Mineral: Anapaite
Locality: Chernomorsky Mine, Eltigen-Ortel' Trough, Kerchenskoe deposit, Kerch peninsula, Crimea peninsula, Crimea Oblast, Ukraine
Dimensions: 8.5 x 10 x 6 cm

Description: El'tigen - Ortel'skoye mestorozhdeniye, 2 Chernomorskoye, Kerch', Ukraine Mass: 561 g MIM number: 2263 A 3 cm honey-brown barite ball is beautifully placed in a vug resulting from the fossilization of a bivalve (which shape can still be seen) amidst a plethora of translucent, sea-green anapaite tufts. Anapaite is a very rare phosphate: the elements calcium and phosphorus needed to form this species are derived from the fossilized shell material (the initial calcite of the shell still appears in patches outside of the latter), while iron comes from the iron deposit of sedimentary origin in which the bivalve fossilized. Photographer: AINU / Augustin de Valence

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