Axinite-Fe

specimen number:
2063586

location:
New Melones Dam, Calaveras Co., California, USA

description:
Sharp lustrous partly gemmy crystals of axinite measuring to 1.5 cm in size standing up across the top of matrix. The height of the crystals reach approximately 0.5 cm. In good condition. Nice for this species in California locality. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark. In addition to that label, a second label from the collection of Nicholas Theis comes with the specimen dating it to the early to mid 1980s.

Located near Jamestown along the Stanislaus River in Calaveras County, California, the New Melones Dam construction site exposed contact metamorphic rocks within the famous Mother Lode gold belt where Mesozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks were intruded and altered by granitic batholiths. During the dam construction projects in the mid-twentieth century, heavy engineering excavations cut through calc-silicate hornfels and vein networks, unearthing localized pockets rich in axinite-Fe (ferroaxinite). Mineral collectors briefly flocked to these massive earth-moving operations to retrieve sharp, clove-brown, wedge-shaped glassy crystals embedded in quartz matrix before flooding from the reservoir permanently submerged many prime collecting localities.

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