosty calcite is visible on top of the quartz, which fluoresces the same as the "saddle" aggregate and may have grown from gaps in the quartz crust. Tiny brown spots are residual dried mud that presumably originally encased the whole specimen and probably lent the light brown tint to the quartz crust.
UU1-8VCCalcite CaCO3
Dimensions: 140 mm x 80 mm
Calcite "Amber calcite" found in 2007.
Photo & Collection: Øivind Thoresen
Mindat.org Photo of the Day - 24th Feb 2022
LFC-A47Calcite CaCO3 , Dioptase CuSiO3·H2O
Dimensions: 3.8 cm w
Date: 04-12-09
Notes: S-007
Image Method: digital
Jeff Scovil Photo Reference: 2009-12-0027
Recorded locality: Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Namibia
E23-47VCalcite CaCO3 , Pyrite FeS2 , Sphalerite ZnS
Dimensions: 30 mm x 15 mm x 15 mm
Calcite on Pyrite on Calcite, on a layer of Sphalerite. From the Chipping Sodbury Quarry.
Note the small crystals under the Sphalerite.
Collection and Photo: Louis Verschuren
64N-QV3Calcite CaCO3 , Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2
Dimensions: 80 mm x 40 mm x 30 mm
Largest Crystal Size: 24 mm
Collected on a Walker Mineralogical Club trip. Biggest double terminated crystal is 24mm.