Hematite pseudomorph marcasite
Crystals
Originally formed as marcasite crystals on the sea bottom, these unusual
specimens later were pseudomorphed to hematite. Amazing sculptures. Very attractive example of crstalography in action. They
form all kinds of different shapes.
I first came
along those fantastic stones in 1998 during our first trip to the White Desert in Egypt. Those stones were lying on the desert
floor always close to the amazing chalkstone rocks. They form uncountable different shapes and sizes.
They first stick in the white chalkstone rocks but during erosion
falling to the ground and continous their alteration.
In early stages they are rusty red brown in color and very fragile. After thousand of years lying on the desert
floor they become more and more black at the outside and more compact inside (marcasite-pyrite).
PSEUDOMORPH literally means "false form" and is used in mineralogy
to indicate that a mineral has the outward appearance of a different mineral.
