Set 4: Phosphoferrite - Sphalerite
Go to Palermo species: A - Falsterite Ferrisicklerite - Hydroxylherderite Jahnsite - Paravauxite Sillimanite - Zircon
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm pseudo-octahedral Phosphoferrite crystal, (partially obscured in small vug).
Field Collected: Janet Cares
Catalog No.: u711
Notes: Light brown, semi-transparent, pseudo-octahedral, crystals are characteristic of this species. Kryzhanovskite is the oxidized equivalent of Phosphoferrite. These two species are very difficult to visually distinguish, so I am relying on Janet Cares identification here.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2 mm crystal
Field Collected: Walter Lane 1995-96, Cat. #2660
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss collection specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm field of view. Red-brown octahedral phosphoferrite crystals on ludlamite.
Field Collected: ex. Bill Henderson
Catalog No.: A Joe Mulvey specimen, ex. Bill Henderson
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.5 mm clear Phosphophyllite crystal
Field Collected: Janet & Steve Cares
Catalog No.: u636
Notes: Identification by original specimen field collectors, Janet & Steve Cares. Steve Cares extensive, personally collected, suite of Palermo micro specimens is now part of the Harvard collection. The habit and clear color of this Phosophyllite specimen matches the top right illustration, (pg. 152), in Bob Whitmore's book, The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm field of view. Cluster of clear phosphophyllite crystals
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: u590
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm crystal
Field Collected: Walter Lane 1995-96, Cat. #2748
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss collection specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm phosphophyllite crystal group
Field Collected: ex. Bill Henderson
Catalog No.: A Joe Mulvey specimen, ex. Bill Henderson
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.5 mm clear phosphophyllite crystal, two photos
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: u590
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.6 mm cluster of clear phosphophyllite crystals
Field Collected: Gene Bearss - 1982
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.0 mm phosphophyllite crystal associated with childrenite group xls
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.9 mm field of view
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.7 mm field of view
Field Collected: Forrest Fogg
Catalog No.: Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: From Forest Fogg material acquired via Gordon Jackson
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.9 mm crystal cluster
Field Collected: Unknown
Catalog No.: Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: A specimen purchase from Jim Warner in 2003.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.6 mm field of view
Field Collected: Forrest Fogg
Catalog No.: Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: Forest Fogg material via Gordon Jackson.
This is a re-do of a 2016 photo.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: ~ 1 mm? pink phosphosiderite crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen
Notes: Phosphosiderite and strengite are dimorphs. Strengite is orthorhombic, phosphosiderite is monoclinic. Phosphosiderite is more common in the Fletcher and Valencia Mines, (also in N. Groton), as brilliant purple aggregates of botryoidal crystals. Bob Whitmore's book The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo shows phosphosiderite only in the botryoidal form from Palermo. There is no mention of phosphosiderite occuring in discrete xl form such as these, whereas the strengite is illustrated in form like this. When Bob Whitmore examined this specimen, he thought phosphosiderite was the appropriate ID.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: ~ 4 mm fov?
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen
Notes: Identification by Bob Wiken
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.35 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken collection specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.48 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken collection specimen
Notes: [bw] This one has "a truer approximation of the color. A combo photo of a phosphosiderite xl with rockbridgeite and hureaulite xls. I attempted this two times. The first time with the ping-pong balls on the lights, the second with the specimen within (in this case under due to specimen size) the larger pp ball. The first way resulted in having too much flaring within the crystals as well as on the rockbridgeite. I attempted a fair amount of cloning to blot it out but lost other quality in the process so I ditched it. The second time I tried adjusting the lighting to avoid any potential internal flaring but still got overexposure on the hureaulite xl to the left. With so many of these reflective light colored xls being very transparent there's always something that creates a lighting problem. A stack of 115 and 6 um increments."
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.6 mm field of view
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] Photo taken w. a Nikon Plan 10X; a stack of 75 w. 15 um increments.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: Larger crystal is 0.9 mm
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] Photo taken w. an Amscope Plan Fluor 4X; a stack of 93 w. 10 um.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] Leucophosphite is also present on this specimen.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.3 mm yellow Pseudolaueite crystal. (Difficult to photo, deep in vug.)
