Search Mineralpedia – A Mineral Photo Database and Identification Guide

Named after the Roman mythological god of the sea, Neptune due to its association at the type locality with aegerine which derived its name from Ægir, who was the Scandinavian mythological god of the sea. Neptunite is found in localities in Greenland, Russia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ireland, Canada, the USA, and Australia among only a couple others. At one if its United States localities in California, Neptunite occurs “in natrolite veins cutting a glaucophane schist inclusion in a serpentinite body.” Neptunite is piezoelectric and will generate a charge in response to pressure.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/neptunite.pdf

Named for the state of its discovery, Nevada, in the United States, with the type locality at the Gold Quarry mine near Carlin. Nevadaite has on other locality in Kyrgyzstan at Kara-Chagyr Mountain. It appears as pate green to turquoise blue prismatic crystals in radiating clusters, spherules, or druses in association with fluellite, wavellite, strengite, variscite, hewettite, anatase, kazakhstanite, tinticite, leucophosphite, torbernite, and tyuyamunite.

Ref. Cooper, M. A., et al. and The Canadian Mineralogist June 2004 v. 42 no. 3 p. 741-752