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Fluorescent Minerals

Fluorescent Minerals

Franklin and Sterling Hill, N.J.

A 2015 CHECKLIST BASED ON OBSERVATIONS OF CONFIRMED SPECIMENS

The Franklin-Sterling Hill area has more fluorescent minerals than anywhere else on Earth, and nothing is simple at this locality.

This checklist is not a treatise, so the descriptions are condensed and simplified. The most common fluorescent response is listed first. The UV wavelength or wavelengths listed for a mineral are those under which its fluorescence is brightest; “FL red SW” means that the mineral typically fluoresces red in  shortwave UV, but may fluoresce less brightly under MW and/or LW. (Uncommon but significant fluorescences are in parentheses.) Subtleties such as fluorescent hue, saturation, and intensity are usually not mentioned.

For assistance in identification, the minerals are listed by assemblage, in brackets:

  • [FM] = Franklin Marble
  • [W] = weathering minerals
  • [O] = zinc orebodies
  • [V] = vein minerals
  • [C] = calcsilicates
  • [AC] = altered calcsilicates

Not all local minerals fit neatly into this scheme.

  • {FO} = Franklin only
  • {SHO} = Sterling Hill only

CAVEAT: while mineral fluorescence can be a powerful tool for mineral identification, it should be used in conjunction with other identification techniques. Misidentifications based on fluorescence alone are common.

Our Fluorescent Minerals

The collection

Search Minerals: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A

Albite: FL red SW [C]

Anorthite: FL pale yellow SW; rare, associated with corundum [FM]

Aragonite: FL, PH white/”cream” LW (FL green SW); [W]

Axinite-(Mn): FL orange-red to red SW, PH very weak [AC,V]

B

Barite: FL bright “cream” SW (FL yellow SW, MW, LW, can also PH) [O,C,V]

Barylite: FL violet SW, best seen under iron arc; rare [AC] {FO}

Bassanite: FL, PH violet SW; rare. [V] {SHO}

Bianchite: FL blue-white SW, weak PH

Bustamite: FL cherry red LW. [C, AC]

C

Cahnite: FL, PH “cream” SW. [V] {FO}

Calcite: typically FL bright orange-red SW with brief red-orange PH (also FL white, “cream,” yellow, orange, green, red, cherry red, blue, violet; can change FL with UV wavelength; often PH). [all assemblages]

Canavesite: FL, PH violet LW; rare [V] {SHO}

Celestine: FL, PH “cream” LW (FL violet SW) [V]

Cerussite: FL yellow LW [W]

Chabazite-Ca: FL green SW [V]

Charlesite: FL pale blue SW, usually coated with cream-FL gypsum [AC] {FO}

Chondrodite: FL yellow to orange-yellow to yellow-orange SW [FM]

Chrysotile [Clinochrysotile]

: FL “tan” (orange-yellow) SW [V] {FO}

Clinohedrite: FL, PH bright orange SW [V] {FO}

Clinohedrite: FL, PH bright orange SW [V] {FO}

Corundum: FL cherry-red LW [FM]

Cuspidine: FL bright orange-yellow SW with brief orange-red PH; MW FL has violet tint. [AC] {FO}

D

Datolite: FL “cream” SW [AC,V] {FO}

Diopside: FL blue SW, FL pale yellow MW, LW [FM]

Dolomite: FL, PH red SW (in “crazy calcite”) [O]

Dundasite: FL pale yellow SW, MW, LW; rare [W] {SHO}

Dypingite: FL, PH blue SW, MW, LW [V]

E

Epsomite: FL “cream” LW, violet MW [W]

Esperite: FL bright lemon-yellow SW, weak PH [C] {FO}

F

Fluoborite: FL “cream” SW [FM, V]

Fluorapatite: FL bright to weak orange, “peach” SW [O,C], FL blue MW [FM]

Fluorapophyllite-(K): FL, PH weak white SW [V]

Fluorite: typically FL, PH blue-green SW, MW, LW (can FL, PH white, pale yellow, greenish-yellow, green, violet-blue, blue-violet). [most assemblages]

Fluor-uvite: FL orange-yellow SW [FM]

G

Genthelvite: FL green LW, SW, MW, (rarely FL yellow to orange MW), [C,V]

Gerstmannite: FL weak olive green BL (SHO)

Greenockite: FL cherry-red LW; rare [W] {FO}

Grossular:  FL cherry-red LW; very rare [AC] {FO}

Guerinite: FL, PH pale yellow SW, MW, LW; rare [W] {SHO}

Gypsum: FL, PH white, pale yellow, blue SW, MW, LW [V,W]

