[Rockhounds] Climb inside The World's Largest Geode

[Peter Richards]

The Ohio crystal cave is on South Bass Island in Lake Erie, east of Toledo.  I would not call it a geode - more like a crystal lined solution cavity.  I can’t bring myself to call it a vug!

I visited it some years ago (don’t want to think how many).  It does have impressive celestine crystals, though years of visitation have not helped their condition.  Ironically, in some places near lights algae is (was) growing on them.  When I was there, you had to buy a tour of the winery and wine tasting to see the cave, and the wine was more Ohio than California, but I did get some nice little crystals of tartaric acid or some similar organic material that had crystallized out of the wine in the barrels.

It’s worth seeing, and not far from I-90, but since it takes a ferry to get there, it is at least a day trip, not a two-hour rest stop. A nice day trip.

Pete Richards
who lives in Ohio
___________________________
R. Peter Richards, Ph.D.
rpr at heidelberg.edu
Morphological Crystallographer

> On Jul 27, 2022, at 5:23 PM, pmodreski <pmodreski at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> This has all got me confused as to whether this World's Largest Geode is supposed to be the one in Spain or Ohio--or are they just doing Dueling Geodes to argue about it? But the Ohio winery geode sounds neat--I'll have to visit it sometime! Have to check where in OH that is... if it's close to the across-northern-Ohio route I might take if I sometime drive from Michigan across to visit my sister in NH.Pete (haven't posted anything here on Rockhounds, for a while!)Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> -------- Original message --------From: Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com> Date: 7/26/22  11:37 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com> Subject: [Rockhounds] Fwd: Climb inside The World's Largest Geode We have discussed the biggest geode before. I have visited the HeinemanWinery, Crystal Cave.---------- Forwarded message ---------From: Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com>Date: Fri, Oct 18, 2019 at 7:52 PMSubject: Climb inside The World's Largest GeodeTo: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>If you can figure out which one it is...The World's Largest Geode Formed When the Mediterranean Sea Disappeared,New Study RevealsMost geodes can fit in the palm of your hand. The Pulpí Geode can fit yourentire family inside it.In an abandoned mine in southern Spain, there is a room of pure crystal.To get there, you'll have to descend deep into tunnels, climb a ladder intoan inconspicuous hole in the rocks and squeeze through a jagged tube ofgypsum crystals barely wide enough for one person. If you make it that far,you'll be standing inside the world's largest geode: the Pulpí Geode, a390-cubic-foot (11 cubic meters) cavity about the size of a cement mixerdrum, studded with crystals as clear as ice and sharp as spears on everysurface.https://www.livescience.com/pulpi-geode-history-revealed.htmlCrystal Cave - The World's Largest GeodeSee celestine crystals up to 3 feet in width!Discovered by workers in 1897 while digging a well for the winery 40 feetabove, Crystal Cave is the world's largest geode. The walls of this caveare covered in strontium sulfate, a blueish mineral called celestite. Thesecrystals range from 8 to 18 inches long. The original cave was much smallerthan what appears today, as crystals were harvested and sold for themanufacturing of fireworks.Owned and operated by Heineman Winery, Crystal Cave helped save thefamily-run winery from demise during Prohibition. Tours of the cave helpedpay the bills, while other wineries on the island closed.http://www.heinemanswinery.com/crystalcave.asp_______________________________________________Rockhounds mailing listSubscription Services:  http://rockhounds.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds_rockhounds.drizzle.comList Usage Policy: http://Tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Rockhounds/Rockhounds.shtml
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