Geology Picture of the Week, September 18-24, 2005: Graphite from Sterling Hill

Michigan Technological University ^ | 1994 | John A. Jaszczak

[cogitator]

Sorry this is at the end of the work-week; I had to travel a bit earlier this week.

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but graphite crystals are rarer.

More on Sterling Hill:

Sterling Hill Mining Museum

[cogitator]

I've heard of this place previously because of the fluorescent minerals that the mine produced:

Thomas S. Warren Museum of Fluorescence

[cogitator]

** ping **

[texianyankee]

Nice! I didnt realize that Jersey had such a site.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Add me to your geology ping list please.

[bert]

How large are those crystals?

I visited Lead Mine road in Raleigh NC to find the mine. I quizzed old timers at a nearby store and heard tales of the civil war and bullets from the mine.

I finally got my trusty topo map and started hunting the mine site on foot. I finally found a pretty good sized hole in the ground and lots of rock with graphite threads.

It apparently was pencil lead.

[cogitator]

How large are those crystals?

According to the Web page that these pictures are on, about 1-2 mm.

It appears that there are lots of other graphite morphologies, but pure crystals like this are rare.

[cogitator]

You've been added to the list.

[Tolkien]

**ping**

[mtbopfuyn]

Neat! Tried a septarian nodule under a regular black light but no florescence.