Staurolite

specimen number:
2354021

location:
Hongo Canyon, Taos Co., New Mexico, USA

description:
Classic twinned crystal of staurolite. In excellent condition.

Located in the Picuris Mountains south of Taos, Hondo Canyon (sometimes noted locally as Hongo Canyon) features Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, primarily mica schists and quartzites, that formed under high heat and pressure. The site became famous among rockhounds and mineral collectors for producing well-formed staurolite twins, often called fairy crosses, which weather naturally out of the soft schist matrix into dry stream beds and slopes. These dark brown, iron-aluminum silicate crystals frequently form distinctive penetration twins in sixty-degree or ninety-degree cross configurations, often encrusted with tiny red garnet crystals, making Hondo Canyon one of the most accessible and celebrated localities for collecting natural staurolite crosses in the American Southwest.

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