Fluorapatite

Rich blue lustrous fluorapatite crystal. The crystal has a nice termination on one end, the other end must have been lost in the host rock. It's incredibly difficult to extract these crystals in one piece! Blue is one of the more rare colours for apatite in the region. And this one is very blue, making for a great sample!

During the Grenvillian orogeny these rocks had undergone intense deformation and intense metamorphism where calcitic marbles now dominate the lithology. Metasomatic reaction zones developed at the contacts of calcitic marbles and silicate rocks, causing remobilized carbonates with higher than usual quantities of fluorapatite to be injected into country rocks. Blue apatite or green is generally associated with calcite and the crystals are disseminated in clusters.*

*Géologie de la région du lac Sainte-Marie - Comté de Gatineau Cette étude s'est effectuée en coopération avec l'INRS-Géoressources. By Louise Langlais

Read the full report on the Lac Sainte-Marie area here (you may need to use google translate):  https://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/examine/MB9351/MB9351.pdf