Mineral Fluorescence Under Blue Light
The geology community knows a lot about mineral fluorescence under excitation by various wavelengths of ultraviolet light but when it comes to excitation by light in the visible portion of the spectrum, such as blue, … not so much. In December 2013 Charles Mazel (NIGHTSEA) and Earl Verbeek (Sterling Hill Mining Museum) explored the extensive collection of the Franklin Mineral Museum (Franklin, New Jersey, USA) for instances of blue-light-stimulated fluorescence. When fluorescence occurred the specimen was photographed under white light, fluorescing under blue light, and fluorescing under either or both of shortwave and longwave ultraviolet light. The results were published in September 2014 – Mazel, C.H. and Verbeek, E.R. (2014), Fluorescence of minerals under blue light. The Picking Table (Journal of the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society), vol. 55, no. 2, p. 13-25.
The editors of The Picking Table have graciously allowed us to make the fall 2014 issue with our article on blue light mineral fluorescence available for free download. And we certainly encourage you to join FOMS so that you can keep up with their activities and receive future issues.
We are sharing the photographic results in a series of blog posts, each documenting one specimen. This page summarizes the posts that have been made to date. Click any image to go to that page for that mineral
Bustamite
Charlesite / Clinohedrite
Clinohedrite
Esperite
Fluorapatite
Gypsum
Hardystonite
Hedyphane
Hemimorphite
Hodgkinsonite
Hydrozincite
Johannsenite
Meionite
Norbergite and Ruby
Prehnite and Pectolite
Quartz
Roeblingite
Xonotlite and Roeblingite