Sodalite var. Hackmanite from Afghanistan

Contributed by: FMS Admin
Date: May 13th, 2026
Locality: Sar-e-Sang, Kuran wa Munjan District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan (See on Mindat)

Description:
Nice little specimen of deeply tenebrescent hackmanite with [richterite?] from the Koksha Valley, Kuran Wa Munjan District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan, that was kindly donated to me by a member of the fluorescent minerals Facebook group. This is the very first Afghan fluorescent mineral specimen added in my collection; I was already aware that many nice fluorescent minerals came out of Afghanistan, but seeing one in person got me hooked to Afghani minerals! It did not take long until I started acquiring other Afghani minerals after I received this one!

What is interesting about this specimen is that it is the very first one I noticed reacted very differently under conventional 254 nm shortwave UV tubes, and 255 nm shortwave UV LEDs. Under 254 nm, the slight emission of midwave and longwave generated make the specimen fluoresce pink and white, while the much narrower, purer UVC spectra emitted by 255 nm shortwave UV LEDs produces a blue and pinkish response. With UVC LEDs, we will discover the true shortwave response of some minerals that would otherwise react differently under the broader spectrum of conventional mercury vapor UVC tubes.

Originally posted by Frédéric Messier Leroux on Nature's Rainbows in 2022.