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: u591
Notes: Yellow-orange, pseudo-cubic, appearance is characteristic for this species.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm pseudolaueite crystal
Field Collected: Walter Lane 1995-96, Cat. #2350
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss collection specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.5 mm pseudolaueite crystal
Field Collected: Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.2 mm pseudolaueite crystal
Field Collected:
Catalog No.: An Arnaldo Brunetti collection specimen
Notes: This 0.2 mm crystal is at the limit of what I can photograph.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 4 cm. Green Psuedomalachite in quartz
Field Collected: Acquired in exchange with Vince Valade
Catalog No.: 1303
Notes: There is no other mineral that can be confused with this Palermo species.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5 cm specimen
Field Collected: Unknown - a purchased specimen
Catalog No.: 2158
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm green ball
Field Collected: Uncertain
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken collection specimen
Notes: The pseudomalachite and wulfenite are visual identifications by Bob. [tm] I am quite skeptical of the wulfenite, and think malachite should be considered for the green ball.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.15 mm pyrite crystals (very tiny) on apatite, two views.
Field Collected: From crate of Palermo rocks given by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1318
Notes: Octahedral pyrite crystals from Palermo are rare. The cubic form is common, the pentagonal dodecahedron less common.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm field of view. Cubic-octahedral pyrite form
Field Collected: From crate of Palermo rocks given by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u969
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm pyrite cube on quartz
Field Collected: From a box of small rock chunks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1532
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 1, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 7 mm pyritohedron (pentagonal dodecahedron) crystal in triphylite matrix. Two views
Field Collected: Bob Whitmore.
Catalog No.: A Ray Meyers specimen
Notes: This is an excellent pyrite specimen from Palermo.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 cm specimen with brown thin plates of metalic pyrrhotite on triphylite.
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: 1917
Notes: This pyrrhotite is weakly magnetic, a diagnostic test that differentiates it from pyrite. Pyrrhotite is reported from the Palermo Mine.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 cm field of view
Field Collected: From crate of Palermo rocks given by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.:
Notes: A natural sunlight photo.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.6 nmm iron-stained quartz crystal septer
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1340 - underside
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 3.3 mm quartz crystal group
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1344
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5.8 cm tall cluster of quartz crystals.
Field Collected: Dana Jewell
Catalog No.: TBC
Notes: Dozens of micro, red oxide stained, montebrasite crystals are present on this specimen.
From a flat of Palermo rocks donated by Dana Jewel at the November, 2014 Micromounters of New England meeting.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.6 cm crystal group
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: A Bob Janules specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 cm citrine crystal group
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: A Bob Janules specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 7 cm double terminated quartz scepter
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: A Bob Janules specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 4 cm quartz crystal pair
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: A Bob Janules specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.3 mm field of view
Field Collected: Jim Nizamoff - 2022
Catalog No.: An Anna Wilken specimen, Bob Wilken photo
Notes: [bw] The crystals are so intergrown and there are layers of facets upon facets so it's pretty difficult to make any sense of the crystal shapes. There are maybe two crystals in the photos that look like quartz crystals but you've got to look real hard and close up to find them. The color for these are fairly pale. I tried to be as true to the actual specimen. It's so easy to want to pink them up more.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 8 mm field of view
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1885
Notes: Identification by EDS analysis, (polished grain). Reddingite forms a series with phosphoferrite. Reddingite is the manganese dominant member: (Mn,Fe)3(PO4)2·3H2O , phosphoferrite is the iron dominant member: (Fe,Mn)3(PO4)2·3H2O . The EDS analysis clearly indicates this is the Mn dominant member. The large carbon peak in the plot is due to the carbon coating applied to the sample grain epoxy block for analysis. The "Zr" annotation is likely a miss-assignment by the element association software.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 11 mm field of view
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1885 - Reddingite group on specimen backside
Notes: This is the EDS analyzed (main page) specimen.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm parallel growth of clear Reddingite xls.
Field Collected: A purchased specimen.
Catalog No.: u649
Notes: Identification provided by mineral dealer, Sauktown Sales, from whom the specimen was purchased. Reddingite is listed in Bob Whitmore's book, The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo, but no illustration is provided. Fleischer (2008) does not include Fe in his formula, only Mn.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 3 mm field of view (zoom view 1 mm)
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1886
Notes: These octahedral crystals are a different form than the radial columnar form analyzed 3/16. However these were in the same tub of Palermo rocks with the previously comfirmed reddingite. An EDS analysis from this specimen also indicated the Mn dominant species of the reddingite-phosphoferrite series.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm field of view. Pair of reddingite bipyramids.
Field Collected: Bob Whitmore - from a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob.
Catalog No.: u1868
Notes: I have this labeled as reddingite. It is similar to the specimen that I had a reddingite analysis, u1886. Reddingite is Mn dominant vs. kryzhanovskite, Fe dominant. These are quite nice for reddingite, but I likely should check.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.05 mm rhodochrosite balls on siderite, (VERY TINY!)
