Description

Detailed Description

A group of dark red-brown chabazite crystals perched on basalt, with tiny pearly heulandite crystals in association. Many of the crystal faces are lustrous, while some have a slightly frosted look. Some of the crystals exhibit penetration twinning, and a small one on the front of the largest exhibits contact twinning (not common for the locality). In very good condition, with contacts/incomplete crystals around the periphery. A nice specimen, stands for display as photographed.

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.