Click on image for larger view
(A locality specific photo set from mindatnh.org) Photos are by the field collector unless otherwise indicated.
22 species, 89 mineral photos, 6 unknowns, 18 EDS/XRF analyses, 2 site photos
A January, 1989 article in Mineral News (with permission) by Ken Hollmann (d. 2005) gave a description of this locality and included a mineral species list for specimens identified. This list included quartz, albite, siderite, biotite, ferrocolumbite, zircon, pyrochlore, fluorcerite-(Ce), bastnasite, and fluorite. The pocket was estimated to be 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet, "sloping downward at a 30 degree angle." Water was constantly seeping in and required continuous bailing. Ken Holman reported that Peter and Carlton Holt recovered a total of 1,167 pounds of specimens.
This web page adds 12 species to the list published by Ken Hollmann. We did not find examples of fluorcerite-(Ce) nor bastnasite. However, Ken's article states that only two specimens of these rare species were found.
Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Notes: A water filled hole in the granite ledge.
Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Notes: A water filled hole in the granite ledge.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 13 mm field of view
Field Collected:
Catalog No.: 1515
Notes:
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.8 mm field of view. Three views
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: Fred Davis T0648
Notes: Fred Davis photo, specimen.
[tm] Apatite originally suggested for this specimen.
[bw] At first I thought Fred's "apatite" might be one of the barrel shaped bertrandites. But, I think it may be nothing more than feldspar. That rounded one-side exposure is fairly common there.
A November 2017 polished grain EDS analysis (FD101) gave a questionable result, indicating an iron silicate of proportion FeSi0.64O6.8 . This was a noisy low count analysis. In hindsight, multiple spots on the grain should have been probed.
The clear, glassy, color of this sample are not consistent with an iron-silicate.
Fred Davis obtained some XRF data on this WP specimen on 11/29/17. His assessment is:
[fd] "the major elements present are Fe and Si. Sound familiar? Go figure."
[fd- 12/1/17] "I've been pondering my mystery mineral with what we know. I was looking for possible candidates in two groups: 1) just Fe-silicate, and 2) Fe-silicate plus undetected elements.
Group 1: There are some minerals in this group, but none matches (or comes even close to) the physical (color, crystal form) characteristics.
Group 2: The undetectable elements I considered are Li and Be. Lithium-iron-silicates just don't match, but the beryllium-iron-silicates have one interesting candidate - Stoppaniite. The "simplified" formula that Mindat gives is Be3Fe23+(Si6O18) · H2O. This is the Fe-dominant member of the beryl group. Other versions of the formula include some Mg and Al, so that would work against this ID. But there is precious little detail available online, so I've flagged a couple of articles in European journals to download. Hopefully, they will reveal more detail about the composition and environment. "
In January, 2018, Fred obtained LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) analyses for several grains of this specimen. LIBS can detect berylium. Fred reported: "This data is qualitative only, so you have to dig through the results looking for something that makes sense. To me, albite seems the most likely, as Na, Al and Si are all present (O assumed). That's what I'm going to add to the label for ID. The other elements are likely trace impurities, like H and Li. Yes, H as in hydrogen! No cleaning cycle was run to burn off surface impurities, so there's a possibility of that for these oddball elements."
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.5 mm crystal, two views
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken and photo (WPAnataseAS02)
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.3 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken and photo (WPAnataseAS01)
Notes: [bw] A few pale green anatases showed up in the midst of one of the tapered bastnaesite/synchesite-like clusters. This one is the largest being about 1.0 mm. Scattered in the same bunch are a few tiny xenotimes. It's interesting how these little knots of tapered xls seem to be hosts for other species like xenotimes, anatase, and bertrandite. The greenish anatase is unusual.
Locality: Water Pocket, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.35 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken and photo (WPAnatase03AS)
Notes: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Locality: Water Pocket, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.4 mm crystals
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken and photo (WPAnatase04AS)
Notes: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.6 mm cluster
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.4 mm crystal attached in tandem to a smaller crystal to the left.
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.3 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledges above Water Pocket, Bartlett, NH
Specimen Size: 3 mm bertrandite crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: EDS analysis indicated a silicate with only another low atomic weight element present. Bertrandite is one choice. Bob had originally thought phenakite was the best choice for these crystals, but has now reconsidered: [bw]"I do have at least two test results on the material which simply indicates the material is one or the other. EDS analyst Kerry Day merely suggested a beryllium silicate."
