Golden Calcite on Quartz Druzy in Basalt Geode

This specimen is a textbook example of sequential mineralization in a Deccan Traps basalt vesicle. The host rock — dense, dark tholeiitic basalt — was sawn open and its base ground flat so it stands upright, revealing an interior lined first with a grey-white druzy quartz crust speckled with celadonite inclusions, giving the lining its characteristic salt-and-pepper texture. Projecting from this crust is a translucent honey-yellow calcite rhombohedron — calcite's classic scalenohedral or rhombohedral habit — whose warm golden colour derives from trace iron within its crystal lattice. A secondary white mass, likely stilbite or apophyllite, flanks the calcite on the upper ledge. The Shaikh family's Maharashtra sources yield these multi-phase geode sections from basalt flows in the Nashik and Aurangabad districts, where slow secondary fluid circulation allowed each mineral phase to grow undisturbed.

Species

Calcite (rhombohedral) with druzy quartz and stilbite on basalt

Origin

Maharashtra, India

Size

14 cm

Weight

646 g

Tier

mid

Status

available