diamond hill pseudomorph specimens

Diamond Hill Quartz Prospect
Antreville, South Carolina

Pseudomorph/Epimorph Specimens

(All specimens collected by Richard Jacquot unless otherwise noted)

Pseudomorphs are minerals that have been completely replaced by another mineral which takes the shape of the original mineral. An example of this is limonite (not a current terminology) after pyrite, the pyrite, Iron disulfide, FeS2 is replaced by the limonite, a mixture of hydrous iron oxides. The pyrite cube is now a solid limonite cube, limonite after pyrite pseudomorph.

More commonly found at the Diamond Hill Mine are "epimorphs". Epimorphs, also called incrustation pseudomorphs, are hollow casts of one mineral by another mineral. The most common example of this from Diamond Hill are quartz casts of dogtooth, and various other types of calcite crystals. You can also find epimorphs and pseudomorphs of siderite, pyrite and various other microminerals.

Above specimen is a quartz drusy pineapple covered with golden epimorph crystals of dogtooth calcite. I found this piece and several of the following pieces in a pocket lined with epimorph crystals. It took several hours to remove the epimorphs from the walls of the pocket. The pocket measured approximately 2' x 1.5'.

Collected in 2006 from the
"Jacquot Morph Pocket"
(Amethyst Pit #1)

Measures: 9 x 6.5 x 7.5 cm

Richard Jacquot photo and collection

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