Natrolite

specimen number:
2063505

location:
Cape d'Or, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, Canada

description:
Good locality example for the species, a tight compact spray of lustrous white needlelike natrolite crystals with some matrix attached along the side in the upper back portion. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Located along the Bay of Fundy in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Cape d'Or features extensive exposed cliffs of North Mountain Basalt formed by Triassic-Jurassic volcanic activity. Early European explorers named the cape after mistaking native copper deposits for gold, leading to intermittent, small-scale copper mining throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hydrothermal activity within vesicular basalt flows created rich zeolitic cavities, making the cliffs and tidal beach beaches world-famous among mineral collectors. A prominent species found here is natrolite, a hydrated sodium aluminum silicate tectosilicate that forms striking radiating sprays, slender prismatic needles, and glassy clear to white crystalline clusters within gas vesicles and fractures along the weathered coastal outcrops.

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