Almandine

specimen number:
2062480

location:
Garnet Hill, White Pine Co., Nevada, USA

description:
A sharp lustrous deep red almost black crystal of almandine 1.5 cm across up on a rhyolite matrix. In excellent condition and quite nice for this famous locality.

Garnet Hill in White Pine County, Nevada, was first noticed by local prospectors during the 1870s while they were searching the area for metallic ore deposits, and it remains open today as a public rockhounding recreation area established on December 22, 1970. Geologically, the hill consists of a volcanic rhyolite dome formed during the late Eocene epoch roughly 32 to 40 million years ago, featuring gas cavities and lithophysae where late-stage vapors crystallized minerals. Within these small vesicles and pockets, deep red to brownish red almandine garnets developed as distinct, lustrous single crystals attached to quartz linings or loose in the weathered surrounding soils.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.