Amerika, Germany/amerika004
Previous | Home | NextThe train from Leipzig to Chemnitz crosses the Zwickauer Mulde downstream (northeast) from Amerika, an old pegmatite quarry, and coincidentally a classical source of lepidolite (a potassium lithium aluminosilicate). Lepidolite frequently contains rubidium which replaces potassium, and lepidolite from Amerika is the probable origin of the mineral later used by Bunsen and others to extract rubidium (their "lepidolite from Saxony"). (However, the original source of their lepidolite was Rožná, Czech Republic). The view is southwest, with Amerika 10 km in the distance. Another train (track visible far left) actually passes through the Zwickauer valley, by which one can visit Amerika directly.
