Vote for your favorite mineral in #MinCup26! - Sphalerite vs. Anorthite Both zinc ore Sphalerite and calcium plagioclase feldspar Anorthite have perfect cleavage that will split cleanly if you hit them with a hammer, but only one can claim a larger split of your votes!
Schooner (1955) says: "often been found at the Strickland Quarry by the author. His specimens are mostly of small size, but they show galena in close association with lepidolite, lithiophilite, spodumene, amblygonite albite, manganotantalite, green tourmaline, and yellow sphalerite". In Schooner (circa 1985) he further elaborates: "At the Strickland quarry, little cleavages of galena have often been collected, intimately associated with feldspar or calcite; also in the whole range of lithium minerals, elbaite, spodumene, montebraesite, petalite, and lepidolite; additionally, in the cesium zeolite, pollucite. The largest mass is about an inch in diameter. Occasionally, there are intergrowths of galena with brown sphalerite. In the pollucite zone, a narrow, irregular seam was filled with galena, yielding the odd combinations already cited."
Habit:
cleavable masses
Quality for species:
Poor for species, only of interest for locality collectors. (#)
Strickland Quarry, Strickland pegmatite, Collins Hill, Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA