On-Line Catalog Page 2
Conditions of Sale Mineralogy samples from the Earth's mantle are some of the rarest and most difficult geologic materials for educators, collectors and the scientific community to acquire. The samples listed are offered on a first-come, first serve basis and guaranteed to be exactly as described. All major credit cards accepted including PayPal. Checks are welcome but please email us first so that we may confirm availability and hold the material until your check arrives. |
Questions on any specimens? lab@petrologyslides.com |
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Lac de Gras Kimberlite thin section |
Lac de Gras Kimberlite photomicrograph |
Kimberlite, Lac de Gras Kimberlite field, NWT, Canada | Lac de Gras Kimberlite in protective display case.. |
The Lac de Gras kimberlite field
is a group of Late Cretaceous to Eocene age diatremes in the Northwest
Territories, Canada. Within this field are located two world class diamond
mines called Ekati and Diavik. This diamondiferous kimberlite is from the
Diavik open pit mine. In this specimen: lots of phenocrysts of olivine, pyrope
garnet serpententinized in an olivine-rich matrix. |
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Specimen# 21-39 | |
Analcime-phyric phonolite lava in thin section |
Photomicrograph of Analcime-phyric phonolite lava groundmass. |
Analcime-phyric phonolite lava, Crowsnest Volcanics, Blairmore, Alberta, Canada | Phonolite lava in display case. |
The Crowsnest Volcanics is in
southwestern Alberta. Canada This is a deposit of solid rock and ash, probably
from a volcanic vent just north of Coleman, AB, where volcanic deposits are
over 425 metres thick. There is no discernible vent now, but debris thins in
every direction from that spot. This is a fresh piece from this 90 myr - old
volcano. Mineralogy includes analcime, aegirine, melanite, and sanidine. |
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Specimen# 22-37 | |
Dubawnt , ultrapotassic dyke lamproite in thin section |
Dubawnt , ultrapotassic dyke kimberlite groundmass image. |
Lamproite, Dubawnt , ultrapotassic dyke, Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Canada | Dubawnt , ultrapotassic dyke kimberlite in protective case. |
This is diamondiferous
lamproite from the Akluilak dyke, a part of the Dubawnt ultrapotassic dike
swarn west of Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Canada and is thought to be associated with
the magmatic event responsible for the formation of the Proterozoic (1850 Ma)
Christopher Island Formation volcanics |
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Specimen#23-41 | |
Nepheline Syenite in thin section |
.Groundmass photomicrograph, Nepheline Syenite |
Nepheline Syenite with Strontio-loparite, Salitre I alkaline intrusion, Minas Gerais, Brazil | Nepheline syenite in display case. |
From the legendary mining
locality of Minas Gerais, Brazil, at the Salitre I alkaline intrusion, this
rock contains a rare mineral association on Earth - alkali feldspar coexisting
with perovskite. Normally the silica content of feldspar-bearing rocks is too
high for perovskite but the Sr and REE content of the rock is so high the
stability field of perovskite is expanded. So, why so unusual and rare?
Perovskite is commonly found associated with very anorthite-rich feldspar in
anhydrous LUNAR basalts! |
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Specimen#24-44 | |
.Kimberlite, Chicken Park Pipe in thin section. |
Groundmass photomicrograph, Kimberlite, Chicken Park Pipe. |
Kimberlite, Chicken Park Pipe, Red Feathers Lake, Larimer County, Colorado, USA | Chicken Park Kimberlite in display case. |
Great name, great locality,
colorful rock! Chicken Park kimberlite, near Red Feathers Lake, Northern
Colrado, USA, has an emplacement age of 614.5 my. The kimberlite was initially
found during coarse sampling with a backhoe at around a one meter depth.
