WGNHS
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey

Celestine

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Celestine Crystals, Mackville Quarry, Outagamie County, WI. Crystal is 2 cm across. (Image courtesy W. S. Cordua.)

Formula: SrSO4 Orthorhombic

Description:Celestine forms as a groundwater or low temperature hydrothermal precipitate in sedimentary rocks such as limestones and dolostones.IRON COUNTY: Dickey (1938) describes celestine as occurring in small bluish crystals up to 0.3 mm long with quartz and manganite at the Montreal Mine. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis performed at Michigan Technological University revealed that some samples previously labeled baryte from the Cary and Montreal Mines were either entirely or partly celestine. (George Balogh, 2017, pers. comm.).KENOSHA COUNTY: Celestine occurs in a subsurface, diamond-bearing lamprophyre diatreme discovered within the outskirts of Kenosha. (Carlson and Adams, 1997, Carlson, pers. com.).

MILWAUKEE COUNTY: Celestine has been reported at several locations in the Milwaukee area. Lapham (1877) notes its formation in clay in a limestone crevice in Wauwatosa. Hobbs (1895) reports celestine as intergrown white to bluish-white crystals in masses “as large as a man’s head” in Milwaukee’s “cement rock quarries”. Zeitner (1988) reports celestine found during the excavation of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area Deep Tunnel Sewer Project. Waste rock from this excavation was dumped opposite Milwaukee County Stadium.

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY: Blue-white celestine crystals in vugs “about the size of a golf ball” was found in a quarry in Kaukauna (WNHGS files).
— White to pale blue euhedral celestine crystals several centimeters long occur in fractures in limestone. in the Mackville quarry in sec. 8 T.22N R.18E., north of Appleton. (Gary Richards, 1997, pers. comm., Carl Cochrane, 1998, pers. comm.)

WINNEBAGO COUNTY: Rare orange celestine is reported in spoils heaps in the Tullar Road Quarry in Neenah. (Carl Cochrane, 1999, pers. com.)