Tsumeb Oddities: Pseudomorphs, Casts, Phantoms, and Oriented Deposits

Date:

Speaker: Neal Luppescu

Location: Monmouth Worship Center 37 Vanderburg Rd., Marlboro, NJ 07746

Tsumeb Oddities: pseudomorphs, casts, phantoms, and oriented deposits." It will start with a discussion of the classification system of different types of pseudomorphs that can be found in mineral deposits. Then photographs of beautiful examples of many different pseudomorphs found at the Tsumeb Mine will be presented, demonstrating the extraordinary complexity of the mineral deposit. Next will be a discussion of a variety of phantoms found in crystals from Tsumeb, and the processes responsible for their formation. Last will be a discussion of oriented deposits, where only some parts of crystals are colored by other minerals, producing interesting patterns.