Everybody is familiar with mineral specimens that fluoresce two or more colors under shortwave UV light. Just think about a classical red-and-green calcite and willemite from Franklin. But are there similar multicolor specimens under longwave?? Mark challenged the Fluorescence Minerals Facebook group to dig into their collections and find their best longwave multicolor specimens. The answers didn’t wait long to arrive! Here is a sample; check the original facebook post for more!
Barite and Calcite from Italy.
Calcite and Sphalerite from Peru.
Calcite. Sejce Quarry, Vác, Pest County, Hungary.
Sphalerite var. cleiophane, willemite. Sterling Hill mine, Ogdensburg, NJ.
Fluorite (blue) and cerussite (yellow) from the Blanchard Mine, Bingham, Hansonburg District, Socorro Co., New Mexico, USA
Tremolite & Amphiboles from Talcville, NY.
Sphalerite (orange) with dolomite (white) from the Raibl Mines, Cave del Predil, Tarvisio, Udine Province, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
Phlogopite crystals (orange) and forsterite or diopside (white) on marble from Sar-e-Sang, Kokcha Valley, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
Calcite and Aragonite from Washington, USA.
Calcite on Fluorite from Chenzhou, Hunan
Priday Ranch agate, Oregon.
Red, White and Blue Fluorescent specimen from Henan, China. Very rare to get three distinct fluorescent minerals together. The Red is Calcite and the Blue is Fluorite but I am not sure what the White is, maybe Stontianite?
Nosean (orange) on sanidine/orthoclase (blue) from In den Dellen quarries, Mendig, Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Sodalite, Forsterite, Diopside, Sar-e-Sang, Badakhshan, Afghanistan
Long wave eye candy from the Horn Silver Mine, Frisco, Utah. Specimens consisting of sphalerite and wurtzite. Brightly fluorescent and phosphorescent.
Sphalerite and Fluorite from the Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Colorado
This article was originally published on Nature’s Rainbow.