UV Lights and Fluorescent Minerals - a fun side hobby to metal detecting !

[GKL]

KT got banned from Facebook about 3 years back...some scoundrel hacked KT's Facebook Account and and changed the Royal Password...after repeated attempts to log back on, KT was deemed a hacker and banned for life! KT decided He did not want to be on Facebook anymore anyway anyhow! Lived 67 years of my life off of it, was on it for 3 years, then kicked off, THWT. His Majesty will live the rest of His Royal Life without that nonesense! So do not expect KT to contact them via Facebook. Today He filed an official complaint through PayPal and also mailed their home office a letter, strongly worded!

They have no local Chapter in Arkansas, and KT is not interested in attending any of their regional meetings. In 2000 KT was President of the National Friends of Mineralogy and knows how such organizations should be run, but they just do not seem to be with it....too bad...their loss, not KTs.

His Majesty did get two of the three books on Fluorescent Minerals today that He ordered off of Amazon....other book will arrive in a few days...early next week. Then will give the info on what one needs to have some reference materials available for this hobby! Stay tuned!

I'm not crazy about Facebook but it's about the only way my far away relatives keep in touch occasionally.

I just checked that Facebook page again and it says they have 5.9K members, so I wonder how many of them signed up for the paid membership in the FMS ?

I only registered for their web site (not Facebook) but did not join as a paid member.

On their web site it does ask current members "Have you renewed your membership for 2021 ?" .......So based on the lack of response you got so far at this point I am not sure if they are just slow in processing new members or what ?

 

[KingTotsalot]

Alrighty, interested parties! KT had some free time after church today so He got together four specimens to photograph in both natural light and in UV. So here is the explanation:

Pair 1 - Calcite cleavage from Midwest Quarry, Batesville, Arkansas - natural light and LW UV 365 nm. Almost invisible spots within the calcite of contained hydrocarbons (oil) fluoresce from orange to yellow. These are just beneath the surface of the translucent whitish calcite. 10X magnification.

Pair 2 - Spessartine garnet with essentially invisible hyaline opal coating the matrix, but under LW UV 365, the patchy colorless opal gives off a nice green response. Hunan, China. 10X magnification.

Pair 3 - A cream to whitish crust of hydrozincite from Narlala zinc mine, W. Australia, 10X magnification. Nice bright white fluorescent response with SW UV 254nm light.

Pair 4 - Willemite, Sterling mine, Franklin, NJ. Likely the best known locality in the world for fluorescent minerals. Willemite in clear to transparent patches in franklinite in natural light. Brilliant green fluorescence in SW UV 254nm. 10 X magnification.

Hope everyone enjoys these pics!

 

[GKL]

Alrighty, interested parties! KT had some free time after church today so He got together four specimens to photograph in both natural light and in UV. So here is the explanation:

Pair 1 - Calcite cleavage from Midwest Quarry, Batesville, Arkansas - natural light and LW UV 365 nm. Almost invisible spots within the calcite of contained hydrocarbons (oil) fluoresce from orange to yellow. These are just beneath the surface of the translucent whitish calcite. 10X magnification.

Pair 2 - Spessartine garnet with essentially invisible hyaline opal coating the matrix, but under LW UV 365, the patchy colorless opal gives off a nice green response. Hunan, China. 10X magnification.

Pair 3 - A cream to whitish crust of hydrozincite from Narlala zinc mine, W. Australia, 10X magnification. Nice bright white fluorescent response with SW UV 254nm light.

Pair 4 - Willemite, Sterling mine, Franklin, NJ. Likely the best known locality in the world for fluorescent minerals. Willemite in clear to transparent patches in franklinite in natural light. Brilliant green fluorescence in SW UV 254nm. 10 X magnification.

Hope everyone enjoys these pics!

All neat additions KT !!!!

I especially like how in the first one the fluorescent reaction lights up from inside the Calcite !

 

[KingTotsalot]

All neat additions KT !!!!

I especially like how in the first one the fluorescent reaction lights up from inside the Calcite !

Glad you picked up on that, GKL! The petroleum was enclosed by the calcite as it was forming! KT has a fluorite octahedral cleavage that displays this phenomenon also, along growth planes within the original crystal...same process as how phantoms form.