Colorful garnet studded kimberlites in each sample. |
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Specimen#25-47 | |
Balsam Gap Dunite in thin section. |
Groundmass photomicrograph of Balsam Gap Dunite |
Dunite, Balsam Gap, Jackson County, North Carolina, USA | Balsam Gap Dunite in display case. |
The Balsam Gap, North Carolina,
USA, dunite mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with minor amounts
of other minerals such as pyroxene, chromite and pyrope. Dunite, the
olivine-rich end-member of the peridotite group of mantle-derived rocks, is
rarely found within continental rocks. Dunite from Balsam Gap is believed to
have occurred at the base of an ophiolite sequence where slabs of mantle rock
from a subduction zone were been thrust onto continental crust by obduction
during continental collisions. |
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Specimen#26-48 | |
Spinel Lherzolite in thin section. |
Groundmass photomicrograph of Spinel Lherzolite |
Spinel Lherzolite, Mt. Leura, Newer Volcanics Province, Victoria, Australia | Spinel Lherzolite in display case. |
This is an extremely attractive,
coarse-grained, superfresh (had enough adjectives?!?!) spinel Ilerzolite with
abundant chrome diopside inclusions. It's a very nice Australian xenolith from
Mt Leura ( the name means "big nose" in local aboriginal dialect),
Victoria, Australia. . |
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Specimen#27-49 | |
Chromite-rich Dunite in thin section |
Groundmass image of chromite-rich dunite |
Chromite-rich Dunite, Springer's Hill, Lewis massif, Newfoundland | Chromite-rich dunite in display case. |
The Bay of Islands complex in
western Newfoundland is one of the world's best-known ophiolites, and has
generally been interpreted as a fragment of ocean floor and the underlying
mantle that has been uplifted or emplaced on the eastern margin of North
America. This is another great-locality dunite from Springer's Hills, Lewis
massif, Bay of Islands Ophiolite, Newfoundland. It's heavily studded with
chromite on an altered oliving matrix. |
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Specimen#28-50 | |
kimberlite,ugandite in thin section |
kimberlite-ugandite groundmass. |
Kimberlite Ugandite, Mount Moroto, Karamoja region, Uganda |
Ugandite Kimberlite in display case. |
This kimberlite-ugandite, with
lots of fresh olivine macrocrysts, is from Mount Moroto which lies in northeast
Uganda in the Karamoja region. It is one of a chain of volcanoes along the
border with Kenya. The volcanic fields of Southwest Uganda and the adjoining
part of the Belgian Congo are characterized by ultrabasic potassic rocks. The
principal rock types are katungite, ugandite (kimberlite with leucite), and
mafurite. |
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Specimen#29-52 | |
Archean Karelian Craton kimberlite in thin section |
Archean Karelian Craton kimberlite groundmass |
Kimberlite, Archean Karelian Craton, Pipe 1, Finland | Archean Karelian Craton Kimberlite in display case. |
Over twenty-four intrusive
bodies, mostly kimberlitic diatremes, but also including hypabyssal
kimberlites, olivine lamproites and ultramafic lamprophyres are being studied
within the Archean Karelian Craton in Finland. Kimberlites from the Karelian
Craton exhibit typical mineralogy of Group I kimberlites including abundant
macrocrysts of olivine, picroilmenite, Cr-diopside, pyrope garnet; phenocrysts
of olivine and microphenocrysts of monticellite, perovskite and spinel in a
calcite + serpentine matrix. |
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Specimen#30-53 | |
Alkali Olivine Basaltin thin section |
Alkali Olivine Basalt groundmass. |
Alkali Olivine Basalt, Central Island, Lake Turkana, Northern Kenya, Africa | Alkali Olivine basalt in display case. |
Alkali olivine basalts from the
Turkana rift (a part of the East African Rift System) are a by-product of
continental rifting. This sample is dominated by large, glassy olivine and
titanaugite phenocrysts, both euhedral and rounded. |
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Specimen#31-54 | |
Deformed Harzburgite thin section. |
Deformed Harzburgite groundmass |
Deformed Harzburgite, Lewis Hills Massif, Bay of Islands Ophiolite, Newfoundland, Ophiolite, Newfoundland | Deformed harzburgite in display case. |
This is a great specimen,
deformed harzburgite - from below the petrological Moho boundary!. It consists
of ribbons of relatively soft orthopyroxene around rounded olivine
grains.Ophiolite harzburgite is a variety of peridotite, which are thought to
represent oceanic crust and the underlying oceanic mantle exposed during
collision with continental crust. |
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Specimen#32-81 | |
Alnoite, Mount Moroto thin section |
Alnoite, Mount Moroto groundmass |
Alnoite, Mount Moroto, Karamoja region, Uganda | Alnoite in display case. |
Alnoites (called after the
island of Alno in Norway) are rare rocks. They are a subgroup of lamprophyres.