Field Collected: Steve & Janet Cares
Catalog No.: u589
Notes: Label on Steve & Janet Cares original micro-mount box: "Coll., 1976. 6.3.4-3.6 Fizz HCl, X-RAY HU 1994" (HU = Harvard University)
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 mm field of view. 0.1 to 0.2 mm rhodochrosite balls on rhombic siderite crystals.
Field Collected: Forrest Fogg ex. Gordon Jackson
Catalog No.: u1435
Notes: Rhodochrosite confirmed by EDS analysis . Small Al and Si peaks are due to surface contamination.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.2 mm pale-pink balls of rhodochrosite on siderite
Field Collected: From tub of Palermo rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1919
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine #1, Pod 3, N, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2 cm specimen with lustrous, black, blocky-curved Rockbridgeite crystals to 0.5 mm.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: U917
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm field of view - prismatic rockbridgeite crystals
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.:
Notes: Deep red transparency observable in a few areas.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm sphere of rockbridgeite
Field Collected: Walter Lane - from boxes of unsorted Palermo material purchased by the MMNE 2011
Catalog No.: u1321
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.7 mm broken sphere of dark-green rockbridgeite with red-brown jahnsite rind.
Field Collected: Walter Lane - from boxes of unsorted Palermo material purchased by the MMNE 2011
Catalog No.: u1342
Notes: Radial structure of botryoidal rockbridgeite is seen in sphere cross-sections.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 3 cm specimen with mat of lustrous black balls of 0.1 to 0.2 mm rockbridgeite crystals
Field Collected: Forrest Fogg
Catalog No.: u1440
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.7 mm field of view
Field Collected: From a box of small rock chunks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1530
Notes: Nice, distinct rockbridgeite crystals on bed of granular rockbridgeite. Low contrast between crystals and background is a photographic challenge.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.6 mm clump of rockbridgeite balls on mitridatite
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1889
Notes: EDS analyzed, BC64. The small amount of Si is likely a contaminant.
An early thought was that these dark balls might be dufrenite (reported from Palermo), but dufrenite requires a small amount of Ca. No Ca was detected in the EDS analysis. A modest amount of Mn indicates this is mangoan rockbridgeite. The webmineral.com analysis included in the link shows a favorable comparison with this specimen.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5 mm field of view, top photo. Other FOV's as noted.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1872
Notes: Rockbridge crystals embedded in messelite. There are many species on this specimen as indicated on last, annotated, photo (some small sprays of strunzite are also present).
I have had this specimen labeled as rockbridgeite for many years, mostly suggested (to me) by the black mass of crystals in the vug. Jim Nizamoff, on seeing my first photo of this piece in May, 2020, thought tourmaline was a better identification. Jim pointed out that the schorl illustrated in The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo is from Palermo #2, where it is more common. (Jim analized the Palermo #2 schorl.) Jim's opinion prompted a closer look and more photos that suggested a hexagonal shape of the embedded crystals.
To this point, I did not have a Palermo schorl specimen in my collection. It is likely moderately common in the pegmatite wall rock contact area, but few people, myself included, have bothered with this material. With the associated phosphate minerals on this specimen, it clearly came from the pegmatite interior.
So with continued uncertainty, I mailed off this specimen to Jim for a first-hand look. Jim replied:
"The black prismatic crystals are most definitely rockbridgeite. The white host is messelite. It is interesting that the photos made the messelite look like platy albite - having the ability to maneuver the specimen under the scope made it very easy to see that is was in fact messelite."
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.4 mm field of view
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: u1046
Notes: Distinct flat tabular crystals of rockbridgeite.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5.0 mm field of view, daylight and SW UV views.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore, 2009
Catalog No.: u2525
Notes: The rutherfordine is surrounded by and aureole of autunite that is invisible in the daylight view.
I have collected and verified rutherfordine from other NH localities, but this is first that I have seen from Palermo. There may be two different minerals here, a yellow one and a cream-colored one.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH (Type Locality)
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm clear prismatic samuelsonite crystal with matridite coated childrenite.
Field Collected: Clayton Ford.
Catalog No.: u1099
Notes: As stated on page 167 of The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo by Whitmore & Lawrence, "Samuelsonsite was found ... in an alteration of massive augelite with cavities of childrenite, foggite, hydroxylapatite and whitlockite." Much childrenite is visible on this specimen. The backside of this samuelsonite crystal is covered with clusters of foggite, (or perhaps type 4 goyazite).
