Fluorescent Mineral Database

A new secret project! Trying to create a nice Fluorescent Mineral Database (FMDB), which would be searchable by mineral, locality, and luminescence properties. Also making it easy for people to contribute with their own specimens!

Phlogopite on Sodalite - huge crystals, Afghanistan

Contributed by: Mark Cole
Date: Apr 6th, 2026
Locality: Sar-e-Sang, Kuran wa Munjan District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan (See on Mindat)
Size: 4 x 2.5 x 5
Weight: 1.62 lb

Description:
A large plate of phlogopite crystals on a matrix of sodalite var. hackmanite from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. The front surface is covered with phlogopite crystals, while the matrix is a mix of sodalite and calcite. The sodalite is very phosphorescent and tenebrescent. Nice and bright.

Originally posted by Mark Cole on Nature's Rainbows in 2016.

Normal light.
Normal light.
Fluorescence under shortwave UV light. Closeup
Fluorescence under shortwave UV light. Closeup
Normal light. Closeup
Normal light. Closeup
Fluorescence under shortwave UV light. Side 2
Fluorescence under shortwave UV light. Side 2
Afterglow after exposure to shortwave UV light. Side 2.
Afterglow after exposure to shortwave UV light. Side 2.
Fluorescence under longwave UV light. Side 2.
Fluorescence under longwave UV light. Side 2.

Summary of luminescence responses:

Phlogopite (Mindat) (RRUFF)

  • Fluorescence under Shortwave (254nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: Yellow
Sodalite (Mindat) (RRUFF)
  • Fluorescence under Longwave (365nm LED) UV light: Orange
  • Fluorescence under Shortwave (254nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: Pink
  • Afterglow after exposure to Shortwave (254nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: Yellow

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