 

[KingTotsalot]

OK, the last of the books on fluorescent minerals showed up today......

So here are the promised pictures of my reference materials. The first three books have excellent images to aid in identification, one in particular has natural light pictures and then with the specimen fluorescing.

The first three are for sale on Amazon.com, the 4th one KT found on eBay, and the last one was given to me by the author...Manuel Robbins.

These are very handy for finding published locations, as well as using Mindat.org on the Internet!

Anyway, enjoy looking! Words of advise....Educate yourself, read a good book!

 

[GKL]

So here are the promised pictures of my reference materials. The first three books have excellent images to aid in identification, one in particular has natural light pictures and then with the specimen fluorescing.

The first three are for sale on Amazon.com, the 4th one KT found on eBay, and the last one was given to me by the author...Manuel Robbins.

These are very handy for finding published locations, as well as using Mindat.org on the Internet!

Anyway, enjoy looking! Words of advise....Educate yourself, read a good book!

Neat books KT !!!!

After seeing some of the cover pics I'd hope they'd come with a sample mineral of one of the pics

 

[KingTotsalot]

Neat books KT !!!!

After seeing some of the cover pics I'd hope they'd come with a sample mineral of one of the pics

HA HA...well, NO! But by looking at the pictures, you can pick out those that are interesting to you and check out eBay to see what is available! To me it is great that we are not really looking for a showy, pricy specimen, but a 2" piece that has decent fluorescent response that looks like an ordinary rock in normal light!

 

[GKL]

Neat books KT !!!!

After seeing some of the cover pics I'd hope they'd come with a sample mineral of one of the pics

HA HA...well, NO! But by looking at the pictures, you can pick out those that are interesting to you and check out eBay to see what is available! To me it is great that we are not really looking for a showy, pricy specimen, but a 2" piece that has decent fluorescent response that looks like an ordinary rock in normal light!

I was just joking

 

[KingTotsalot]

I was just joking

KT can never tell!

 

[GKL]

KT used their donation page and gave them $60 for a 3 year membership, but has heard nothing from them. Sent them a couple of messages and nothing. His Majesty is getting a bit skeptical about the organization. It does say that they have an annual meeting every year at the Tucson show in February. But they do have an address in Indiana so KT will try snail mail and see if he gets a reply.

Hey KT, I had been wondering if you ever heard back from the Fluorescent Minerals Society of America, not that I'm interested in a paid membership myself, but was simply hoping to hear they were legit and finally contacted you to resolve things.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Hey KT, I had been wondering if you ever heard back from the Fluorescent Minerals Society of America, not that I'm interested in a paid membership myself, but was simply hoping to hear they were legit and finally contacted you to resolve things.

Yes, KT finally received a response from FMS National Secretary that my membership for 3 years was confirmed, and just yesterday His Majesty received a digital copy of their Newsletter, the UV Wave. A couple of interesting articles on collecting fluorescent minerals in Greenland in 2015!

So they are legit, but due to being an all volunteer organization, response times can be a bit slower than expected.

 

[GKL]

Yes, KT finally received a response from FMS National Secretary that my membership for 3 years was confirmed, and just yesterday His Majesty received a digital copy of their Newsletter, the Wavelength. A couple of interesting articles on collecting fluorescent minerals in Greenland in 2015!

So they are legit, but due to being an all volunteer organization, response times can be a bit slower than expected.

Thanks great KT, glad it worked out okay !!!!

I was thinking they likely were legit but maybe just had a slow response time (or that your request got lost or overlooked), but it might be good if they at least posted a note on their website stating response times might be longer than expected due to having an all volunteer staff.

In an earlier post I had mentioned:

(quote)
I registered for the "Fluorescent Mineral Society" web site the other day (it's free to register) and after successfully registering tried to post on their forum at

https://www.uvminerals.org/forum/

and it wouldn't work, I noticed the latest posts were from 2 years ago, at first I thought it was simply a very inactive forum, but now I think it's been broken all that time

I sent them a message about it but have yet to hear back, their forum only has a total of 59 posts I think, I think the FMDF occasionally might sometimes get that many in as little as an hour or two.
(end of quote from an earlier post)

I still have not gotten a response from the message I sent them about their forum, it would be nice to know if they ever plan to fix it

 

[KingTotsalot]

Thanks great KT, glad it worked out okay !!!!

