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Fluorite

Reading through Westgarth Forster's 1821, “A Treatise on a Section of the Strata from Newcastle to Cross Fell”, I came across the following (on page 216): “Fluor spar occurs in veins in a great many different colours, viz. white, green, violet, yellow, red, and brown. Its most general form, when crystallized, is a cube, but it is frequently met with in the form of an octahedron and cubo octahedron, it also occurs in amorphous shapeless masses.”

Many of the specimens shown here are published in The Mineralogical Record 52 (2), 159-166.
In addition to Westgarth's cubes and octahedra; dodecahedron, trapezoidal icositetrahedron, trisoctahedron, tetrahexahedron and hexoctahedron forms also occur, often in combination, as shown in the images below. The dominant forms may change during crystal growth with earlier forms recorded as "phantoms" within the final crystal (see the "Polish Prodigy Pocket" fluorites illustrated below).

Twins in fluorite are fascinating, involving a 180 (or 60 degree) rotation around [111] and interpenetration of the two twin members. Increasing crystal complexity makes penetration twins challenging to interpret (e.g. see the "Fluorite Berry" twin from Colorado illustrated below). Pseudohexagonal penetration twins involving flattened cube-octahedral forms (often with several other forms present) have been widely misidentified as spinel law contact-twins, but they lack the diagnostic composition plane. Genuine spinel contact-twins in fluorite are very rarely seen and a single example is shown here involving cube-dodecahedral crystals from Naica, Mexico.
Fluorites Yellow fluorite untwinned crystal, 4 cm specimen, Hilton Mine, Scordale, North Pennines, Cumbria. Fluorite Ray Gill 2.jpg Fluorite, Cave-in-Rock, Hardin County, Illinois, 20 cm, crystals to 10 cm on edge. 5 cm Fluorite euhedron, Boltsburn Mine, Weardale, Co Durham Fluorite, luminous green octahedra to 18 mm across on 33 mm quartz matrix. Riemvasmaak, Kakamas, South Africa
22 mm white fluorite octahedron on a 3 cm book of muscovite. Chumar Bakhoor, Gilgit District, Northern Areas, Pakistan. Gem 3 cm fluorite from near Chamonix, French Alps, showing octahedron and trisoctahedron Ideal model of Chamonix fluorite Detail of Chamonix fluorite showing etch patterns Fluorite Okorusu cuboctahedra.jpg Fluorite dodecahedron, Xianghualing Mine, Hunan
Xianghualing fluorite crystal model Fluorite Jaimina cubedodecahedra.jpg Dark purple fluorite hexoctahedron, Belomont Mine, Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 25 x 22 x 14 mm Crystal model for Belmonte Mine fluorite showing {621} hexoctahedron Fluorite hexoctahedron-cube combination, 15 mm crystal on 45 mm baryte matrix. Emilio Mine, Asturias, Spain. Jaimina fluorite crystal model
Smooth blue cube face surrounded by stepped hexoctahedral faces, fluorite crystals on quartz Detail of 1 cm gem twin from the Hilton Mine showing hexoctahedral corner modifications. Huanggang trisoctahedral fluorite crystals on quartz Huanggang trisoctahedral fluorite crystals on quartz No. 4 Mine, Huanggang 10 mm rough trisoctahedral fluorite crystal with many growth hillocks on 118 x 92 x 20 mm matrix Huanggang trisoctahedral fluorite crystal model
Jaimina fluorite 1.jpg Jaimina fluorite 2.jpg Jaimina fluorite closerview.jpg A model to explain the Jaimina crystals Hexoctahedron with cube, Fontsante Mine, France. 4 x 3 cm. Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, 162 x 133 x 25 mm
Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, 162 x 133 x 25 mm Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, 162 x 133 x 25 mm Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, 162 x 133 x 25 mm Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, 162 x 133 x 25 mm Zoned fluorite from the Polish Prodigy Pocket, Okorusu Mine, Namibia, explanation of growth stages Fluorite colour-zoned interpenetrant twins to 2 cm on 10 cm drusy quartz matrix, Cambokeels Mine.
3 cm interpenetrant twin of purple fluorite from the Frazers Hush Mine, Weardale, County Durham. 3 cm interpenetrant twin of purple fluorite from the Frazers Hush Mine, Weardale, County Durham. Fluorite penetration twin, 37 mm across, Blackdene Mine, Weardale, Co Duram, UK. ex Arthur Scoble Fluorite amber Hilton.jpg UV image of the preceding specimen. Purple to green zoned fluorite in 18 mm interpenetrant twin, 3 cm specimen. Blue Circle Quarry, Eastgate, Weardale, Co Durham.
