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The Alma Queen
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This specimen is remarkable due to its
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These crystals formed under pressure in a hot, mineral rich water solution between layers of rock underground. | ||
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| [animated] When the solution cooled and evaporated, the minerals in the solution settled out in orderly patterns on the walls, forming crystals. | [animated] The slower the water cools, the larger the crystals get. | For the Alma Queen to get this big, the solution had to cool very slowly. | ||
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| Also, few large crystals remain attached to the crystalline matrix where they formed; and few matrices are as perfect as this. | "Rhodochrosite" means "rose-colored." Most specimens range from pink to this intense red. | The Alma Queen's manganese content and large crystal size produce the rich cherry-red color. | ||
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| These reasons--large size, aesthetic beauty, and deep color--make the Alma Queen exceptionally rare and valuable. | Why is it called the "Alma Queen"? | It was removed in 1996 from the Sweet Home Mine, located in the Alma Mining District, about 100 miles west of Denver. | ||
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| The mine is located near others on the eastern slope of a mountain in Colorado's Mosquito Range. | The district was named after a woman named Alma, one of the first residents of the region. | It is called the Queen because it reigns--as the most beautiful of its kind in the world. | ||
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| There is an "Alma King," discovered 26 years after the queen and about twice as big, but its surface is not as smooth. | [new section] How rare is it? | For the Alma Queen to form, many perfect conditions had to exist. | ||
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| A pocket of hot, high-pressure, mineral-rich solution had to be trapped between laters of rock underground. | The solution had to cool slowly and evenly. | The solution ahd to have the right concentration of elements and acidity to form rhodochrosite. | ||
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| Chemical and physical conditions had to remain undisturned for the entire time the crystal was forming. | Against all odds, everything came together 30 million years ado deep under the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. | There the crystals waited until silver miners discovered them at the beginning of the 20th century. | ||
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| For a time the mine was closed, but in the last half of the 20th century the mine was reopened. | Many more crystals have been found since then, including the Alma Queen. | Of the thousands of specimens that have been removed from the mine, none rival it. | ||
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| [new section] How is rhodochrosite used? | Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine is beautiful enough to be a semi-precious gemstone, but it is too brittle and soft for daily wear. | If you wore it in a ring, one good bump against a countertop would be enough to crack the mineral and ruin it. | ||
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| Rhodochrosite can be used in artistic jewelry that will not get much wear and tear, and in ornamental carving. | Additionally, mineralogists and collectors value rhodochrosite specimens because of their rarity and beauty. | Chemically rhodochrosite is manganese carbonate. [several following detail screens are omitted] | ||
| The above screens are all static output pages. The 360° viewer is a more interactive experience for the user, allowing them to spin the specimen to see it from any angle, or to zoom in and see very close detail. | ||||
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| Users tap the screen to spin the video image of the Queen. | Tapping one of the green boxes reveals detail images, which users can tap to dismiss. | Users have the option to turn off the green boxes so they can spin a clean view of the specimen. | ||