Aragonite

specimen number:
2063660

location:
Molina de Aragon, Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain

description:
Fine loose floater grouping of brownish to purple double terminated pseudo-hexagonal twinned aragonite crystals. Complete all around and in good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The historic town of Molina de Aragon, situated in the Guadalajara province of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is world-famous among mineral collectors as the classic type locality for aragonite, the mineral that actually derives its name from this region. Geologically, the surrounding Iberian Range features extensive Upper Triassic sedimentary rock strata, specifically clay and gypsum beds from the Keuper facies where these calcium carbonate minerals originally crystallized millions of years ago. Local inhabitants and miners have collected these distinct specimens for centuries, finding them exposed in weathered reddish clay soils along river valleys and hillsides near the ancient castle. The famous twinned aragonite specimens from Molina de Aragon typically occur as cyclic pseudo-hexagonal prismatic clusters, where multiple individual crystals intergrow at fixed angles around a central axis to form what appear to be six-sided prisms or star-shaped aggregates. These historic cyclic twins, often displaying attractive reddish-brown, violet, or amber coloration, remain essential classic standards in mineralogical collections worldwide.

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