I was thinking they likely were legit but maybe just had a slow response time (or that your request got lost or overlooked), but it might be good if they at least posted a note on their website stating response times might be longer than expected due to having an all volunteer staff.

In an earlier post I had mentioned:

(quote)
I registered for the "Fluorescent Mineral Society" web site the other day (it's free to register) and after successfully registering tried to post on their forum at

https://www.uvminerals.org/forum/

and it wouldn't work, I noticed the latest posts were from 2 years ago, at first I thought it was simply a very inactive forum, but now I think it's been broken all that time

I sent them a message about it but have yet to hear back, their forum only has a total of 59 posts I think, I think the FMDF occasionally might sometimes get that many in as little as an hour or two.
(end of quote from an earlier post)

I still have not gotten a response from the message I sent them about their forum, it would be nice to know if they ever plan to fix it

I think they have basically abandoned their web site in favor of their Facebook page. KT can find no where to enter my membership number to access the members only sections. Anyway it is pretty obvious that it is not regularly attended to.

 

[GKL]

I think they have basically abandoned their web site in favor of their Facebook page. KT can find no where to enter my membership number to access the members only sections. Anyway it is pretty obvious that it is not regularly attended to.

That's the same idea I had thought as a likely possibility, but I'm not crazy about Facebook, always seemed disorganized to me, I had times I would see a post that I would want to find again and it would be hard to find if found at all.

That is why I prefer the forum format, much more organized as to various specific topics within the overall hobby.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Well, KT waited patiently for nearly a month and one of the fluorescent specimens He ordered from eBay finally arrived! All the way from Afghanistan!

KT is posting 2 pictures...the first is a picture of the specimen in natural light. The magnification of the image is ~2X in each picture. Specimen is actually a miniature. Afghanite is the blue mineral in the first picture. This piece is from the Type Locality, where the mineral was first discovered and described from. Do not ask His Majesty to pronounce the locality name, but it is Ladjuar Medam, Badakhshan, Afghanistan.

The second picture is same specimen as it appears with unfiltered LW UV 365nm light.

Dramatic difference, the blue in the second picture is due to reflected long wave light. KT used an orange filter to take a third picture but it made the response too intense and even with image manipulation, the image looked unnatural.

Anyway, KT hopes those who see it will enjoy the images!

 

[GKL]

Well, KT waited patiently for nearly a month and one of the fluorescent specimens He ordered from eBay finally arrived! All the way from Afganistan!

KT is posting 2 pictures...the first is a picture of the specimen in natural light. The magnification of the image is ~2X in each picture. Specimen is actually a miniature. Afganite is the blue mineral in the first picture. This piece is from the Type Locality, where the mineral was first discovered and described from. Do not ask His Majesty to pronounce the locality name, but it is Ladjuar Medam, Badakhshan, Afganistan.

The second picture is same specimen as it appears with unfiltered LW UV 365nm light.

Dramatic difference, the blue in the second picture is due to reflected long wave light. KT used an orange filter to take a third picture but it made the response too intense and even with image manipulation, the image looked unnatural.

Anyway, KT hopes those who see it will enjoy the images!

Neat specimen KT, glad it got to you okay coming from that far away !

It is pretty interesting how the colors "kinda" flip-flop somewhat going from natural to UV light !

 

[KingTotsalot]

OK, here are 4 photos of the same specimen of Powellite-bearing rock. Powellite fluoresces yellowish white. The specimen is from the Hwy 80 Prospect in New Mexico.

Photo 1 - Rock measures 7 cm X 4.5 cm X 2 cm thick. Natural light image.
Photo 2 - same rock, but with SW UV 245 nm light. You will note a few bright specks fluorescing...No that is not lint! HA HA. There are actually about 100 small specks and 2 slightly larger and brighter ones! Note the larger one in the NE quarter of the photo.

