 Click on a title below to view the abstract
|
|
PIKE LANE OPENCUT |
|
COLOUR IN SCOTTISH AGATES |
|
BWLCHGLAS MINE
Simon Hughes |
|
ALPINE QUARTZ
Laurent Gautron |
|
MUIRSHIEL MINE
Gordon Todd - D. Laurence |
|
THE COPPER TRIALS OF GREAT
SLED DALE
Peter Briscoe - David Green |
|
THE COLLECTOR'S TALE
Max Freier |
|
MINERAL NEWS |
|
FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF
|
52 pages, 8 colour
In recent years, there have been few sites in Derbyshire which have yielded supergene mineral specimens. A small-scale working on Winster Moor, has however, during the last year provided some interesting material, the author having found good specimens of hemimorphite, cerussite and pyromorphite at this site.
This article offers some current ideas on the formation of agates and discusses the problem of the origins of their colour. The distribution of colour in agates in some of the main collecting area is outlined, and some of the many gaps in our knowledge of this and other aspects of agate genesis and occurrence are highlighted, with the hope that others may feel stimulated to discover new sites and formulate new ideas about this most fascinating of gemstones.
Blwchglas Mine, although of little economic consequence, has come to the notice of mineralogists through the quality of pyromorphite specimens collected there in the late 1970s and early 1980's. This article gives a historical perspective on the mine from the early workings in the seventeenth century to its closure in 1923.
The European Alps have furnished many superb mineral specimens, including some of the finest quartz in existence. The search for quartz from the Alpine clefts, both for mineral specimens, and carving, stretches centuries into history. The wide variety of crystallographic habits and morphologies is a reflection of the different geological environments in which crystallisation has occurred.
Muirshiel Mine is a disused baryte mine situated approximately six miles north-west of the village of Lochwinnoch in the county of Renfrewshire, Strathclyde, Scotland. The area of the mine offers much of interest the geologist because of the diversity of the igneous rock types. Good specimens of stronitianite displaying a variety of crystal forms, have been found on the dumps.
Several little documented copper trials, remotely situated in Great Sled Dale, North Yorkshire, are described. The localities are atypical of the Northern Pennine Orefield in that lead minerals are absent. Azurite and malchite are common, presumably as a result of the oxidation of chalcopyrite; fluorite is the principal gangue mineral.