Detailed information
Species
Parkinsonite, Mendipite, Chloroxiphite
Dimensions
43 x 37 x 30
mm
Locality
Torr Works Quarry (Merehead Quarry) Cranmore Somerset, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
This miniature specimen heralds from one of the famous lead oxychloride-bearing manganese oxide 'pods' exposed at Merehead quarry (aka Torr Works quarry) in Somerset, England during the 1970s or 1980s. Within the black powdery manganese oxides are cavities completely infilled with Hydrocerussite followed by fibrous Mendipite at the centre. Within the Mendipite are even rarer microscopic inclusions of red Parkinsonite, green Chloroxiphite and blue Diaboleite. This extremely rare combination of minerals has only ever been seen at a handful of locations in the Mendip Hills and not within recent memory. Merehead quarry is the Type Locality for Parkinsonite, an extremely rare lead molybdenum oxychloride, named after Reginald Parkinson (1928-1993) a local mineral dealer based in East Cranmore during the 1970s.