Fluorite Rainbow with Yellow Calcite

Fluorite Rainbow with Yellow CalciteFluorite is one of the most variable of all crystalline minerals, occurring in shades of blue, green, purple, red and many other colors corresponding to their physical makeup and conditions when the mineral was formed. The name fluorite comes from its use as a flux, or chemical cleaning agent, in iron smelting and other metallurgy. Pure fluorite is clear, but most specimens have vivid color due to various impurities and are often fluorescent. With a

vast shoals of freshwater fish inhabited a large shallow inland sea across the American West

honey gold Barite crystals atop a base of verdant green and purple Fluorite

delicate crystalline formations

The “Benz” part of the name comes from the tip of some calcite crystals which have a clearly defined three-pointed star of pyrite

Malachite is known for its deep green coloration

An abundant medium-growing crab species found in the shallow seabed of the middle Miocene Monterey Formation

roughly 20 million years ago

Measurement is of box

botryoidal crystal formations

Named for the Greek word for “heavy”

Hyalite is unique in its own right

Malachite has been mined for both use in copper tools and for ornamentation and jewelry