UV image of the preceding specimen. Heights Mine fluorite, 5 cm, Eastgate, Weardale, Co Durham. Beautiful sharp, undamaged, gemmy crystals. Fluorite UV Heights Mine, Weardale, Co Durham, UK. Purple to green zoned fluorite in 18 mm interpenetrant twin, Blue Circle Quarry, Eastgate, Weardale, Co Durham. Fluorite penetration twin (35 mm on edge) with galena (3 cm crystal) and calcite, 8 cm specimen, Boltsburn Mine, Co Durham. Fluorite twin, 65 mm, hexoctahedral and shallow tetrahexahedral faces are seen. Boltsburn Mine, Weardale, Co Durham.
Explanation of a 65 mm Boltsburn fluorite.png Model of Boltsburn twin Model of Boltsburn twin with twinning axis vertical Transparent green fluorite crystals to 22 mm on edge in 10 cm group. Middlehope Shields Mine, Westgate, Weardale, County Durham. Detail of Middlehope Shield (Old Vein) green fluorite showing thin purple phantoms in a crystal 22 mm on edge.  Fluorite penetration twin, 17 mm group. Icositetrahedron, dodecahedron and cube faces visible. Smoky Hawk Mine, Colorado, USA.
Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cube-octahedra, 11 cm. Erongo, Namibia. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cube-octahedra, 11 cm. Erongo, Namibia. Twin domains highlighted. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cubeoctahedra, 3 cm. Erongo, Namibia. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cube-octahedra, 3 cm. Erongo, Namibia. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cubeoctahedra, 3 cm. Erongo, Namibia. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin of cubeoctahedra, 3 cm. Erongo, Namibia.
Colour zoning in Erongo fluorites Colour zoning on dodecahedron in elongate crystals from China 32 mm specimen from Inner Mongolia showing purple dodecahedron faces truncating early octahedron, enveloped in cube-octahedron colour zoning in Chinese fluorite (32 mm Inner Mongolia specimen). An early habit with purple dodecahedron faces bevelling an oc Colour zoning on hexoctahedron faces, Qinglong Mine,  Guizhou Pseudohexagonal fluorite gem complex penetration twin, 47 mm across. Chumar Bakhoor, Hunza Valley, Northern Areas, Pakistan.
Fluorite penetration twin, 18 mm main twin, 22mm specimen. Naica, Mexico. Cube, dodecahedron and icositetrahon faces visible. Pseudohexagonal fluorite penetration twin, 18 mm twin. Naica, Mexico. Cube, dodecahedron and icositetrahedron faces visible. Fluorite spinel twin, 2 cm on 7 cm specimen. Composition plane horizontal. Naica,Chihuahua, Mexico. Fluorite spinel twin, 2 cm on 7 cm specimen. Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. Crystal model for optical transparent colourless crystals from Nikolaivsky Mine, Dalnegorsk Cube-dodecahedron on 14 cm specimen from Nikolaevskiy Mine, Dalnegorsk
Fluorite crystals to 7 cm in 14 cm specimen from Nikolaevskiy Mine, Dalnegorsk Early and late stage crystals on a single specimen specimen from Nikolaevskiy Mine, Dalnegorsk Complex fluorite crystals from Erongo, Namibia, 9 cm, backlit Complex fluorite crystals from Erongo, Namibia, 9 cm, backlit, labelled Complex fluorite crystals from Erongo, Namibia, 9 cm, labelled Model of complex fluorite crystals from Erongo, Namibia
Model of complex fluorite crystals from Erongo, Namibia Larkin Quarry fluorite showing dodecahedron, cube and hexoctahedron Larkin Quarry fluorite showing dodecahedron, cube and hexoctahedron Larkin Quarry fluorite model Heilongjiang fluorite Heilongjiang fluorite
Heilongjiang fluorite Gem crystal perched on earlier stepped octahedron. Wulaga, Heilongjiang. Cube, dodecahedron and two hexoctahedrons Gem crystal. Wulaga, Heilongjiang. Cube, dodecahedron and two hexoctahedrons Gem crystal. Wulaga, Heilongjiang. Cube, dodecahedron, hexoctahedron and trapezohedron Gem crystal. Wulaga, Heilongjiang. Cube, dodecahedron, hexoctahedrons Gem crystals. Wulaga, Heilongjiang. Cube, dodecahedron, hexoctahedrons
Detail showing hexoctahedron overgrowths on earlier cube-octahedron Heilongjiang composite form showing dark purple octahedron within. Heilongjiang near colourless crystal 14 x 10 cm slab with numerous crystals from a famous 1963 find at the Cäcilia Mine, Wölsendorf, Bavaria, Germany Computed topography images of the Cäcilia Mine specimen Pseudo-scalenohedral etched fluorite (ca 2 cm length) from a famous find at the Cäcilia Mine, Wölsendorf, Bavaria, Germany