Locality: Ledges above Water Pocket, Bartlett, NH
Specimen Size: Largest bertrandite crystal is 2 mm
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledges aboveWater Pocket, Bartlett, NH
Specimen Size: 2.0 mm x 1.75 x 1.0 mm "floater"
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] When I broke the rock I could see it rattling around in a cavity. I thought it was just a piece of relict fluorite.
Locality: Water Pocket Locality, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm field of view
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Matt Butler specimen photo and PLM images
Notes: Matt reported: "The PLM interference figure image 'best matches' an acute biaxial figure. In this case only the lower right part of it is in the view of my scope at 63x so we can only see one of the 'bullseyes' instead of both. The 2nd image is with a full wave plate filter inserted, and it shows the color change to blue at the bottom of the "bullseye" confirming the xl is optically negative which also matches bertrandite."
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.4 mm crystal.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2071
Notes: Visual identification.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 6 mm field of view. Fred added a second view.
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: Fred Davis M0488
Notes: Fred Davis photo, specimen.
Fred Davis obtained some XRF data on this WP specimen on 11/29/17. The analysis showed "the columbite is definitely columbite-(Fe)"
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.3 mm crystal mass
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.3 mm crystal mass
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Chemistry: Fe2+2SiO4
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 3 mm resinous brown mass
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: u2029
Analysis: The first identification of this iron silicate from this locality was fayalite. A second EDS analysis (BC184 set 13) on a polished grain from this specimen (utilizing an EDS detector with good light element sensitivity) also indicated an iron silicate mineral. The chemistry derived from the atomic %'s gave: Fe2Si2.5O26.7 (ignoring tiny bits of Mn and Al, and the instrument frequently over-estimates oxygen). This analysis suggests an Fe:Si ratio of 4:5, or perhaps 1:1. Fayalite chemistry is: Fe2+2SiO4 . So the best chemistry fit for this mineral (based on this EDS analysis) is ferrosilite, Fe2+2Si2O6. mindat.org normalizes this formula for one Fe and gives: Fe2+SiO3.
A XRD analysis resolved this fayalite-ferrosilite ambiguity, providing a very good match for fayalite.
A third polished grain EDS analysis (BC260 - 1/31/18) also showed an iron silicate. The chemistry indicated by this analysis is: Fe2Si2.08O1.62 .
Notes:
Locality: Area above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 8.5 cm crystal section embedded in milky quartz. Not a micro!
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] It definitely has well defined conchoidal fracture. Cassiterite does not.
A polished grain EDS analysis indicated an iron-silicate. The Na may be a contamination from the carbon coating. (Being investigated.)
If the Na is real, then there may be about three dozen IMA approved candidate species. If the Na is a containment, then the list of candidates drops to 24 (including things the EDS cannot see). For the present, I [tm] am listing this with fayalite.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 8 mm FOV.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2073
Notes: A soft clay mineral. Can scratch with fingernail. Similar to glauconite of Hurricane Mtn., Conway, NH. Matrix is fine grain zinnwaldite.
Locality: Ledge above the Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm crystal blades group.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2074
Notes: Visual identification - may be ilmenite. Two photos, second has front blade only in focus.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: Top photo 3 mm field of view. Embedded black prismatic mineral altering to red color.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2077
Notes: A polished grain EDS analysis indicated a good match for ilmenite, a new species for the Water Pocket. A bit of niobium was detected.
Same nickle sized specimen as TM_UK1
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 4 mm field of view
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2114
Notes: Macaulayite identification suggested by EDS analysis. Samples similar to this are readily available in the tailings of the Water Pocket as coatings on pocket feldspar surfaces and quartz crystal shards. Macaulayite is a rare mineral.
Macaulayite chemistry is: (Fe,Al)24Si4O43(OH)2
A November 2017 polished grain EDS analysis (BC233) gave a chemistry of Fe2.29,Al2.92Si4O59.6 , normalized for 4 atoms of silicon. The Fe + Al content is clearly very low with respect to the Si to be Macaulayite. This u2114 mineral is visually similar to specimens from the nearby Moose Pocket that were analyzed by Dr. Eugen Foord that suggested macaulayite. Foord EDS analysis. A follow-on review of the Moose Pocket material that took into account of the EDS potassium, indicated that stilpnomelane was a much better fit for the Moose Pocket material.
