Status: Sold Out

Vadim V. Moroshkin and Nikolay Frishman

Dalnegorsk: Notes on Mineralogy. Mineralogical Almanac, volume 4, 2001.

RUSSIAN MINERAL LOCALITIES SERIES

Preface

Dalnegorsk is familiar to practically any mineral collector. Dalnegorsk, or former Tetyukhe, ore district is located in Primorie, Russian Far East. It is known for more than one hundred years and deserved a glory, first of all, due to its outstanding collecting minerals. Co-existence of skarn and various boron-rich hydrothermal mineralization and extensive oxidation zone in the ore bodies are principal factors of mineral variety in these deposits. Presence of numerous cavities stimulated growth of the outstanding mineral species. Dalnegorsk is an important source of large perfect crystals and effective druses. It is one of the most principal suppliers of the collection-quality mineral specimens in Russia. This material is abundant, and the share of the high-quality lumps is very significant. The Dalnegorsk deposits produced world's best specimens of ilvaite, datolite, pyrrhotite, and numerous outstanding lumps of galena, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, fluorite, danburite, hedenbergite, and manganaxinite. There were multiple findings of chalcopyrite, aurichalcite, sepiolite, and many other minerals. From time to time, such lumps are being found today. The fairy-tale morphological variety of Dalnegorsk calcite and amazing world of pseudomorphs deserve description in special books...

This book aims to provide a description of the Dalnegorsk deposits to the collectors, and it does not pretend to become a solid fundamental monograph, which deserves to be written in the future. The authors briefly highlighted various aspects of geology, mineralogy, and genesis of the polymetallic and boron deposits. In more detail, they described the most famous minerals of these deposits. This work contains information about particular deposits of the Dalnegorsk ore district, which became famous due to findings of particular minerals. This would be of unquestionable interest to the serious collectors. Significant attention was paid to the richest morphology of the mineral individuals and aggregates and to their relationships because Dalnegorsk is one of the most suitable targets to study the mineral ontogenesis. This issue contains many illustrative photographs of the lumps, which characterize a mineral variety of the Dalnegorsk deposits. Unfortunately, the limited volume of this almanac did not allow to include a wider range of photographic illustrations. If this book answers your possible questions about Dalnegorsk, in general, and its most interesting aspects, in particular, our editorial board would achieve its task.

Dr. Igor V. Pekov, Editor  

 

Preface  5
   
Acknowledgments    6
   
Introduction    7
   
Geology of the Dalnegorsk district    9
   
List of mineral of the Dalnegorsk deposits    11
   
Part 1. Polymetallic deposits  15
   
1.1. Historical Essay
 18
1.2. Geological Characteristics of Polymetallic Deposits
 20
Verkhneye Deposit
  21
Sovetskoye-1 Deposit
  22
Nikolaevskoye Deposit
  23
Deposits of the Partizanskoye Group
  24
1.3. General characteristics of the skarn-ore bodies
 26
1.4. Stages of mineralization
 28
1.5. Mineralized cavities
 32
1.6. Minerals
 36
   
Rock-forming minerals
  37
Andradite
  37
Aragonite
  37
Axinite
  37
Barite
  39
Calcite
  39
Datolite
  50
Fluorite
  50
Hedenbergite
  54
Ilvaite
  56
Quartz
  59
Other rock-forming minerals
  62
   
Ore minerals
   63
Arsenopyrite
  64
Chalcopyrite
  66
Galena
  68
Pyrite
  72
Pyrrhotite
  72
Sphalerite
  76
Other ore minerals
  78
   
Minerals of the hydrothermal alteration
zones in skarns
   80
Apophyllite (hydroxyapophyllite)
  80
Dannemorite
  81
Hisingerite
  81
Sepiolite
  82
Siderite
  82
Stilbite
  83
Stilpnomelane
  84
   
Minerals of oxidized zones in sulfide ores
   85
Smithsonite
  85
   
Part 2. Borosilikatnoye deposit  87
   
2.1. Historical Essay
 90
2.2. Geological setting
 92
2.3. Skarns (general characteristics)
 94
2.4. Processes and stages of mineralization
 98
2.5. Mineralized cavities in skarn bodies
 102
2.6. Minerals
 104
   
Rock-forming minerals
   105
Axinite (manganaxinite)
  105
Danburite
  106
Datolite
  107
Garnet (andradite-grossular)
  111
Hedenbergite
  111
Wollastonite
  112
Minor rock-forming minerals
  113
   
Minerals formed in cavities
  113
Apophyllite (fluorapophyllite)
  113
Calcite
  114
Native arsenic, antimony, and bismuth
  117
Quartz
  118
   
Minerals of the hydrothermally altered rocks
  120
   
Minerals of cement in brecciation zones
  120
   
Minerals of sulfide bodies
  120
   
Geographic Appendix    121
   
References  123