Aside from being really hard to spell - what the heck is a pseudomorph? Let's take a look!
So the technical definition of a pseudomorph is "a mineral having the characteristic outward form of another species". What that means is the mineral or crystal grew inside the form of something else, like a fossil.
Now here is the fun part! When we are digging Happy Variscite we typically find clam pseudomorphs! Yes, you read that right. Clams. In the middle of the freaking desert! Once upon a time (about 225 million years ago) Nevada was underwater. Nowadays, you can find all sorts of marine fossils such as clams, fish, snails, seaweed, and there is even an Ichthyosaur (Ocean Dinosaur) you can visit! But let's get back to the pseudomorphs….
Let's say you have a clam that died. Over the last few million years the organic material disintegrated and left a void in the earth. This void just happened to fill with the right combination of elements, moisture, pressure, etc. to create beautiful stones! In our case we had the right combinations to form Variscite Pseudomorphs! These clams are not typical for variscite but they are really amazing! The majority of our Happy Variscite comes in the form of a pseudomorph and they are always breathtaking! Take a look at how cool these are!
We are hoping to find more pseudomorph clams as we dig. Maybe we will even find some in the turquoise!
If you have any questions about pseudomorphs or variscite just let us know! We may not know the answer but we are more than happy to "dig" into the research for you!
Thanks for reading!
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Thomas & Riley