Nuestra Señora del Carmen Mines, La Celia lamproite outcrops, Jumilla, Murcia, Spaini

Regional Level Types
Nuestra Señora del Carmen Mines	Group of Mines
La Celia lamproite outcrops	Group of Outcrops
Jumilla	Municipality
Murcia	Autonomous Community
Spain	Country

This page is currently not sponsored. Click here to sponsor this page.

PhotosMapsSearchMineralogy

Lamproites (7.2-7.6 My). The apatite-rich rock was used as phosphate fertiliser.

Some older literature uses "Cabo da Gata" as a location.

Historic and world-famous site, especially for its magnificent crystals of fluorapatite known since the eighteenth century. The species was named "Chrysolithe d'Espagne" (by Romé de L'Isle) and was also known by the names "Spargelstein" (Werner) and "Esparraguina" (in Spanish) for the resemblance of the crystals to stems of asparagus.

The specimens were analysed for the first time by Vauquelin (1797), classifying them as calcium phosphate. Proust found the presence of fluorine in this mineral. The crystals were also studied by the crystallographers Romé de L'Isle, Haüy, Michael Levy, Schauf Albrecht, and Heinrich Adolf Baumhauer, among others, which gives us a clear idea of the importance of this historic site. A detailed account about the history of this locality can be found in Calvo (2015).

The deposit is related to post-magmatic alteration of rare volcanic (or subvolcanic) rocks of ultra-potassic composition called lamproites, known historically as "Jumilitas" (named after the town of Jumilla, which is the most important town near the outcrops), associated with diapiric outcrops of Keuper facies (Triassic age), diapiric movements (Miocene age), and volcanic extrusions of Upper Pliocene age.

Inside vacuoles in the altered parts of the volcanic rock, the magnificent specimens of fluorapatite can be found together with a complex paragenesis, e.g., pseudobrookite and the rare borate yuanfuliite.

Mineral List

26 valid minerals.