Group of sharp, translucent, octahedral crystals with a very intense green color, partially coating a granite matrix. A Spanish classic from a currently closed locality that only sporadically produces samples of this quality. This piece is from an old collection.
The Berta Quarry is a former open-pit workings located on Can Domènech Hill, within the southern sector of the Roques Blanques Mountains, an area shared by the municipalities of Sant Cugat del Vallès and El Papiol, on the boundary between Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat Counties, in Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain.
Geologically, the area belongs to the eastern end of the Catalan Coastal Range, characterized by metamorphosed Paleozoic rocks (schists, gneisses and calc-silicate horizons) adjacent to Hercynian granite intrusions. These contact metamorphic zones produced distinctive assemblages including octahedral fluorites, which made the quarry well known among mineral collectors.
Berta Quarry, Can Domènech Hill, Roques Blanques Mountains, Sant Cugat del Vallès-El Papiol, Comarca Vallès Occidental / Baix Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia / Catalunya Spain (1975-1976)
Specimen size: 12.2 × 10 × 7 cm = 4.80” × 3.94” × 2.76”
Main crystal size: 0.9 × 0.8 cm = 0.35” × 0.31”
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