Greece

DESCRIPTION

Not ready yet!
tobedone

VISITS

1996 I visited the island Crete in the summer for one week. Swimming, sunbathing and good food was naturally the main ingredience in this one week vacation. But, as everybody suspected, I couldn't keep out of minerals.
A couple of nice and strange rocks was brought back from the beaches and when I discovered that a shop in Chania that sold art and jewelry also had some raw mineral specimens for sale, I just had to have some.
1998 This was my second trip to Greece. This time we visited the island of San Torini, an old volcanic iland.
This week also contained a lot of bath, sunbathing and good food. The geology of the island made a very strong impression, because the beach was totally black of lava sand. It was very hot to walk on...
Of course we went for a short trip to the small volcano island in the middle of the caldera. It was a very interesting trip, but I was surprised by the small size of the main crater, just about 80 m across I think.
In the main capital of the island, Festos, I found a small shop with some local minerals, and I bought two as a memory.

Mineral assemblage

Calcite, Sulphur, Silica pyrite ???, Mica ???.

Calcite
Yellow calcite from Crete. It is massive, but almost clear and very coarsely grained.
I picked it up from a heap of gravel on a street.
Collected in 1996.
(300 dpi, 600x450, 67k)

Sulphur
Sulphur crystals on a rock from the island Neo Kameni, San Torino.
There were a few volcanic vents around the main crater. They released a lot of steam with sulphur fumes. You could smell it! Around these volcanic vents were deposits of sulphur crystals on the rocks. I found a few small samples of rocks with sulphur crystals on them, and this is the best of them.
Collected in 1998 in the volcanic crater on Neo Kameni, San Torino.
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Sulphur
Another example of the sulphur covered rocks. On this one it is only a thin layer about 0.5 mm thick.
Collected in 1998 in the volcanic crater on Neo Kameni, San Torino.
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Unknown
Well, I'm very uncertain of this one. It seems to be tremolite but the man I bought it from told me it was from San Torini and that it was a mica.
Bought on San Torini, Greece in 1998.
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

Unknown
This is a strange mineral (if it is a mineral). The man I bought it from called it "pyrite silica". I tried to get a better desription of it, but as our English wasn't the best and the geology book he had didn't cover it I never got any better description.
It is said that it comes from a locality in Greece.
If anyone recognises this, please send me a mail and tell me. It is not very heavy, black streak and mettalic lustre. The hardness are about 5-6 (scratches glass).
Bought on San Torini, Greece in 1998.
(300 dpi, 800x600, k)

If you have some questions, suggestions or comments you are welcome to write me a line or two.

Locality index. Main index.

axelsson@acc.umu.se

	Calcite Yellow calcite from Crete. It is massive, but almost clear and very coarsely grained. I picked it up from a heap of gravel on a street. Collected in 1996. (300 dpi, 600x450, 67k)
	Sulphur Sulphur crystals on a rock from the island Neo Kameni, San Torino. There were a few volcanic vents around the main crater. They released a lot of steam with sulphur fumes. You could smell it! Around these volcanic vents were deposits of sulphur crystals on the rocks. I found a few small samples of rocks with sulphur crystals on them, and this is the best of them. Collected in 1998 in the volcanic crater on Neo Kameni, San Torino. (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Sulphur Another example of the sulphur covered rocks. On this one it is only a thin layer about 0.5 mm thick. Collected in 1998 in the volcanic crater on Neo Kameni, San Torino. (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Unknown Well, I'm very uncertain of this one. It seems to be tremolite but the man I bought it from told me it was from San Torini and that it was a mica. Bought on San Torini, Greece in 1998. (300 dpi, 800x600, k)
	Unknown This is a strange mineral (if it is a mineral). The man I bought it from called it "pyrite silica". I tried to get a better desription of it, but as our English wasn't the best and the geology book he had didn't cover it I never got any better description. It is said that it comes from a locality in Greece. If anyone recognises this, please send me a mail and tell me. It is not very heavy, black streak and mettalic lustre. The hardness are about 5-6 (scratches glass). Bought on San Torini, Greece in 1998. (300 dpi, 800x600, k)