Rare blue Halite (Belsky Coll.)

Item Description

From a classic German locality comes a rare blue halite specimen. This piece has shocking scattered "electric-blue" color within the otherwise water-clear specimen. Three faces appear to be terminated with the other two being cleavages. This is older material from the Howard Belsky Collection. Rarely on the market and highly unusual material. From the CalTech website http://minerals.caltech.edu: Blue halite is the result of exposure to natural radiation. Initially, if halite (common salt) is exposed to gamma radiation, it turns amber because of F-centers. They are mostly electrons trapped at sites of missing Cl- ions. In time the electrons migrate to Na+ ions and reduce it to Na metal.Atoms of Na metal, in turn, migrate to form colloidal sized aggregrates of sodium metal. They are the cause of the blue color.