gypsum - unusual sand selenite from a dry lake near Ica, Ica Province, southern Peru - hand specimen and various shades of yellow

and various shades of yellow

cannot be scratched by a nail and which has a brownish black streak

Peru and the Alps were the only sources of pink fluorite at astronomical prices

so it is not as easily swept out to sea by wave action

Transparent in thin sheets

gypsum - unusual sand selenite from a dry lake near Ica, Ica Province, southern Peru - hand specimen and various shades of yellowSelenite gypsum sand rose CaSO4 2H2O Selenite gypsum sand "roses" form in seasonal desert lakes as they dry. Selenite is typically transparent, but when it crystallizes in sandy conditions it forms rosettes of flattened crystals, the rose petals, which are either encrusted with sand or with sand embedded throughout. The color of the gypsum crystals depends on the color of the sand in that dry lake. These Peruvian examples were recently discovered and