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