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Wow, can you believe this? Everyone who goes to any museum or mineral show can marvel at gigantic crystals, which are commonly species like quartz, feldspars, beryl and aquamarine etc (to name but a few). ‘Apatite’ has always been one of my favourite species as it often a common accessory mineral in various pegmatites and can occur in beautiful hexagonal crystals, of varying colours. A few years ago, some amazing dark green hexagonal lustrous ‘stacks’ of apatite were found at the Sapo mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil which were a sensation. But just look at this beast, certainly the largest ‘apatite’ I have seen! This came from the Serrinha pegmatite in the Medina area of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This Eastern Brazilian pegmatite province is still relatively poorly studied but recent research is identifying some new rare minerals from the region, and also great new finds such as this one. Lots of work has been undertaken on how large crystals seemingly grow. Always cited as ‘slow-cooling, it also seems many others factors are at work including having lot of volatiles in the magma which perversely makes crystals harder to grow, but when they do they can grow bigger without ‘competition interference’, whilst the less ‘sticky’ magma can also allow nutrients to move more freely ‘feeding’ the growth. So you can get an idea of the size of this incredible Fluorapatite Ca₅(PO₄)₃F from my hand! A tabular modified crystal with an ‘oily green’ greasy luster showing beautiful growth features on a bed of ‘rough’ albite. Huge! A great acquisition by the Museum in 2018 and just recently gone on display at the front of the gallery at the NHM, London for all to wow at! #gems #gemology #minerals #crystals #fineminerals #huge #geology #science #chemistry #crystalgrowth #apatite #mineralogy #nature #naturesart #beautiful #big #brazil #instagood
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