Chabazite

A pleasing specimen featuring well-formed white chabazite crystals scattered across a narrow wedge of basalt matrix from the Maxwell Quarries, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The chabazite crystals form bright, blocky rhombohedral faces with a soft pearly to vitreous lustre, standing out attractively against the dark volcanic host rock and clearly displays the classic habit typical of the species.

Maxwell Quarries are situated along the western margin of the Antrim Plateau Basalts, a vast Paleogene volcanic province in Northern Ireland known for producing a wide variety of zeolite minerals in cavities within the basalt flows. Chabazite is among the most characteristic species from these basalts, forming in vesicles as late-stage hydrothermal fluids altered the volcanic rock. Well-preserved specimens such as this represent classic material from one of Ireland’s best-known zeolite occurrences. From the international collection of Robert Yeoman.