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2 mm prismatic samuelsonite crystal with smaller 0.5 mm samuelsonite crystal to right.
Field Collected: Clayton Ford.
Catalog No.: A Gordon Jackson specimen.
Notes: This specimen contains several samuelsonite crystals. They are associated with platy habitat goyazite.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 11, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 cm specimen, (zoom view, 1 cm). Embedded blades of oxide stained type 2 samuelsonite
Field Collected: Bob Whitmore - 1972
Catalog No.: A Bob Whitmore specimen
Notes: A qualitative EDS analysis on an unpolished grain showed the Mn and Fe content lower than expected for samuelsonite: (Ca,Ba)Ca8Fe2+2Mn2+2Al2[(OH)2|(PO4)10]
The silicon peak may be due to surface contamination.
Black mineral on right side appears to be mostly manganese oxides.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 cm specimen with 2 mm yellow zones of schoepite
Field Collected: John McCrory
Catalog No.: 1832
Notes: Identification by John McCrory. A natural sunlight photo. Purchased at CMC show Aug. 2012.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH (Type Locality)
Specimen Size: 1.2 mm fov top image, 1.5 mm middle image, 1.3 cm over-all specimen view.
Field Collected: Walter Lane, gift from Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: u1247
Notes: Two close-up views and one over-all view of specimen u1247
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5 mm cluster of acicular schoonerite crystals
Field Collected: Janite & Steve Cares - 1975
Catalog No.: A Gene Bearss specimen
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. Sprays of bronze-colored Schoonerite on film of green Mitridatite.
Field Collected: A purchased specimen
Catalog No.: u918
Notes: ID provided by mineral dealer: Mineralogical Research, Calf. Flattened, copper-bronze colored blades are consistant with this species.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 7 cm specimen with blue, massive, scorzalite.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.:
Notes: It is not uncommon to find these deep-blue mineral specimens from Palermo miss-identified by dealers as lazulite. Confirmed Palermo lazulite is extraodinarilly rare.
Locality: Palermo #2 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 5 mm field of view
Field Collected: Jim Nizamoff
Catalog No.: A Jim Nizamoff specimen and photo
Notes: Scorzalite crystals are rare at the Palermo Mines. Massive scorzalite is common.
Jim Nizamoff forwarded two analyses from Palermo #2 lazulite-scorzalite series specimens.
[tm] I have neglected tiny bits of Ca, Na, Mn, Ti, F reported in Jim's analyses.
Lazulite: (Fe0.349,Mg0.629)Al2.019(PO4)2.0(OH)2.0
Scorzalite: (Fe0.732,Mg0.211)Al2.069(PO4)2.0(OH)2.0
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 3.2 mm field of view. Very dark blue scorzalite crystal cluster.
Field Collected: Bob Whitmore - from a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob.
Catalog No.: u2429
Notes: If not scorzalite, another possibility is cornetite, a copper phosphate. Some mindat.org photos of cornetite are a fair visual fit for these crystals. The host rock sample for these micros had a fair amount of chalcopyrite, a possible source for the copper.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.6 mm field of view. Very dark blue scorzalite crystal cluster.
Field Collected: Bob Whitmore - from a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob.
Catalog No.: u2430
Notes: These possible scorzalite crystals are more angular than most and very dark blue, appearing almost black in this photo. This small cluster sits in a "well" of massive light-blue scorzalite. The perimeter of the cluster is isolated from the massive scorzalite by thin void zone.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: Rhombic, oxide coated siderite crystals to 5 mm
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 175
Notes: Siderite is one of the most common species at Palermo. It is found in a variety of habits. Color ranges from transparent tan-yellow to orange-brown to dark-brown-black. It is frequently coated with other minerals. Siderite vugs often host other rarer species.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. pale-green mitridatite coated, scalenohedron habit, siderite crystals.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u1303
Notes: Underling color of siderite crystals is black. The powdery green mitridatite coating improves the photo contrast. Small, orange, laueite crystals are on some of the siderites. The specimen illustrates a paragenisis of: siderite -> mitridatite -> laueite.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 3.5 mm field of view - scalenohedral siderite behind foreground whitlockite
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1348
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2 mm field of view - scalenohedral crystals
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1348
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, Pod 3, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm field of view - scalenohedral crystals with clear whitlockite
Field Collected: From small box of unsorted micros, gift of Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1348
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm field of view
Field Collected: Walter Lane material
Catalog No.: u1548
Notes: A polished grain EDS analysis (BC10) showed only Fe, O, Mn, and small amount of Ca. Some of the carbon response is due to the carbon coating required for EDS. Collectors use the term "fish egg" habit for this siderite form.
