Barite occurs as white tabular plates or rosettes, on chlorite and in weathered zones, and as chunky white bipyramids. Barite can be found with chabazite, gypsum, analcime, and harmotome-phillipsite. Below: Pseudohexagonal Barite, Bickers Quarry (Simpkins Quarry), Tokatoka, Kaipara District, Northland Region, North Island, New Zealand. Width of view 3mm.
Chabazite-Na (“herschelite“) crystals are found in many vugs, as single yellowish, cream, white or colourless hexagonal plates, with striated prism faces and matt-finish flat surfaces. Under magnification the flat surfaces are shown to be made of many tiny points. These crystals are splendid examples of the “herschelite” crystal shape, and...
Apatite occurs as fine needles, often coated with brown chlorite. Occasionally it is strung with tiny “herschelite” (chabazite-Na) crystals. Below: Prismatic coated apatite crystal with yellow hexagonal chabazite-Na and orange chlorite. Width of view 6mm.
Analcime is found as small water-clear trapezohedra, occasionally with white cores, and often with square c-faces. Larger crystals are usually crackled and clouded. It is associated with most other minerals, but less common in vugs, and analcime is the mineral most likely to be found coating old fractures. Below: Three...
Analcime is found as small water-clear trapezohedra, occasionally with white cores, and often with square c-faces. Larger crystals are usually crackled and clouded. It is associated with most other minerals, but less common in vugs, and analcime is the mineral most likely to be found coating old fractures. Below: Unidentified...
Bickers Quarry (originally described as Simpkins Quarry) has been owned by Mr. S. Bicker. It is on the north side of Tokatoka Road, a short way east of the junction with Simpkin Road, about 3.5km northeast of Tokatoka (Fig 1 and Fig 2). Tokatoka is about 15km southeast of Dargaville...
Octahedral magnetite crystals with yellowish chabazite and dark brown siderite. Chabazite-Na (“herschelite“) crystals are found in many vugs, as single yellowish, cream, white or colourless hexagonal plates, with striated prism faces and matt-finish flat surfaces. Under magnification the flat surfaces are shown to be made of many tiny points. These...
Calcite is abundant, and often is the only mineral in a cavity. It generally grows directly on the vugh walls, but also occurs on phillipsite, and may have phillipsite, erionite or barite growing on it. Perhaps the commonest form is clear to white “castles” of a rounded tapering crystal with...
Quartz occurs as small prismatic crystals or drusy coatings on other minerals. There are also seams of agate at Moeraki Point. Below: Small colourless quartz on white calcite, on brown nontronite(?), Moeraki Point Quarry, Otago, New Zealand. Width of view 11.5mm. Ex Jo Price Collection.
Twinned phillipsite crystals on and with calcite. Ex Jo Price Collection. Below: Phillipsite on calcite, Moeraki Point, Otago, New Zealand. Width of view 5.75mm.
These crystals were noted early in investigations, and were thought of as aragonite sixlings. However Ruth Jacobsen sent some specimens to William Henderson who wrote up the mineral in the Mineralogical Record, Vol 14, No 1, 1983. “It was immediately sight-identifiable as erionite, being identical in crystal form to that...
Phillipsite is very common at Moeraki. It may occur as large single crystals or clusters with distinctive cross-hatching on the faces. Water-clear balls of phillipsite are very common, recognised by the four sides to each point on the ball. These balls often have a milky centre or a hollow core....
