Detailed Description

This specimen was collected from a narrow seam area, for chabazite crystals of this size. These sharp chabazite crystals are a rich colour, with good lustre, and a nice association of bright, pearly heulandite crystals. The crystals are in excellent condition, with contacts around the periphery. The large crystal is complete, except that it does have a contact on the right side (the top of the side has some crystal faces, suggesting that there isn’t much that was lost to the contacting). Stands perfectly for display as photographed – a really nice chabazite.

About the Minerals and Localities of the Bay of Fundy (click here)

About These Red Chabazites From Wasson’s Bluff

In one relatively small zone at Wasson’s Bluff, the chabazite crystals are a particular dark red hue – more intense and lighter than a brown, and most are a bit deeper and darker than a brick red or deep orange. This zone has produced sporadically over history. Most often, days of very hard work in this area yield absolutely nothing, but a few isolated finds in recent years have produced a small number of excellent pieces – these specimens are from those finds.

In historic times, these particular deep-coloured chabazites from Wasson’s Bluff were known as “acadialite”, named for Acadia (which is the English for L’Acadie, the colonial-era name for this part of Canada). The name “acadialite” is sometimes still seen on older collection labels, sometimes as a species name and sometimes as a varietal name. Under current nomenclature, these specimens are known as chabazite, with “acadialite” now considered a historical synonym.