Mexico

Mexico fluorescent minerals

The specimens shown at right are calcite from the Challenger Mine in Mexico. The first two rows are a white calcite as shown in the first column in normal light. Under long wave ultraviolet light, the specimens in the middle column fluoresce a light pink. The photos in the far right column fluoresce a light blue under short wave ultraviolet light. An added bonus to the specimens in the first two rows is that they phosphoresce for a short while after the lights are turned off.

The second two rows are a yellow calcite from the same location. The first column shows the specimens in normal lighting conditions to be a creamy white. The middle column show the specimens fluorescing a milky opaque white under long wave ultraviolet light. The specimens in the far right column show the specimens fluorescing a slightly brighter opaque white under short wave ultraviolet light.

The third set of two rows are of Mexican fluorites from level 1 of the mine in Mapemi, Durango, Mexico. This rare fluorite is one of the few fluorites which fluoresces red under long wave ultraviolet light. Its fluorescence under short wave under my lighting system is too weak to photograph. It may appear brighter under a stronger short wave system than I currently have.

The fourth set of two rows are smithsonite from the El Refugio Mine in Choix, Sinaloa, Mexico. Generally smithsonite does not fluoresce, but some of the specimens from this location do. It fluoresces only under short wave. The colors are pink, light blue, and green. The green areas will phosphoresce for a short while after the lights are turned off in a dark room. The phosphorescence is due to the fact that smithsonite is a zinc carbonate. Willemite from New Jersey, USA has similar properties.

Smithsonite gets its name from James Smithson, who was the illegitimate son of Hugh Smithson (a British nobel, the first Duke of Northumberland). He was born James Lewis Macie, in France in 1765 and later adopted his father's name and became a naturalized British citizen.

Smithson was very interested in chemistry and mineralogy and devoted much of his time to the qualitative analysis of minerals. One of the most significant of his many papers regarding mineralogy was "A Chemical Analysis of Some Calamines." He showed that calamine actually consists of two minerals, zinc oxide and zinc carbonate. It is the zinc carbonate which was later named "smithsonite" in his honor.

Smithson died on June 27, 1829 in Italy and was buried in Genoa. He amassed a sizable fortune during his lifetime which eventually was given "to the United States of America, to found at Washington , under the name of Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge..".

Regular lighting

Long wave ultraviolet light

Short wave ultraviolet light

No long wave image available

Short wave ultraviolet light

No short wave image available

Short wave ultraviolet light