Albite

specimen number:
2062926

location:
north of Aquirre Springs, Organ Mts., Dona Ana Co., New Mexico, USA

description:
A loose floater cluster of white blocky albite crystals, the largest measuring to 2.5 cm in size. There are no points of attachment, this is crystallized completely all around. In good condition. The specimen comes with two previous labels, one from the collection of John Owen with a note that this was collected in the 1960s. A second label comes from the collection of Ray DeMark. Interestingly the DeMark label says that this was collected in 2017. I think this latter a mistake in the 1960s is more correct.

The region north of Aguirre Springs in the Organ Mountains of Dona Ana County, New Mexico, features rugged terrain dominated by mid-Tertiary intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, including quartz monzonite batholiths and rhyolitic tuffs formed from collapsed caldera structures. Mining and prospecting history in this mountainous district dates back to the late 19th century, focusing primarily on small-scale extractions of lead, copper, silver, and fluorspar associated with hydrothermal veins and contact zones. Albite occurs widely throughout the range as an essential primary plagioclase feldspar component within the intrusive granitic and monzonitic plutons, frequently displaying well-developed crystal zoning and characteristic twin laws in thin sections and microscopic analyses.

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