Fulgurita Lechaterielita
Fulgurita is a mineral with formula SiO₂, in the Silicatos group. This specimen comes from Níger and joined the Terrium collection in 1980.
Description
Fine, hollow tubular structure formed by lightning-fused sand. It shows a well-defined internal channel and a white, granular, vitrified external surface, with small branches and grey protuberances, like solidified froth along the main axis. The texture is fragile and sandy at the edges.
History of this specimen
This is from the numbered collection of a Swiss collector in Geneva who began assembling pieces in the late 1950s and died c. 2017. The piece retains the old number "1459", kept as part of its lineage.
About Fulgurita
Not a mineral but a natural silica glass formed when lightning strikes quartz or very pure siliceous sand. Its hollow tubular shape with small branches results from fast fusion and rapid solidification of the material.
About the locality
Fulgurites from Niger form in desert soils rich in extremely pure quartz sand, which favours thin, well-preserved, highly branched tubes. The intensity of thunderstorms in the region permits the development of complex, conspicuous fusion channels.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0273
- Composition
- SiO₂
- Name
- Fulgurita
- Variety
- Lechaterielita
- Group
- Silicatos
- Category
- Estélites
- Country
- Níger
- Size (cm)
- 10 x 1.7 x 1.7
- Weight
- 10 g
- Acquired
- 1980
- Ex-collection
- Coleccionista de Ginebra (sin identificar)
- Etymology
- Named in honour of the French chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier.
- Quality
- Muy buena
- Value trend
- Estable
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