Calcite from
Thomaston Dam railroad cut, Thomaston Dam, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA
| Locality type: | Road Cutting | |
| Classification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Species: | Calcite | |
| Formula: | CaCO3 | |
| Formation: | Primary | |
| Comments: | As scalenohedron crystals, some are doubly terminated, up to one inch. Micro-sized rhombohedral crystals in a quartz vug. But most obvious as very thin white tabular crystals commonly confused with baryte (use acid to tell), usually associated with stilbite and fluorite. "Each plate is dominated by the basal pinacoid (0001) and modified by a rhombohedron, and many plates form a striking pagoda-like stack with the c-axis in optical continuity within the succession. As many as 20 consecutive plates can be in a stack.", Myer. Also as cleavable masses with fluorite and sphalerite. | |
| Habit: | scalenohedral, hexagonal tabular, rhombohedral | |
| Colour: | white, cream, honey | |
| Luminescent properties: | bright orange-red, rose, yellow under SW UV, commonly better under MW UV. Yellow crystals also phosphorescent. | |
| Quality for species: | Good crystals or rich for species - important (!) | |
| Abundance at site: | Common | |
| Confirmation | ||
| Validity: | Confirmed | |
| Confirmation Methods: | Visually Identified | |
| Associated Minerals Based on Photo Data: | ||
| Quartz | 27 | |
| Fluorite | 25 | |
| Heulandite-Ca | 19 | |
| Pyrite | 18 | |
| Stilbite Subgroup | 15 | |
| Galena | 10 | |
| Sphalerite | 5 | |
| Hydrozincite | 4 | |
| Harmotome | 4 | |
| Data | ||
| Mineral Data: | Click here to view Calcite data | |
| Locality Data: | Click here to view Thomaston Dam railroad cut, Thomaston Dam, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| Photo Gallery | View Gallery (11 photos) | |
| Data Identifiers | ||
| Mindat Occurrence Record ID: | 37860 | |
| Long-form Identifier: | 1:3:37860:0 | |
| GUID (UUID V4): | 0 | |
| Nearest other occurrences of Calcite | ||
| 1.6km (1.0 miles) | ⓘState Routes 8 and 222 interchange, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 5.0km (3.1 miles) | ⓘReynolds Bridge, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 5.9km (3.7 miles) | ⓘWaterbury Road quarry, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 7.8km (4.9 miles) | ⓘPegmatite quarry and ultramafic rock, Harwinton, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 10.3km (6.4 miles) | ⓘSouth Main Street construction site, Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 10.7km (6.7 miles) | ⓘState Route 8 interchange 34 (formerly 37), Watertown, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 11.2km (7.0 miles) | ⓘBlue Stone Quarry, Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 12.2km (7.6 miles) | ⓘHurley Hill, Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 12.2km (7.6 miles) | ⓘBristol Copper Mine, Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA | |
| 12.8km (8.0 miles) | ⓘRoute 73 quarry, Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA | |
| References | ||
Zodac, Peter (1959) Minerals at Thomaston Dam, Conn. Rocks & Minerals, 34 (1) 3-48 doi:10.1080/00357529.1959.11766706 Myer, George H. (1962) Hydrothermal wurtzite at Thomaston Dam, Connecticut. American Mineralogist, 47 (7-8). p.977-979. | ||
Thomaston Dam railroad cut, Thomaston Dam, Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA