Caracolite from Caracoles, Chile
Contributed by: Axel Emmermann
minID:
Date: Jan 21st, 2025
Locality: Caracoles, Caracoles mining district, Sierra Gorda, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta, Chile (See on Mindat)
Description:
This specimen came from one of the mines near Caracoles, Antofagasta Region, Antofagasta Province, Sierra Gorda District, Caracoles, Chile.
The caracolite, are the slightly violet fluorescing prismatic crystals. The somewhat more greenish fluorescing is probably cerussite. Image width is about 4 cm. Both are lead-minerals, which might suggest that the fluorescence is intrinsic. Most of the fluorescence under SW is happening, quite fiercely, between 310 nm and 390 nm. Only a small part of that tails in the violet part of the visible spectrum. There is a much weaker broadband fluorescence that runs from 390 nm all the way to 590 nm. That explains why the violet is under-saturated. The latter fluorescence may well be excited by the bright peak in the UV-region.
Summary of luminescence responses:
Caracolite
- Fluorescence under Shortwave (254nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: Blue