The substantial amount of manganese present indicates this is manganoan siderite, a recognized variety of siderite.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.6 mm red-brown siderite rhomb on manganese oxide coated earier generation of siderite
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1942
Notes: A nice, isolated, siderite crystal. Siderite is very common at Palermo, but isolated, photogenic, crystals are uncommon.
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 4 mm field of view.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u2380
Notes:
Locality: Palermo #1 Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm siderite crystal with clear quartz crystal in center
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u2381
Notes: From a 160 image stack.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 13 mm field of view
Field Collected: "Mine-run" from Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: TBC
Notes: Siderite with rockbridgeite. Siderite is common at Palermo, but has many different habits.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm field of view. Black siderite scalehedron.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u2390
Notes: Best guess on the white acicular mineral is strunzite.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 0.16 mm high x 0.03 mm wide black siderite crystals.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore.
Catalog No.: u2475
Notes: Very tiny !
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm field of view.
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore, 2009
Catalog No.: NC
Notes: Spray of scalenohedron habit siderite crystals with rockbridgeite balls.
Locality: Palermo Mine, Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.1 mm crystal, vertical.
Field Collected: From unsorted box of small chunks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u2673
Notes: Matrix is granular quartz. Unusual isolated siderite crystal. Jim Nizamoff concurred that this is most likely siderite.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 1.2 to 1.5 mm white, bladed, sprays on vivianite.
Field Collected: Forrest Fogg
Catalog No.: u2020
Notes: Ex. Mike Swanson collection. Acquired by Ray Meyers and donated to the NH Mineral display.
Previous box labels accompanying this specimen indicate sinkankasite and gatumbaite. From American Mineralogist, vol. 69 pg. 382: "Sinkankasite has been found at the Palermo Mine, in North Groton, New Hampshire, on only one specimen. It occurs as flattened, circular, 2-3 mm sprays of white acicular crystals associated with vivianite in a fracture in massive triphylite. This material was previously described as gatumbaite by Segeler et al. (1981)." The sinkankasite identification was verified by EDS analysis, 3/2/17. A tiny blade fragment was extracted for EDS analysis from a sinkankasite spray. The semi-quantitative EDS analysis gave a result consistent with sinkankasite (within the limitations experienced with the instrument for carbon tape mounted grains.) Two probings were made and the element atomic percents measured were converted to atoms per formula unit (APFU). The instrument cannot detect hydrogen, H. The chemistries suggested were, (normalized for 2 atoms of phosphorous):
Analysis 1: Mn0.81Fe0.32Al0.77(PO4)2O5.1
Analysis 2: Mn0.59Fe0.17Al0.98(PO4)2O12.8
It should be noted that manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) frequently substitute for one-another in phosphate species. For reference, if the sinkankasite formula was written omitting hydrogen, it would be: MnAl(PO4)2O7 . If analyses 1 & 2 were averaged together (frequently done in species characterization), we get (Mn,Fe)0.95Al0.86(PO4)2O9 . More significantly, the American Mineralogist original species description had a manganese - iron content of (Mn0.65, Fe0.35), quite close to this specimen analysis.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. Dark sphalerite mass in center
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1890
Notes: EDS analyzed, BC62. The Na line is close to the Zn line and the S line is very close to the Pb line. These annotations on the EDS plot are very likely due to element miss-assignment by the EDS software. The large carbon peak is due to the carbon coat applied to the sample.
Not a remarkable specimen, but a good reference sample for sphalerite at the Palermo Mine. A number of rare Palermo phosphate minerals contain zinc, so specimens containing sphalerite should be closely examined for these rarities.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. Dark sphalerite mass in center
Field Collected: From a tub of Palermo phosphate rocks gifted by Bob Whitmore
Catalog No.: u1891
Notes: Another EDS analyzed Palermo sphalerite, BC60. The Na line is close to the Zn line and the S line is very close to the Pb line. These annotations on the EDS plot are very likely due to element miss-assignment by the EDS software. The large carbon peak is due to the carbon coat applied to the sample.
Not a remarkable specimen, but a good reference sample for sphalerite at the Palermo Mine.
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 7 mm field of view. Blue-black disolving sulfide = sphalerite.
Field Collected: Clayton Ford acquired by Gordon Jackson 9/22/03, gifted to Tom Mortimer 2016.
Catalog No.: u2015
Notes: An EDS analysis (BC181) showed only zinc and sulfur, so sphalerite. From the bluish tarnish, I thought might be bornite. Some of the blocky clear crystals in the foreground are not quartz. Need further study.