Datolite

specimen number:
2062907

location:
New York - West Shore & Buffalo RR tunnel, Weehawken, Bergen Hill, Hudson Co., New Jersey, USA

description:
The top of matrix is covered by glistening pale green lustrous and gemmy crystals of datolite to 1.0 cm in size. Damage is present as seen. Interesting locality example for the species. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The geology of Bergen Hill consists of a massive Mesozoic diabase trap rock sill intruding into older sedimentary strata, forming the prominent ridge known as the Hudson River Palisades. During the construction of the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad tunnel in the early 1880s, extensive blasting through this basaltic rock exposed numerous mineral-rich cavities, veins, and fracture zones. Mineral collectors and industrial workers heavily targeted these excavations, uncovering world-class secondary hydrothermal minerals growing inside the trap rock. Among these, well-formed glassy to porcelain-like datolite crystals—often occurring in pale green, white, or yellowish hues alongside various zeolites—were famously recovered from the pockets opened during the tunneling operations, making Bergen Hill one of the most legendary historic mineral localities in the United States.

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