4.2" Botryoidal Aragonite Cave Calcite Crystal Cluster Mineral Specimen Morocco

Location: Morocco

Weight: 14.1 Ounces

Dimensions: 4.2 Inches Long, 2.8 Inches Wide, 2.8 Inches Wide

The item pictured is the item you will receive 

Without Aragonite, many of Earth’s organisms could not exist. This is a mineral most invertebrate organisms use to construct their shells and hard parts. So if you have ever admired a colorful seashell, you have already paid tribute to the range of colors Aragonite comes in and indirectly to the ease with which Aragonite forms at the Earth’s surface. 

Aragonite and calcite are ‘polymorphs’, minerals that have the same chemical composition but slightly different crystal structures. Both minerals can occur together and are so similar to one another that distinguishing between them is seldom important to anyone but a professional geologist. Calcite is more stable and common than Aragonite under the chemistry of our modern seas, but at times in the Earth’s past, Aragonite was the more stable and common form. The two minerals are nearly identical in their physical properties. 

Calcite is a calcium carbonate mineral with a hardness of 3. It comes in a wide variety of forms and colors and is found on every continent of the world. Calcite makes up the major part of marble and limestone. Yellow Calcite usually occurs in massive rather than crystalline form and the best specimens come from Mexico.

Calcite gets its name from the Greek word “chalix” meaning lime. It comes in a wide variety of colors including, red, green, orange, yellow, blue, pink, clear, black, and white.  It is one of the most common minerals on Earth, making up the basis of limestone and marble, it takes many different forms and is formed in many different geological environments. Some forms fluoresce blue or red under UV light. It has been used to make cement and mortar and very clear translucent calcite has been used to make gun sights and geological (polarizing) microscopes.