Mineral Monday's 44 - Aragonite

Moroccan Aragonite are awesome crystals. They form amazing clusters that are hard to pass up when you see them. Luckily for the collector they are fairly common and inexpensive. I picked up these 3 while out at Quartzite, Az. last month. Since they are a common mineral aesthetics gives them value. These three specimens I bought each have a different characteristic. 

1. Spray - The crystals on this piece emirate from 2 central points and spray outward. This is a very common pattern with aragonite and you will see it often.

2. Random - this piece is interesting because there is no central crystal which the others grow out from. They all just come together randomly.

3. Poles - Another common shape has one large crystal emanating from one point surrounded by many smaller crystals. This piece though had two large crystals, one at each end, that shared the smaller crystals. Towards the center the crystals are neutral and don't point towards one end, but as you move out from the center the crystals gravitate towards their large parent.

Enough about shape, let's talk about composition & locality. I started off by noting these are Moroccan aragonite.  Aragonite is found all over the world and comes in many shapes and colors, but the Moroccan variety is unique. They are hexagonal, red/orange crystal clusters. The color is due to a clay that they grow in. Without the clay inclusions they are clear. The clear crystals are often found attached to the red/orang clusters.

Aragonite is a calcium carbonate mineral. It is the second most common variety of calcium carbonate minerals with the first being calcite. It is found in the shells of mollusks, corals, cave speleothems and many other formations. One of the more famous formations of aragonite are ammolite, the iridescent shells left over from the extinct ammonite. Ammolite are one of the few biological gemstones. Others being pearl and amber.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. See ya next week!

- Sources used: Wikipedia

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