FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

Being a local, I have only a short drive from the capital area of Reykjavik to Hvalfjörður, and although I do look at several locations (just about wherever I see potential and am allowed to) I mainly collect at a site just by Hvaleyri, since the landowner there has given me permission to do so.

A part of me wants to take a drive and look and collect every time the weather is decent, but on the other hand I'm trying not to hoard excessively.... hehe... and of course failing a bit at that :-)

This fall I've been twice, and now it's getting about too cold to collect as the north-facing cliffs are icing up.

In this first post are just some phone-cam shots from the last trip... but shortly I will add images of some of the gathered pieces. (Already took a few pics, but yet to take measurements)

Most of what I find at Hvaleyri are Zeolites... so far I believe I have found Stilbite, Heulandite-Ca, Mesolite, Analcime, Calcite, Natrolite (?) and possibly a couple more.

Many of the vugs/cavities are lined with Celadonite or other coloured "clay"... and though most of the host rock is Basalt, it has been transformed quite a bit by the same low-temp thermal activity that allowed the minerals to crystallize (if I understand the local geology correctly). This same transformation means that the colours of the basalt vary quite a bit from the classic gray-blue, into orange-browns as well as reddish and even almost blue-green (but those are mostly just variations into those from a gray, so still dull). In part the transformation has caused the basalt to decay and fracture... yet it always seems harder than the Zeolites within.

[James Catmur]

We would love to see some specimen photos, so we can see the locality and what it produces.

[Chris Rayburn]

Thank you for sharing these, Bergur. As an avid field collector, I always appreciate seeing photos of collecting sites and in situ material to help bring the collecting experience to life, although I’m not always good about taking such photos myself in the “heat of the moment.”

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

Some specimen photos.

Many of the minerals have questionmarks regarding ID, as I have only visual comparison and known locality info from Mindat, which is limited. The country is known for more than just the locality has verified and at a small scale I'm not expert enough to make sure.

In some of the images blues are a bit more saturated than I'd like, but the crystals aren't of that colour anyway in most cases, but rather reflecting a layer underneath them.

[Tobi]

Thank you so much for the impressions of your field trip - please more!!!
Iceland is such a fascinating country, it's interesting to see how minerals are found in this beautiful landscape ...

[vic rzonca]

Dihydrogen monoxide seems very common in this land. "Iceland is the only place on Earth where the mid-ocean ridge rises above sea level. More eruptions than usual occur on the plate boundary across Iceland because under the ridge is the Iceland mantle plume, which has been active for the last 65 million years. During this period it has brought unusual amounts of magma to the surface forming the North Atlantic Large Igneous Province that now stretch across the Atlantic from Scotland to Greenland. Iceland is the youngest part of the province and the only one that is still active. The province is approximately 2000 km long and represents about 10 million cubic kilometres of magma that has emerged from the Iceland mantle plume through volcanic activity in 65 million years; a figure that is roughly 50 times the volume of Iceland." from the Outline of Geology of Iceland Chapman Conference 2012
by
Thor Thordarson

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

Been collecting more this summer in my spot.
Even more amazing things as I am getting to know the location more and more.
A couple of specimen photos attached...of my recent finds.

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

Just had to share two pictures of the best piece I just found today.

This is bigger and better than pretty much anything I've found there so far.
I couldn't extract most of the vug I found, as it sits 5-6m upp a steep slope/cliff - I wanted to rather leave some for a second attempt than to damage more than I can get out.
It's from a fracture, which in total extends probably about a metre, but the opening is near the middle, 40-50cm and only about 5cm of open space at it's widest. I had to take deep breaths while trying to get this out as the main sphere sticks out quite a bit and only left me with about a cm to the bottom crystals.

On it is a Heulandite druzy, with Stilbite and a possible other mineral and then what I firmly believe to be Natrolite spheres.

Here is also a rather low quality phone-cam-video to hopefully show it a bit more 3D
(excuse the watermarking, used an online editor to cut and crop)



P.S. only visual ID on minerals as usual

[Tobi]

[Tony L. Potucek]

That is a fine personally collected specimen--congratulations! I looked around while hiking there last year and saw potential for specimens, but I did not have the time to attempt any collecting. I envy your find, Bergur! That, and your excellent langostinos!

[Chris Rayburn]

That's a stunning specimen Bergur. Congratulations!

[Philippe Durand]

you should be proud,:a self collected specimen of this quality that rivals Indian zeolites

I love it

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

Thank you for kind comments :-)

Here is a little video I took up the cliff... a bit shaky, being in a rather precarious position




Also some low quality images of the 3 flats and larger bottom plate... the total of what I could extract.

I might have to change what the minerals are, as it seems that Natrolite is scarce here, and mostly known as growing on top of Mesolite... in the cases where I can see a sphere broken, that is still possible... but apparently rather unlikely. I hope I can get analysis at some point to verify.
Stilbite and Heulandite are still for sure though.