"Tugtulite" - Tugtupite from the Type Locality, Greenland
Contributed by: Mark Cole
Date: Apr 7th, 2026
Locality: Tunulliarfik Fjord, Ilímaussaq complex, Kujalleq, Greenland (See on Mindat)
Size: 2 x 1.75 x 3.5 inches
Weight: 2.8 oz
Description:
Famous "Tugtulite" from the type locality for tugtupite. We made many significant discoveries over the 11 years I conducted tours to Greenland, and this was one of the major ones - it was a very fortuitous find.
Way back (2002) when I first started conducting tours to Greenland one of the members on the very first tour found this beautiful rock at Tugtup Agtakorfia . He was not even using a light! His son wanted to go fishing with one of our boat operators, but he had little interest in anything but rocks and asked to be dropped at a little promontory to hunt for rocks (sans light). Picked up a pretty rock and brought it back with him, only to discover what a beauty it was. Later, after investigation we learned that he was actually collecting at the same spot where Sorenson discovered tugupite in the 50's. Next tour we went back and found more but had no idea what it was.
It is fluorescent peach color under SW UV, white under MW, and salmon under LW (that was a hint). And it came from the type locality of tugtupite (the exact place where tugtupite was originally discovered in 1958). The chkalovite matrix is fluorescent a very dull green. Back in the states I sent some pieces out for analysis. EDS came back and called it a "homogenous blend of tugtupite and sodalite". Being naive, I nicknamed it "tugtulite" and sold it as such (and of course told people what the actual EDS results were). The criticism I received was overwhelming - "How could I invent a nickname for a mineral!!!! (gasp!!!)".
The nickname stuck. We have since learned that this material is a unique variety of tugtupite, and the proper identification is truly tugtupite. But the critics still gripe. A dozen years later, I am better informed. Franklin has its "crazy calcite", "1st find", "2nd find", "3rd find wollastonite", "purple willemite", "mylontinized willemite", "polka dot ore", etc etc etc. The Franklin crowd nicknames their rocks to designate where they were found, what they look like, or when they were found. So - we Greenland folk do too - yet the same folks from Franklin are aghast at our nicknames. I say get over it!
Tugtulite by any other color is still tugtupite.
Originally posted by Mark Cole on Nature's Rainbows in 2018.
Summary of luminescence responses:
Tugtupite (Mindat) (RRUFF)
- Fluorescence under Longwave (365nm LED) UV light: Orange
- Fluorescence under Midwave (305nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: White
- Fluorescence under Longwave (365nm LED) UV light: Red
- Afterglow after exposure to Shortwave (254nm Lamp/Mercury) UV light: White