Photo 3 is of that ~1 mm grain at 10X magnification with my USB led microscope. It is square in cross section and whitish in color in middle of image.

Photo 4 is that same grain of Powellite in SW UV 254 nm light, displaying a nice yellowish cream glow.

The overall specimen's fluorescence is not spectacular, but when one zooms in on one grain to examine it, it is pretty nice!

Enjoy the photos!

 

[GKL]

OK, here are 4 photos of the same specimen of Powellite-bearing rock. Powellite fluoresces yellowish white. The specimen is from the Hwy 80 Prospect in New Mexico.

Photo 1 - Rock measures 7 cm X 4.5 cm X 2 cm thick. Natural light image.
Photo 2 - same rock, but with SW UV 245 nm light. You will note a few bright specks fluorescing...No that is not lint! HA HA. There are actually about 100 small specks and 2 slightly larger and brighter ones! Note the larger one in the NE quarter of the photo.

Photo 3 is of that ~1 mm grain at 10X magnification with my USB led microscope. It is square in cross section and whitish in color in middle of image.

Photo 4 is that same grain of Powellite in SW UV 254 nm light, displaying a nice yellowish cream glow.

The overall specimen's fluorescence is not spectacular, but when one zooms in on one grain to examine it, it is pretty nice!

Enjoy the photos!

Neat variety of pics KT !!!!

While as you said "the overall specimen's fluorescence is not spectacular" I still think the various details are neat, the green (non-lint ) specks looks like a star field of green stars, and the close up detail was an interesting addition to focus on a close up of that aspect of the rock !

I might not get new specimens as frequently as I'd like, but I do plan on getting more eventually, so I appreciate you having some new ones to show occasionally in the meantime on the thread !

I do plan to do a post hopefully within the next week, showing a small variety of glow in the dark and UV reactive stuff, some of which I got recently, while it is not specifically "fluorescent minerals" I kinda feel it fits in somewhat with the "UV lights" aspect of the thread as a side topic since UV lights are good to charge glow in the dark stuff quickly and of course are used with UV reactive stuff.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Neat variety of pics KT !!!!

While as you said "the overall specimen's fluorescence is not spectacular" I still think the various details are neat, the green (non-lint ) specks looks like a star field of green stars, and the close up detail was an interesting addition to focus on a close up of that aspect of the rock !

I might not get new specimens as frequently as I'd like, but I do plan on getting more eventually, so I appreciate you having some new ones to show occasionally in the meantime on the thread !

I do plan to do a post hopefully within the next week, showing a small variety of glow in the dark and UV reactive stuff, some of which I got recently, while it is not specifically "fluorescent minerals" I kinda feel it fits in somewhat with the "UV lights" aspect of the thread as a side topic since UV lights are good to charge glow in the dark stuff quickly and of course are used with UV reactive stuff.

KT is looking forward to seeing your postings!

While we wait, here is another mineral that arrived today, all the way from Poland! It is an example of cave type formation of barite from the Lubin Copper Mine, Sierozowice Mining District, Lower Silesian Volodeship, SW Poland. Don't ask me how to pronounce those Polish names! The specimen measures 2" X 1 1/4", and therefore is considered a miniature. The first picture is in natural light, and the 2nd picture is in LW UV 365 nm. Note that the different bands fluoresce different intensities of the same bluish white color. It also fluoresces in SW UV but not with the same intensity as with LW.

 

[GKL]

KT is looking forward to seeing your postings!

While we wait, here is another mineral that arrived today, all the way from Poland! It is an example of cave type formation of barite from the Lubin Copper Mine, Sierozowice Mining District, Lower Silesian Volodeship, SW Poland. Don't ask me how to pronounce those Polish names! The specimen measures 2" X 1 1/4", and therefore is considered a miniature. The first picture is in natural light, and the 2nd picture is in LW UV 365 nm. Note that the different bands fluoresce different intensities of the same bluish white color. It also fluoresces in SW UV but not with the same intensity as with LW.

Unusual looking KT, first impression was it looks similar to a sea shell !

Interesting how some minerals glow better under LW and some better under SW (but will glow under both) and some will only glow under either LW or SW but not both.

You are definitely getting specimens from some far out places !