It was hoped that a powder XRD analysis would resolve the species. However the powder XRD analysis was far from conclusive, [tm opinion]. John Attard, the XRD analyst, suggested goethite, but the XRD plot is very noisy and not a good correlation with the mindat.org 2-theta plot for goethite. John stated that he "wanted my XRD to give interpretation on its own so I did not take into account any EDS results." The problem is the EDS shows a substantial aluminum component, which is not present in goethite. For the present I am leaving this as macaulayite.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 4 cm specimen
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: NC
Notes: Representative specimen of microcline from the ledge area above the water pocket. Undoubtly, many specimens superior to this one have been collected and hopefully a few of these will be added in the future. I [tm] suspect there are many very good specimens of quartz crystals and microcline that Peter Samuelson collected from here that have non specific locality labels, due to Peter's desire to obscure the exact location.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.3 cm microcline crystal on matrix, 2 views.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2048
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.7 mm wide ragged shard
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.3 mm x 0.7 wide crystal - two views
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photos
Notes: [bw] Not a species I've ever found so I'm not sure of it. A visual identification.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 mm globule cluster
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: There is a moderate amount of hyalite opal in the upper ledge area.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm pyritohedron in matrix
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2103
Notes:
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 4 mm earthy (weathered) Pyrochlore crystal. Zircon in background
Field Collected: Bob Janules
Catalog No.: 1711
Notes: Habit and color are consistant with other Conway granite pyrochlore specimens. Rocks & Minerals, Vol 65 No. 4, July-Aug 1990, pg 295 notes the Albany, NH occurrance found by Peter Samuelson, "Pyrochlore was found as octahedra up to 1.4 cm having a dull off-white surface and a brown-black interior, intergrown with zircon." This specimen was recovered from the dump pile Peter left behind. A Nov. 2012 Raman analysis of two points from a grain sample from this specimen reported: "good match to yttropyrochlore-(Y); fair match to ishikawaite (but two peaks only)". An EDXRF analysis gave a noisy, but usuable, spectra suggesting a niobate with less U and Fe than samarskite or ishikawaite.
[tm] This is the pyrochlore specimen in my New Hampshire minerals species display, Concord, NH.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 9 mm field of view. Massive lustrous resinous brown pyrochlore surrounding unknown black mineral, perhaps columbite.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2069 WP-1
Notes: It is impossible to avoid bright reflections with the conchoidal fractured pyrochlore.
A polished grain EDS analysis from this specimen showed a moderate amount of Fe. Iron is not present in pyrochlore group members. Only one IMA approved mineral contains Nb, Fe, and Ca : Latrappite, A second analysis from a different point on this grain gave EDS analysis 2. This analysis had no Ca. It is possible there is a zirconium peak (2.042 KeV) hiding next to the Nb peak (2.165 KeV).
The uranium content of this mineral is sufficient to enable prospecting and detection with Geiger counters and scintillometers. Zircon is a very frequent association.
Additional analysis is needed. What have we got here!
Fred Davis obtained some XRF data on this WP pyrochlore on 11/29/17. His assessment is:
[fd] "data was acquired in air on unpolished specimens; light elements are attenuated in air;
The dark, resinous anhedral "hot" material is primarily a niobate (with small amounts of tantalum), with uranium and small amounts of thorium (that makes it hot), Y and LREE. Looks like a pyrochlore group member....Treating the data as essentially qualitative, the major components are Nb, Ta, Fe, U and Ca. Minor components are V, Pb, Y, Th, Zr and Nd, and occasionally Sn and Ce. These appear in the pyrochlore group, but insufficient U to be the old "uranpyrochlore." Also, I didn't see Ti which is odd....Also, the redefinition of the pyrochlore group makes getting [a] specific [species] *much* more difficult."
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm group of coated pyrochlore? crystals
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2069
Notes: These appear similar to the N. Sugarloaf Mtn. plumbopyrochlore crystals. The coating has chipped off a corner of the lower crystal.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 mm pyrochlore crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2076
Notes: This pyrochlore crystal was embedded in matrix
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 8 mm field of view - resinous-brown pyrochlore
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2104
Notes: Massive pyrochlore sampled for EDS analysis, BC268. This EDS analysis 3 was similar to a previous analysis, (#2), but clearly showed the expected calcium component. Some of the Na in the analysis may be from a carbon coating contaminant, but Na is indicated as a Ca substitite in the formula for pyrochlore.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 17 mm field of view
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: TO651
Notes: Fred Davis obtained a XRF analysis on this WP specimen on 11/29/17. (big file/image to see detail)
[fd]"The "pyrochlore" was fair sized so I could use a 5mm aperture. You really have to zoom in to see the element IDs on the spectrum. Ignore stuff in the noise like Sr, Ac,Tm etc. The U wt % oxide I was seeing ranged between 4 ~ 5%, similar to your data which is why I said it was well below the 15 ~ 26% given for the old "uranpyrochlore."
