Fiftieth Rochester Mineralogical Symposium: Contributed Papers in Specimen Mineralogy—Part 1

The Ryerson Hill quarry is in a complex pegmatite located in Paris, Oxford County, Maine. It is surrounded by some of the most productive mines in Oxford County, including Mt. Mica, which is about a mile away. This report focuses on new finds in the core zone of the pegmatite between two previously excavated pits where smoky quartz and hydroxlherderite were found. Triphylite pods occur throughout the exposed core zone of the quarry, with the largest concentration of pods occurring from the edge of the eastern pit to the halfway point between the two pits, along a 3 × 4-meter rectangular area. The largest pod to date was 1 × 0.5 × 0.2 meters. The pods show some replacement of triphylite by 0.5–1.0-mm vivianite crystals. Numerous secondary phosphates are known from the location, but overall, most tend to be Fe-dominant because the primary triphylite is Fe-dominant. Elbaite is rare and occurs as millimeter-long crystals. Clear, brown, blue, and green tourmaline has been found in a 7 × 5-meter rectangular area. The pegmatite exhibits sharp contact with mica schist. The contact zone of the pegmatite is albitic. Titanium oxides have been found at contact points in the pegmatite, which also is an area of assimilation. Rutile occurs as straw-colored sagenite aggregates ranging from 1 to 3 mm (Alexander, Falster, and Simmons 2022). Anatase occurs as dipyramidal crystals, blue in color with some transparency. The anatase crystals average 1–5 mm, with the largest being 10 × 6 × 5 mm. The titanium oxides are found in an area that was contaminated by the partial assimilation of country rock. Concentrations of titanium oxides are associated with contact points in the pegmatite, which are close to one another and have convergence points. One of the convergence points resulted in a pocket, the Molly Pocket, found on 1 June 2022. This pocket contained anatase, beryl, and tourmaline rods. Contributed Papers in Specimen Mineralogy