H

Hardystonite: FL violet to violet-blue SW, MW, LW [C] {FO}

Hedyphane: FL “tan,” “cream” SW, rarely bright orange SW [V] {FO}

Hemimorphite: FL, PH white to pale yellow SW, MW, LW, rarely FL green, blue [W]

Hexahydrite: FL, PH white SW, MW, LW [W] {SH}

Hodgkinsonite:  FL cherry-red MW/LW [V]

Humite: FL pale yellow SW; rare [FM]

Hydrotalcite: FL “cream” LW; rare [V] {FO}

Hydroxyapophyllite-(K): FL, PH weak white SW; rare [V] {FO}

Hydrozincite: FL bright blue SW (can PH pale yellow, also FL yellow MW, LW) [W]

J

Johannsenite: FL orange BL  [O]

Johnbaumite: FL bright to weak orange SW [C, V]

Junitoite: FL pale yellow LW; rare [V] {FO}

M

Magnesiohornblende: FL greenish-blue SW [FM]

Margarite: FL weak white (“gray”) SW, MW, LW [FM]

Margarosanite: FL bright blue, red SW; red, orange MW; weak red, orange LW [AC] {FO}

Marialite: FL orange SW, pink LW; rare [FM]

Mcallisterite: FL “cream” SW [W] {SHO}

Meionite: FL pinkish red, orange-yellow SW, MW; FL orange-yellow LW [FM,C]

Meta-ankoleite: FL green SW; rare [V] {SHO}

Metalodèvite: FL green SW, rare [V] {SHO}

Microcline: FL blue, red SW [C]

Minehillite: FL violet-blue MW, weak violet SW, weak pale yellow LW [AC] {FO}

Monohydrocalcite: FL green SW, PH white [W] {SHO}

N

Nasonite: FL pale yellow SW, MW [AC] {FO}

Newberyite: FL “cream” SW, rare [W] {SHO}

Norbergite: FL bright to weak yellow SW, less bright MW [FM]

O

Opal: FL green SW [FM,O,C]

P

Pargasite: FL greenish-blue SW [FM]

Pectolite: FL, PH orange SW, less bright MW [AC] {FO}

Pharmacolite: FL, PH white SW, MW, LW; rare [W] {SHO}

Phlogopite: FL yellow SW [FM]

Picropharmacolite: FL, PH white LW, rare [W] {SHO}

Powellite: FL yellow SW, MW [C,W]

Prehnite: FL variable orangeish pink SW [AC] {FO}

Pyromorphite: FL weak orange MW [W]

Q

Quartz: FL yellow, pale orange SW, MW; FL green SW [V]

R

Rhodonite: FL weak deep red SW, very rare [V] {FO}

Roeblingite: FL red SW with brief red-orange PH [AC] {FO}

S

Samfowlerite: FL weak red SW; rare [V] {FO}

Scheelite: FL orange-yellow, pale yellow SW, MW, (blue SW) [C,V,FM]

Smithsonite: FL, PH pale yellow SW, MW, LW; rare [V,W]

Sphalerite: FL, PH orange, blue, orange-yellow, yellow-orange, green LW, MW, SW [O, C, V]

Spinel: FL cherry red LW [FM]

Starkeyite: FL, PH white SW, MW, LW, rare [W] {SHO}

Strontianite: FL violet SW; rare [V] {FO}

T

Talc: FL yellow SW, MW, LW [V,O]

Thomsonite-Ca: FL pale yellow SW; rare [AC] {FO}

Tilasite: FL yellow SW; rare [V] {SHO}

Titanite: FL yellow-orange SW [FM]

Tremolite: FL blue SW (yellow LW) [FM]

Turneaureite: FL bright orange SW [C] {FO}

U

Uranospinite: FL green SW; rare [W] {SHO}

W

Willemite: typically FL bright yellowish green SW, with occasional vivid PH; also can FL green MW, LW.  More rarely FL, PH yellow, greenish yellow, orange-yellow, and (!) pale blue. [O, C, AC, V, W]

Wollastonite: FL bright to moderate orange, yellow-orange, orange-yellow, yellow, best under SW; PH is often “redder” than FL, cores of some grains FL weak green. [C] [AC]

X

Xonotlite: FL, PH violet SW, MW, LW [AC] {FO}

Z

Zincite: FL yellow LW, MW, SW [O,V]

Zircon: FL orange SW, MW [C, FM]

Znucalite: FL green SW, MW [W] {SHO}

Mineral nomenclature in this fluorescent mineral checklist conforms to the 2015 list of local mineral species compiled by the FOMS Mineral List Committee. Comments about the fluorescent mineral checklist can be e-mailed to rbostwick@att.net.

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