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 5.5 cm specimen
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2068
Notes: This partial quartz crystal has micro black metalic inclusions. See TM_UK2. Some of the included black crystals are visible on the left quartz face. A few of these black crystals protrude from the face, so an analysis is possible. The crystal was found in the dump pile below the water pocket, likely rejected by Peter and others who followed, due to incompleteness. It does give testamony to the size of the quartz crystals that came from this pocket.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.8 cm crystal with a bit of white feldspar at the base
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2066
Notes: [tm] I found this small smoky crystal while sifting dump material below the water pocket.
Wa-hoo!
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 5 cm specimen with dozens of tiny quartz crystals alligned on feldspar surface
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2067
Notes: Interesting study piece.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 7 mm field of view. Layered, green-glassy, mineral with altering red-brown rusty mineral.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: TM_UK5
Notes: [tm] Low effort, non-stacked photo. I have two specimens of this.
A November 2017 polished grain EDS analysis of this specimen showed only Si and O, so this is greenish quartz!
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.4 cm siderite rhomb group
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2059
Notes: [tm] I suspect many large (multi-inch) siderite crystal clusters came from this pocket.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 4.4 mm jumble of partially relict crystals
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.0 mm xl coated with hyalite opal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 3.0 mm mass side to side
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: BW UK05
Notes: A polished grain EDS analysis suggested that synchysite-(Ce) is the best fit for these crystals.
[tm] It would appear these are a blend of synchesite-(Ce), synchesite-(Nd), and synchesite-(La), with the Ce being dominant. Interesting that these three REE's are all present. Yes, this is a quite noisy plot, but we did collect data for 200 seconds.... quite long as our collections usually go. Synchesite does require Calcium. I believe it is present in the mushy, unlabeled peak at about 3.7 KeV. We did take two runs at this. The first, shorter, run, did not report as many REE's, but was otherwise similar. The grain was very small. If you look at the SEM image in the report, you can see the grain sitting in a pool of contact cement. The plot and the tabulated results are consistant with other analyses from this set .... showing an unexpected response of Na and Cl. It is believed these are contaminants from the contact cement and perhaps liquid carbon coat solvent.
[bw] This is a good documentation of some of the non-relict looking WP tapered xls. It's pinkish, waxy and has a little translucence in places. It's hard to tell whether it extends all the way to the tips here though I doubt it.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.7 mm tall tapered unknown
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: BW UK05B
Notes: The termination on this UK5 example is particularly sharp for this mineral.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm tubular crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2078
Notes: [tm] I did see one of these as well. No this is not some organic magot or fossilized moose sperm.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.5 mm topaz crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm xenotime crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: Xenotime confirmed by EDS analysis .
[bw] Xenotimes have the tendency to be half crystals hanging on an edge of matrix so these complete ones are fairly prized at this size.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.8 mm xenotime crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.5 mm xenotime crystal with rough, pimply, surface
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2070
Notes: Uncoated flattened by-pyramids have been visually ID'ed by Bob Wilken as xenotime. Analysis pending.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: Multiple xenotime crystals on unknown 3.2 mm obelisk crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.1 mm tall prismatic crystal.
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: Xenotime 3. A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: [bw] Indecisive in nature the growth of this crystal seems to have been interrupted a couple of times, visible by wedges indenting some prism corners. A couple of cockeyed incomplete xenotimes cap the prism. It is possible this is a zircon.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.4 mm field of view
Field Collected: Ray Meyers
Catalog No.: A Ray Meyers specimen, Fritz Moritz photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 3.7 mm field of view
Field Collected: Ray Meyers
Catalog No.: A Ray Meyers specimen, Fritz Moritz photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: Zircon core... 1.0 mm. A xenocon or a zircotime?
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes:
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.1 cm hexagonal, zoned, Zinnwaldite crystal
Field Collected: Peter Samuelson
Catalog No.: 1512
Notes: My notes record that an analysis of Water Pocket zinnwaldite was done by Dr. Eugene Foord of the USGS. Many of Peter's specimens were acquired by Harvard University. An auction of excess Harvard specimens, including Water Pocket zinnwaldite, occurred at the October 2005 Capital Club show at Sunapee.
