Blueberries of Azurite

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Title: Blueberries of Azurite
Medium: Digital Photography
Photographer: Aaron J. Greenblatt
Camera Type: Panasonic DMC-LZ7 Lumix 7.2 MP
Editing: Edited in PhotoShop 7.0 for color accuracy, size, and to apply copyright and border.

Location: Photograph taken at the 49^th Annual Gem and Mineral Show held at the American 1 FED, C.U. Event Center - Jackson County Fairgrounds in Jackson, Michigan on March 18, 2011. Show hosted by the Michigan Gem & Mineral Society of Jackson.

Description: Sitting out in the open in a tray on a dealer's table, were these bright blue spheres composed of the mineral azurite. Each one was about a centimeter in width and they were selling for $1 each.

These azurite spheres are completely natural, and were found in a soft deposit of Dakota sandstone in the La Sal mountains of Utah. Forming alongside the mineral hydrohetaerolite ( Zn₂Mn₃+⁴O₈ • H₂O ), these azurite spheres quickly weather out, and so specimens containing matrix are far rarer than these individual spheres.

About Azurite Uses: Azurite was used as a blue pigment, and as a fabric dye, for centuries. Depending on the degree of fineness to which it was ground, and its basic content of copper carbonate, a wide range of blue colors could be created. When mixed with oil, azurite turns slightly green. When mixed with egg yolk, it turns green-grey. Gentle heating of azurite produces a deep blue pigment which was used in Japanese painting techniques. Azurite has also been recognized as a major source of the blue colors used by medieval painters.

Azurite is used occasionally as beads and as jewelry, and also as an ornamental stone. However, its softness and tendency to lose its deep blue color as it weathers, limits such uses. Heating destroys azurite easily, so all mounting of azurite specimens into jewelry pieces must be done at room temperature. Azurite is also a good surface indicator of the presence of weathered copper sulfide ores, and it has been used by geologists and miners for centuries to identify such deposits.

Information Sources:
[link] (handbook of mineralogy - hydrohetaerolite)
[link] (mindat - hydrohetaerolite)
[link] (mindat - azurite)
[link] (wiki - azurite)
[link] (galleries - azurite)

Legal: Copyright © Aaron J. Greenblatt. All rights reserved. Commercial use prohibited. This image and personal commentary may not be used for any reason without expressed written consent.


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