Specifications
Description
Locality: Red River Floodway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
The Red River Floodway is a 49 km channel along Winnipeg's eastern edge, built to divert spring floodwater around the city. It was completed in 1968. Selenite was found in test holes and during construction from 1959 on, and rockhounds have collected rosettes from the floodway banks ever since. Later excavation to expand the floodway exposed more crystals that are normally about six metres underground.
The clusters begin as balls of intersecting crystals. Larger crystals can then grow outward from the centre, and these are often twinned into a shape that resembles a duck's bill. According to the Fluorescent Mineral Society, these duck bill crystals are known only from the Red River Floodway deposit. Under ultraviolet light they glow brightly and keep glowing for a while afterwards.
Selenite is the clear, crystalline form of gypsum, a hydrated calcium sulfate (CaSO4·2H2O), the same mineral used to make drywall. Around Winnipeg, selenite grows as rosettes, many crystals radiating from a common centre, inside the thick clay left by glacial Lake Agassiz, which covered much of southern Manitoba during the Pleistocene. The crystals range from clear or very pale yellow to rich amber.
This one of a kind Duckbill Selenite mineral specimen from Manitoba, Canada features a dense rosette-like cluster of broad, flattened gypsum crystals in warm honey-brown to amber tones. The larger crystals form wide, pointed “duckbill” shapes around the outside of the specimen, while smaller bladed crystals fill the center in tightly packed overlapping growths. Many of the crystal faces are translucent along the edges and show a soft glassy to pearly luster, with earthy surface coatings and natural inclusions giving the specimen a darker brown appearance in places. Several crystals also show light-catching internal reflections and minor iridescent flashes, adding contrast to the layered, fan-like structure.
Selenite is a crystalline variety of gypsum, a hydrated calcium sulfate mineral that forms in evaporite environments where mineral-rich waters leave deposits behind. Manitoba Golden Duck Bill Selenite is especially known for these unusual flattened blade formations, most commonly associated with the Red River Floodway area near Winnipeg and gypsum-rich clay deposits connected to the ancient Lake Agassiz basin. These specimens are admired for their warm golden, amber, smoky, champagne, and root-beer colouration, rosette-like clusters, and distinctive “duck bill” crystal habit, which make them very different from the long clear selenite wands found in many other regions. Collecting at the Red River Floodway is now restricted. The floodway is provincial flood-control infrastructure, and digging is only allowed with provincial permission, so new material rarely reaches the market.
In crystal traditions, selenite is associated with cleansing, clarity and calm.
Chemical Composition: CaSO4·2H2O
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.