Art Smith had an Excalibur analysis (Oct. 2002) done on a Moose Pocket (nearby) zinnwaldite which is reproduced here.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.7 cm specimen with embedded zinnwaldite crystals
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2061
Notes: Specimen has zinnwaldite prism sections to 2 cm with cleavage terminations embedded in feldspar-quartz.
An EDS analysis (BC222 - Aug 2017) done on a polished grain from this specimen indicated almost 8 atomic % Fe, suggesting the siderophyllite species of the zinnwaldite group. However the atomic % ratios of K:Fe:Al of 1:0.4:1 indicated by this analysis of are quite different than those given by webmineral for siderophyllite of about 1:2:3. Note, however, the marked similarity of plots between this BC EDS and the Excalibur EDS above. The unlabeled BC122 EDS peak between the unlabeled carbon peak (277 eV) and the oxygen peak is likely a titanium La peak. There may be a bit of fluorine in the "noise" of the Fe just above the oxygen peak.
The Zinnwaldite group has end members: (mindat.org formulae)
Siderophyllite KFe2Al(Al2Si2O10)(OH)2
Polylithionite KLi2Al(Si4O10)(F,OH)2
Siderophyllite has iron, polylithonite does not. Deer, Howie and Zussman in Introduction to Rock Forming Minerals state (in summary) that the number of ions in the Y sites (includes Al and Fe) is "often considerably less than the theoretical value."
The lower photo illustrates the easy fusibility of this mica, much more easily than biotite-annite.
[tm] I cataloged this as siderophyllite.
[fd]Fred Davis obtained some XRF data on this WP zinnwaldite on 11/29/17. His remark was:
"The zinnwaldite has a nice Rb peak, something I've seen with other New England mica specimens I've examined.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 6 cm specimen with embedded 4 cm zinnwaldite crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2047
Notes: Specimen illustrates size of larger embedded zinnwaldite crystals at the Water Pocket.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2 mm box-work zinnwaldite crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: NC
Notes:
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 2.8 cm x 0.9 cm thick zinnwaldite crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2065
Notes: Prism surfaces indicate this zinnwaldite crystal formed within an open pocket area.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 7 cm specimen with zinnwaldite crystals on microcline & albite. A specimen from the pocket wall.
Field Collected: Uncertain
Catalog No.: 1515
Notes: Acquired from Micromounters of New England give-away table, 2006. Perhaps collected by Bob Janules or Gene Bearss. A few tiny zircons are present. No pyrochlore, or other micros are on this specimen.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm zircon crystal
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2069
Notes: Classic zircon with prism faces and pyramid termination.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.7 mm zircon crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen and photo
Notes: Another classic zircon with prism faces and pyramid termination.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 15 mm field of view. Daylight and SW UV views.
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: Fred Davis T0648
Notes: Fred Davis photo, specimen, and visual identification.
[fd] "The UV exposure was very disappointing since the camera does not see the same as my eye. Apparently, the camera registers brightness linearly and I suspect the eye is more logarithmic giving dimmer light more apparent brightness. To my eye, the faces of the zircon crystals are all glowing yellow, not just the edges."
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 10 mm field of view. Daylight and SW UV views.
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: Fred Davis M0486
Notes: Fred Davis photo, specimen, and visual identification.
[fd] "working on improving the photography of specimens under UV. I increased the ISO from 100 to 1250, opened the lens from f5.6 to f4, and reduced the exposure time from 20 seconds to ~4 to 5 seconds. All contributed to the attached image, a cluster of zircon xtals. I did clean up the stacked UV exposure to eliminate software artifacts. Better..."
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 7 mm field of view.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2249
Notes: These zircons are fluorescent an intense yellow.
A polished grain EDS analysis from this specimen indicated only a zirconium oxide = zircon. No thorium detected.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 7.8 mm FOV. The center xtal is about 2.2mm along the vertical face.
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: T0649
Notes: Fred suggested fluocerite for this.
[tm] This does appear different than other, more lustrus, WP zircons.
Fred submitted five grains of this material for EDS analysis. All analyses indicated the species was zirconium silicate, zircon. Here is one of these analyses - WP zircon analysis .
Fred Davis obtained some XRF data on this WP specimen on 11/29/17. His assessment is:
[fd] "The "fluocerite" is zircon, and the zircon is zircon, so lots & lots of zircon. It certainly isn't "pure," though. Also picked up small amounts of Hf, Th, Y and Fe."