Alnoites contain olivine, augite, brown biotite and melilite, are free from
felspar, and contain very low percentages of silica. They are essentially
"dike rocks," occurring as dikes and thin sills, and are also found
as marginal facies of plutonic intrusions. Alnoites have a close association
with nepheline or leucite syenites and similar rocks rich in alkalies. |
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Specimen#33-93 | |
Cumberlandite in thin section |
Cumberlandite groundmass |
Cumberlandite, porphyritic titaniferous magnetite melatroctolite, Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA | Cumberlandite in display case. |
Cumberlandite is not kimberlitic
but it is a rare mixing of mineralogy from an extinct volcano that presents
itself in only one place on Earth. It's an ultrabasic igneous rock,
transitional to peridotite, from Cumberland, Rhode Island. The rock is greenish
black and shows large, white plagioclase crystals in a black granular
groundmass. A hand lens shows some labradorite, olivine, magnetite, ilmenite,
and accessory spinel. The olivine forms nearly half the rock and is set in a
matrix of the other minerals, 40 percent or more of the rock being ilmenite and
magnetite. The whitish-gray patches are single large crystals of plagioclase
feldspar. The black component is the finely-crystalline groundmass, consisting
of magnetite, ilmenite, and olivine (partially serpentinized by orogenic
events). |
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Specimen#34-94 | |
Bergen Arcs eclogite thin section. |
Bergen Arcs eclogite groundmass |
Eclogite, Bergen Arcs , Norway | Eclogite in display case. |
The Bergen Arcs in Norway are
famous for rare and rather beautiful rocks known as eclogites. Striking,
coarse-grained, and characterized by large pink garnets and a greenish matrix
rich in silicates known as pyroxene |
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Specimen#35-69 | |
Moses Rock dike kimberlite thin section |
Moses Rock dike kimberlite groundmass |
Kimberlite, Moses Rock dike, Navajo Field, Utah, USA | Kimberlite in display case. |
The Moses Rock dike lies in the
eastern part of Monument Valley, about 5 miles southeast of Mexican Hat, Utah,
near the center of the Colorado Plateau Province, where sedimentary rocks of
Paleozoica and Mesozoica age are exposed. Kimberlite was emplaced as large,
discrete, angular rocks within the dike. |
|
Specimen# 36-56 | |
Olivine phlogopite lamproite thin section |
Olivine phlogopite lamproite groundmass |
Olivine phlogopite lamproite, Froze to Death Butte, Montana, USA | Olivine phlogopite lamproite in display case. |
This is a complex rock, chock
full of xenocrysts and xenoliths, large olivine xenoliths of mantle origin, a
matrix rich in phlogopite and containing perovskite, and finally, if all the
above is not enough harzburgitic xenocrysts! |
|
Specimen#37-57 | |
Mirny Mine kimberlite thin section |
Mirny Mine kimberlite. |
Kimberlite, Mirny Mine, Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia | Siberian Kimberlite in display case. |
Mirny Mine is an open pit
diamond mine located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 525 meters
(1,720 ft) deep and has a diameter of 1,200 m and is the second largest
excavated hole in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine. The airspace above the
mine is closed for helicopters because of a few incidents in which they were
sucked in by the downward air flow. Kimberlite indicator minerals include red
garnet, chromium diopside, and yellow-green olivine throughout the groundmass.
A very hard locality to acquire. |
|
Specimen#38-58 | |
Harzburgite, Mantle Xenolith thin section |
Harzburgite, Mantle Xenolith groundmass. |
Harzburgite, Mantle Xenolith, Kimberly South Africa, Chromium-diopside rich! | Harzburgite in display case. |
This Harzburgite is one of the
most attractive specimens of mantle rock. It's an ultramafic igneous rock and a
variety of peridotite. It's matrix is studded with green inclusions of chromium
diopside. The locality is from the Kaapval Craton, in Kimberley, South Africa.
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|
Specimen#39-59 | |
Alkali olivine basalt in thin section |
Alkali olivine basalt groundmass. |
Alkali olivine basalt, Lenderut, Kenya | Alkali olivine basalt in display case. |
Lenderut is an eroded alkali
basalt center on the floor of the East African Rift in southern Kenya. Its age
is approximately 5 myrs. This specimen, a medium-grained intrusive rock,
contains titanaugite, plagioclase, magnetite, and olivine; the olivine appears
to be about 20% altered but all other minerals are pristine. |
|
Specimen#40-61 | |
On-Line Catalog Page 2
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