Scalenohedral – Scalenohedron-shaped, pointy ends

March 13, 2023
by

Common examples include: calcite, rhodochrosite, titanite

Fluorite, Rhodochrosite Locality: Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru (Locality at mindat.org) Size: miniature, 5 x 3.8 x 2.6 cm Rhodochrosite and Fluorite on Geothite The major crystal here is 4.5 cm , or almost 2 inches, tall! EVERYTHING is a consistent, deep red, cherry color that is tops for the locality. Lustre is very high, and the surfaces are not pitted as you sometimes see on large crystals from Peru. The sharp terminations stick out every which way and you can display this as shown, upside down or right side up, or vertically with the major crystal pointing up and the others pointing to the left and out. There is no damage showing form the display face, and only a small bit of contacting, and that on the periphery. It is very 3-dimensional and dramatic, any way you look at it! The small, dodecahedral fluorites add a nice accent. This thing GLOWS in a showcase.

In crystallography, “regular” right “symmetric” “didigonal” (8-faced) and ditrigonal (12-faced) scalenohedra exist. The smallest geometric scalenohedra have eight faces, and are topologically identical to the regular octahedron. In this case (2n = 2×2), in crystallography, a “regular” right “symmetric” “didigonal” (8-faced) scalenohedron is called a tetragonal scalenohedron.

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.