FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Craig Mercer]

Wow there are some incredible specimen being shown. I really enjoy looking at this one, I hope you do also. It is a complete Quartz inside a larger Quartz on a bed of Chlorite.

[cascaillou]

Doubly terminated quartz crystal (unpolished) with 4-phase inclusions.

The four phases (which are trapped inside negative crystals) are:
-yellow petroleum (oily flammable hydrocarbon), it shows bluish fluorescence under UV
-immiscible water (colorless)
-methane gaz bubble (moving freely within the petroleum phase)
-solid particles of black to dark brown asphaltite (generic term for bituminous hydrocarbons), these particles arn't moving in this sample (but have been reported to move freely in other samples)

Origin: Balochistan, Pakistan
size:1.9x1.4x1.3cm
weight: 15.35ct

The largest petroleum pocket (mammoth shaped) is 8x6mm at the largest point, with a 2mm diameter moving bubble.

note: avoid heat and avoid ultrasonic cleaning

[B&A]

A Hollandite star in Quartz
(The surfaces are polished)

[Elise]

Hi,

This is a photomicrograph taken by John Koivula of an interesting agate I showed him a couple weeks ago. He was showing me how a contrast filter can bring up details that I wanted to be able to study under the microscope which were somewhat murky in the depths of the agate without (the red area in the image). John is an amazing teacher and I believe truly one of the great minds of our time; something my colleagues have also come to appreciate as I've made them aware of his work and he's joined us in our research activities. For those who don't know of his books, see John White's thread on the PhotoAtlas series https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=11689#11689
I was interested in the slight iris effect seen in the concretions. Also, what I thought would be angular quartz druzy (whitish areas in the cabochon photo) turned out to be hundreds of tiny spheres - really neat and a lot of fun to look at under the microscope...I keep expecting to find a few polywogs someday!

Best wishes,
Elise
PS: the cabochon was cut by Paul Stalker who christened it "Pond Life" and hoped I'd continue to call it that. It really looks like I found it in my pond!

[am mizunaka]

Quartz with unknown inclusion.

[Jordi Fabre]

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

A Colombian Quartz with Pyrite inclusions.

The inclusions aren't in a crystal habit of the Pyrite, but do seem to adhere to two planes in the Quartz, even tho the Pyrite itself is of irregular shapes.

Main crystal dimensions : H 45mm x W 9-15mm

Seller stated "Muzo" as origins.... which given it's size is possible,
but nearly all her other offerings were from Santander department
(even though she also said those were "Muzo")

[Jesse Fisher]

A penetration twinned fluorite crystal with a two-phase fluid inclusion. The trapped gas bubble shows 3-4 mm of movement within the cavity.

[Akhter Parvez]

I have seen sometimes the triplite inclusions in topaz and as well in Aquamarine from Shigar,Skardu,Pakistan.

[Michael Shaw]

[Tobi]

Really cute and beautiful crystal, Michael!
Do you know where exactly in Nigeria this was found?

[Michael Shaw]

[Mineral Fan]

[Eck Noch]

Here is an unknown is metallic inclusion in quartz from a Northern California pegmatite, possibly a REE mineral.

[Eck Noch]

Rutile on Anatase in Quartz from the Eclipse Pocket.