Description

Detailed Description

This piece features a great penetration twin of chabazite, surrounded by chabazite crystals, some of which are also twinned. The chabazite crystals are sharp with good lustre. Upon close examination, one can see a bit of colour-zoning, into almost a honey-golden hue in a couple of places. In excellent condition, no damage to the main crystals, and some incomplete crystals around the periphery where this was attached to surrounding rock.

A great chabazite twin, nicely situated among the accompanying crystals.

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.