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 12 mm FOV.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2075
Notes: Zircon surrounding TM_UK4
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm FOV.
Field Collected: Ray Meyers
Catalog No.: A Ray Meyers specimen
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.3 mm FOV.
Field Collected: Ray Meyers
Catalog No.: A Ray Meyers specimen
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: Not given
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilkens specimen & photo
Notes:
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.2 mm combination crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilkens specimen & photo
Notes: We have seen the zircon/xenotime combination from here before with the zircon being totally surrounded by the xenotime. It appears that zircon is an attractant for later formation of xenotime. It would be interesting to pick one of these apart so as to test both. I have never seen this before where there is only partial enclosure of the zircon. There is no breakage so the notch didn't just fall out of the xenotime.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 4 mm field of view. Sprays of white fibrous mineral, in vug top view. Matted & some staining, lower view.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2077
Notes: [tm] This nickle sized specimen also has some black embedded prismatic mineral and one prism-habit zircon crystal. The matrix is dark red-stained quartz. I found this sifting the water pocket "dump." Given the miarolitic cavity environment, my only thought is bavenite. Others have suggested an amphobile group mineral.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: About 2 mm field of view. Black crystals embedded in pale smoky quartz crystal.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2068 (TM_UK2)
Notes: [tm] Hematite or cassiterite?
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 12 mm field of view. Black sub-metalic mass (lower-middle) surrounded by brown-resinous pyrochlore.
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: u2075
Notes: [tm] Perhaps a Nb or Ta mineral. I used a polarizing filter to reduce the glare from the lustrous pyrochlore. A no stacking photo with my Meiji scope.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 5 cm specimen with black sub-metalic blades in feldspar
Field Collected: Tom Mortimer
Catalog No.: 2052
Notes: Given that ilmenite and columbite have been confirmed from the Water Pocket, these species were my first choice for this specimen.
A polished grain EDS analysis (BC380A) from this specimen indicated a K, Fe, Al silicate with some Ti. Certainly not either columbite or ilmenite. The analysis indicated a K:Fe:Al ratio of 1:1:2.4. The closest mineral with this chemistry is zinnwaldite group member siderophylite, with a K:Fe:Al ratio of 1:2:3. I think the fluorine is real, but there is a strong Fe line (@ 0.705 KeV) that is close to the only F line at 0.677 KeV. These embedded blades show no evidence of mica group cleavage. They appear sub-metalic.
Locality: Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 5.8 mm field of view, top.
Field Collected: Fred Davis
Catalog No.: TO651
Notes: [fd] Two views, 5.8mm "wide" view, and 2.8mm detail of my specimen T0651. Given the mineral list for the pocket, I'm guessing the resinous, dark to black material is uranpyrochlore. That leaves the off-white and reddish-brown phase - alterations?
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.25 mm largest crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen & photo
Notes: [bw] Every once in a while [this] shows up but it's often encrusted with crap and it's usually very small. There's one tiny bunch in with the anatase above. The measurement I recorded was 0.25 mm wide for the largest crystal in the cluster.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1 mm group top, 1.6 mm field of view bottom
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen & photo
Notes: [bw] I came across two more examples of what you have posted and recorded on MindatNH as UK BW7. They are also the only two I came across in all the material I just went through so it's by no means common. I'm not sure how you got BW7 on your website listings. It's likely my error when I sent the photos and info to you. My boxed specimens and UK record sheet all are marked as BW06. Due to the black appearance of these [top photo crystals], I thought I was dealing with a metallic mineral but they are mearly coated with some kind of black residual coating. Due to the fragile nature I estimated the length at 1.0 mm + with a wire, not wanting to get too close in.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 1.5 mm group
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen & photo
Notes: [bw] These crystals are paper thin. If they came from Palermo, I would say childrenite. I also found a molybdenite specimen...a bit of a ragged one. I imagine it will show up now and then.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.75 mm crystal top, 0.3 mm crystal bottom.
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen & photo
Notes: [bw] My first inclination was to think these looked like microlite that I found in a couple of the Connecticut pegmatites. But, I would guess they are more likely ilmenite. It's just that I've most encountered the flat hex ilmenites. I may sacrifice the smaller of the two.
Locality: Ledge above Water Pocket, Blackberry Crossing, Albany, NH
Specimen Size: 0.4 mm crystal
Field Collected: Bob Wilken
Catalog No.: A Bob Wilken specimen & photo
Notes: