Best Website for Herkimer Diamond Information - Made Possible by Collector Donations
Every year something new is discovered
within the Herkimer Mining District. You
can find these under New Discoveries
The information, and photography, on this website is copyright protected
by W. David Hoisington, Ph. D. unless another author/photographer is cited.
Welcome to the New Herkimer Diamond Story!
Return often and follow this developing story. Refresh your
browser (right click) to see new updates
Click Next to See Past Blog Entries:
Updated - 03/09/2019
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New Discovery Posted - The Quartz Rhombic Cast - 03/24/2018
See the New Discoveries page… The photo on the right is of the quartz rhombic cast. This
quartz rhombic cast is an inclusion within a Herkimer diamond and one located close to
the wall rock contact. If you have a collection of Herkimer diamonds then you probably
have one of these quartz rhombic casts in your collection. The explanation of how these
were formed can be found in the slides on the Hydrothermal and Vertical Flow page
(slides 25 - 29). These are quartz casts made as the dolomite crystal was being altered,
dissolved, by the hydrothermal fluids.
The Hydrothermal and Vertical flow page also includes new photos showing how the
pocket wall rock has been hydrothermally altered. Most exciting, in this authors humble
opinion, are the quartz micro-veins. These are very difficult to see in the field, and
difficult to photograph in the lab. Most are transparent and very small. Occasionally one
will have a bit of hydrocarbon in it and thus provide enough contrast for a good photo. It
is proposed here that the Herkimer diamond pocket wall rock has many of these quartz
micro-veins and this accounts for the toughness of the wall rock, as reported by those
with the experience of trying to drill through it, cut it with a diamond blade, or smash it
with a sledge hammer.
New Photo Documentation Added - Hydrothermal and Vertical Flow - 03/07/2018
There are now 31 slides on the Hydrothermal and Vertical Flow web page. This evidence clearly illustrates that hydrothermal fluids moved both vertically
and horizontally through the Herkimer diamond host rocks. This is an important part of the new story about how Herkimer diamonds were formed.
New Micro-Vein Photo Added and Pocket Reconstruction - 04/02/2018
New Photos of Crystal Frost along Fractures in Host Rock - 04/05 & 06/2018
New Page Added Added - Features at the Quartz-Hydrocarbon Boundary - 06/11/2018
What has Dr. C. been up to all winter and spring? The focus has been, will continue to be, on the quartz - hydrocarbon boundary.
The research has resulted in a preliminary list of the features discovered thus far. A page listing these features is now on the web
site: Quartz - Hydrocarbon Boundary Features.
This page will eventually have links to a page for each of the features listed with photography.
Dr. C. was going to present much of this new information at the Herkimer Diamond festival this July (about a month from now) but
the good doctor was not invited to speak. So I will not be attending this year. Gradually the information will get posted in this
website. Check back for updates.
This page was
last updated on:
06/16/2018
Thank you Shannon Haley
Wilbur for the donation of 30
samples from the Fonda
region.1/05/2019 and 3/2/2019
Check out her Facebook.
Photo Request!
In Place Pocket Photos
