MinerShop - Fluorescent Minerals from Greenland and the World

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Article (in HTML) - The Fluorescent Minerals
of the Ilimaussaq Complex,
South Greenland or click on image for a PDF File

Iceberg Arches

Fluorescence in Minerals

There are around 4,000 different types of minerals - approximately 15% of them are known to fluoresce. Impurities in the mineral (usually) cause this fluorescense - very few “pure” minerals are known to fluoresce. These impurities - “activators” - are the reason for different colors. But the presence of an activator does not mean the mineral will fluoresce - different minerals with the same activator may even fluoresce different colors. Some activators require another “coactivator” to cause fluorescence, and some impurities will quench (prevent) fluorescence. The bottom line - a piece of fluorite from one location may fluoresce brightly while one from another location may not fluoresce at all.

Known activators include: Manganese, Chromium, Iron, Titanium, Copper, Lead, Europium, Cerium, Uranyl, Tungstate, Molybdate, Sulfur, Nitrogen, and various Organic activators.

The few minerals that fluoresce when pure are called ‘self-activated’ minerals. These include Scheelite, Powellite, and many Uranium minerals. Two of these minerals are perhaps the primary reason the Fluorescent Mineral hobby exists today. Both Scheelite and Uranium were important minerals during WWII. Prospectors used ultraviolet lights to hunt out deposits of both minerals.

A Sampling of Fluorescence caused by Major Activators

Scheelite, a major ore of tungsten, usually is recognized by its brilliant sky-blue fluorescence. Molybdenum as a coactivator modifies the color to white or yellow.
Several secondary uranium minerals, such as autunite, characteristically fluoresce a bright yellowish green. Caused by the uranyl ion, this ion is so prone to fluorescence that trace amounts of it cause yellowish-green fluorescence in a very large number of minerals, including adamite, apophyllite, aragonite, calcite, quartz, and opal.
Willemite, a zinc mineral, usually fluoresces a bright green. This is due to traces of manganese.
Calcite fluoresces in most all colors due to different activators. Red and pink fluorescent calcites can be activated by lead and manganese. Green fluorescence is due to uranyl ion traces. Calcite from the mercury mines at Terlingua, Texas fluoresces pink under longwave UV and bright blue under shortwave UV. It also has a bright blue phosphorescence after the UV lamp is removed.
Many Fluorites fluoresce a blue-violet color due to traces of europium; this is usually best under longwave UV. Fluorite also fluoresces green, yellow, red, and white. Some will fluoresce one color under short-wave, a second color under longwave, and even a third phosporescense. Other activators in Fluorite include Yttrium, Samarium, and some organic impurities.
Scapolite (or Wernerite) from Quebec, Canada, fluoresces a vivid orange-yellow color under longwave UV, while short-wave UV causes a bright phosphorescence.
Tugtupite from Illimaussaq, Greenland is a rare but beautiful minerals only found in a few places in the world. Under Longwave it fluoresces a salmon red color and a deep cherry-red under Short-wave.