Minerals occur in various formation environments inside the rocks of different geological units.

In addition to the main sub-localities listed below, minerals can be found in erratics spread over the valley and mainly in the large moraines, originated from the retreat of the Scerscen Glacier that formerly filled the valley.

The large valley ice stream retreated by more than 1 km between 1926 and 1940 and broke up into two separate main glaciers (the east-facing Lower Scerscen and the south-facing Upper Scerscen) and three smaller ones (Caspoggio, Cime di Musella, and Marinelli glaciers).

To date, some mineral finds are known only from erratics: arsenopyrite, galena, cerussite, and wulfenite from quartz blocks; tetrahedrite, tennantite, azurite, and malachite from dolomite marble blocks (Bedognè et al., 1993; Bedognè et al., 2006). Furthermore, perovskite, in association with diopside and magnetite, has been found in the Scerscen stream bed downstream Alpe Campascio.

Note on “uvarovite” from the Scerscen Valley asbestos mine:

Emerald-green crystals in chromitite fissures, traditionally considered “uvarovite” (Tabacchi, 1972, and other authors), are actually chromian andradite with a content in Cr2O3 decreasing from the crystal core to the rim (Bedognè et al., 1993; Sciesa, 1993).

Note on the Mn-bearing amphibole:

It was classified as “tirodite” (Bedognè et al., 1993) according to the amphibole nomenclature (Leake, 1978) in use at that time. Analyses showed the presence of Na, Fe, and Al. Later, according to a new amphibole nomenclature (Leake et al., 1997) the mineral was attributed to "manganocummingtonite" (Bedognè et al., 2006). After the institution of "parvowinchite" (Leake et al., 1997; Burke and Ferraris, 2003) it was supposed that the above-mentioned amphibole could be ascribed to this species, due to the presence of Na, Fe, and Al (although their amount in the empirical formula does not reach the minimum required threshold). A possible underestimation of the sodium content during the analyses has been inferred. In consequence of the last amphibole nomenclature (Hawthorne et al., 2012), in which the sodium-(magnesium-iron-manganese) amphibole (ex-“tirodite”) is named ferri-ghoseite, the Mn-bearing amphibole from Lower Scerscen Glacier has been tentatively ascribed to this species. New accurate analyses on both the fibrous facies and the idiomorphic crystals allowed to identify the orange mineral as a new species named clino-suenoite (Oberti et al., 2017).

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References