Formula: CaCO3 HEXAGONAL Description: Calcite sceptor crystals from Shullsburg, Wisconsin. UW–River Falls specimen. Sample is about 8 cm high. (Photo by Pete Rodewald.) Calcite is an abundant mineral found in many geological environments. It forms by precipitation from …
Outagamie County
Celestine
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 …
Corundum
Formula: Al2O3 Hexagonal Description: Corundum is most famous for its rare colored varieties: the bright red ruby and the deep blue sapphire. More often, it is found as drabber blue to blue-gray crystals. Corundum forms in rocks …
Dolomite
Formula: CaMg(CO3)2 Hexagonal Description: Dolomite forms the main mineral in the bluff-forming rocks along the Mississippi River, such as Granddad Bluff near La Crosse. (Image courtesy W. S. Cordua.) Dolomite is an abundant mineral in Wisconsin. It …
Fluorite
Formula: CaF2 Isometric Description: Fluorite crystals, from Sturgeon Bay in Door County, Wisconsin. Field of view is about 4 cm. (Image courtesy W. S. Cordua.) Fluorite often forms coarse cleavable masses or cubic crystals. It can take …
Marcasite
Formula: FeS2 Orthorhombic Description: Marcasite helectite, New Diggings area, Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Sample is about 8 cm long. (Photo by W. Cordua.) Marcasite is common in Wisconsin, often found in well-formed crystals in cavities and veins in the …
Quartz
Formula: SiO2 Hexagonal Description: Quartz is the most abundant mineral. It is an essential component of granitic igneous rocks, of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and chert and of metamorphic rocks such as quartzites. It is a …
Strontianite
Formula: SrCO3 Orthorhombic Description: Strontianite forms white acicular to prismatic crystals. It is found as low temperature hydrothermal mineral and a ground water precipitate, primarily in carbonate sedimentary rocks. LAFAYETTE COUNTY: Radiating crystals on limestone were reported from …