gsminmag Mineralogical Magazine Mineralogical Magazine 0026-461X Mineralogical Society 10.1180/minmag.1997.061.406.05 Mineralogy Single Crystal Galena Pillars as Highly Anisometric Dissolution Forms Bonev Ivan K. Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria Rice Clive M. Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, Kings College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK 6 1997 61 406 377 386 5 8 1996 1 10 1996 Copyright © 1997, The Mineralogical Society 1997 Abstract

Remarkable single crystal galena formations in the unique form of cylindrical or steep conical ‘pillars’ with ‘capitals’ of small rhombododecahedral single crystals of sphalerite, are described. It is suggested that the pillars result from a highly specific process of anisotropic mineral dissolution controlled by a system of internal channels in the original skeletal crystals and represent a kind of dissolution whiskers.

 Keywords galena crystal morphology dissolution whiskers