Fluorapophyllite-K with Mordenite

specimen number:
9892128

location:
Pune, Maharashtra, India

description:
Pale green prismatic crystals of fluorapophyllite slightly translucent and measuring to 3.5 cm in length on a small amount of matrix with white crystallized mordenite. This is in good condition.

Located in the Deccan Traps region of Maharashtra, India, Pune is world-famous among mineralogists and collectors for its extraordinary basaltic cavity minerals formed within ancient volcanic lava flows. Millions of years ago, cooling basaltic lavas trapped hydrothermal fluids and gases in expanding gas bubbles and pockets, allowing dissolved minerals to crystallize into exceptionally large, well-formed zeolites and associated species. Quarrying for construction aggregate throughout the Pune region continuously exposes these mineral-lined pockets, leading to decades of specimen recovery and a thriving global mineral collecting trade. Among these occurrences, Pune is particularly renowned for producing magnificent specimens of fluorapophyllite-K, a potassium-dominant fluorine-bearing phyllosilicate mineral. Specimens from Pune's quarries, such as the famous Pashan Quarries, feature lustrous, transparent to pale green blocky crystals of fluorapophyllite-K often perched dramatically on white stilbite or scolecite matrices, making them prized centerpieces in private collections and natural history museums worldwide.

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