5.9" Scalenohedral Calcite Lined Keokuk Geode - Illinois

This is a gorgeous keokuk geode that's lined with scalenohedral calcite crystals, collected from Adams County, Illinois. A stand is included with each geode half.

This specimen is a part of an old collection that we recently acquired. Some of these Keokuk geodes come from locations that are no longer collectable.

Unlike most geodes that form in volcanic rock, Keokuk geodes are found in sedimentary rock. They started out as concretions of mud that formed around organic material about 340 million years ago. The outer shells of these concretions were subsequently replaced by chalcedony and the interiors of the concretions were dissolved, leaving a hollow space into which quartz crystals could grow. Most geodes are 2 to 5 inches wide, though specimens as large as two feet across have been found.

Keokuk geodes contain a variety of minerals, but quartz is dominant in most. Many geodes are filled with clear to white quartz crystals. Micro-crystalline quartz, or chalcedony, whose component crystals are too small to be seen with the naked eye, forms the outer shell. Chalcedony layers also encrust the interior walls of many geode cavities, covering the surfaces of the earlier-generation quartz crystals in a variety of colors, including white, gray, blue, yellow and orange. Calcite is also a common mineral in many geodes, though seventeen other minerals have been identified in Keokuk Geodes, including pyrite and sphalerite.

The area around Keokuk, Iowa is sometimes referred to as “the geode capital of the world". In 1967, these geodes were even named the official state rock of Iowa. Geodes have been collected from the Lower Warsaw Formation within about 100 miles of the city for over 150 years.

Calcite, CaCO3, is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Calcite crystals are trigonal-rhombohedral, though actual calcite rhombohedra are rare as natural crystals. However, they show a remarkable variety of habits including acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular forms, and prisms. Calcite exhibits several twinning types adding to the variety of observed forms. It may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Calcite
LOCATION
Adams County, Illinois
SIZE
5.9" wide
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#144757