Sussexite

Tan to brown, fibrous to splintery sussexite with dull black masses of pyrochroite and a little orange zincite. Note the layered aspect of this marvelous example. Starting at lower right is altered, granular zinc ore, succeeded upward by white calcite and thin layers of massive, “cherty,” pink to lavender and brown sussexite. Next is a lenticular mass of brown, fine-grained sussexite, the top of which in places (center of specimen) grades into somewhat coarser-grained, lavender sussexite. This is overlain by a thick layer of tan to brown sussexite in lathlike grains arranged at high angles to the layer boundaries. Each of these laths is composed of splintery to fibrous sussexite. Toward the top of this layer appear small, scattered grains of orange zincite. Atop all of this is massive, fine-grained black pyrochroite. This specimen, FMM-7801 of the Franklin Mineral Museum, is on display in Baum Hall and was purchased from collector-dealer Mark Leger. Compare to specimens SSX10 and SSX15.

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