SC998 – Diopside and Phlogopite from Afghanistan

Mar 16, 2024 | Diopside, Mineral Collection, Phlogopite

Large matrix piece of blockly green dioside crystals embedded in white calcite with a coating of brown phlogopite flakes. Interesting reactions under UV light. The diopside fluoresces gray, mostly under short and long wave UV. The phlogopite fluoresces bright yellow under shortwave, and becomes more and more dim and the color shift to orange moving to mid and long wave UV. Finally, the calcite responds its typical red, brightest under midwave. As a little surprise, there is a little chip of fluorapatite, revealed by its violet fluorescence under midwave UV. While the short and mid wave photos are quite striking on their own, the photo under both short and mid wave UV at the same time is even better. Adding longwave for a “full wave” photo makes the diopside a bit brighter, but also washes the calcite color; I prefer the mid and short wave photo. The longwave photo alone was quite boring.
Locality: Kokcha Valley, Badakhshan, Afghanistan (Mindat)
MinID: 9V5-E4F
Size: 14 x 8 x 7 cm
Weight: 1 kg
Fluorescence under fullwave: shortwave plus midwave plus longwave UV light.
Fluorescence under shortwave UV light.
Fluorescence under midwave UV light.
Fluorescence under shortwave and midwave UV light.
Normal light.