PSEUDOMORPHS - WHITE DESERT EGYPT

Originally formed as marcasite crystals on the sea bottom, these unusual specimens later were pseudomorphed to hematite. Amazing sculptures an interesting examples of crystallography in action. They form all kind of different shapes.

I first discovered these fantastic stones in 1998 during our first trip to the White Desert. These stones were lying on the desert floor always close to the amazing chalkstone rocks. They form amazingly different shapes and sizes and stuck to the white chalkstone rocks. During erosion over several millions of years ago, they fell to the ground and continued to evolve.

In early stages they were rusty red brown in color and very fragile. After thousands of years lying on the desert floor they became more and more black outside and more compact inside (Marcasite -Pyrite).

Pseudomorph literally means "false form" and the term is used in mineralogy to indicate that a mineral has the outward appearance of a different mineral.