Cordierite

specimen number:
2062391

location:
State Route 9 Interchange 13 - Beaver Meadow Road, Haddam, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, USA

description:
Glassy blue slightly translucent masses throughout matrix. A very good enrich locality example for the species.

The State Route 9 Interchange 13 at Beaver Meadow Road in Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut, opened to traffic in 1966 as part of the regional expressway construction project and remains active today. Geologically, the extensive road cuts at this location expose high-grade metamorphic formations containing quartz-albite matrices, which are renowned among mineralogists for producing notable specimens of cordierite, specifically its blue-to-violet iolite variety, alongside associated minerals like magnetite and gedrite. Cordierite is a magnesium iron aluminum cyclosilicate mineral that forms primarily in regional or contact metamorphic environments such as gneiss and hornfels, and it is widely recognized for its strong optical pleochroism.

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