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In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.
Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl2(AlSi3O10)(F,OH)2, or (KF)2(Al2O3)3(SiO2)6(H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage yielding remarkably thin laminae (sheets) which are often highly elastic. Sheets of muscovite 5 meters × 3 meters (16.5 feet × 10 feet) have been found in Nellore, India.
Amphibole is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain SiO
4 tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Its IMA symbol is Amp. Amphiboles can be green, black, colorless, white, yellow, blue, or brown. The International Mineralogical Association currently classifies amphiboles as a mineral supergroup, within which are two groups and several subgroups.
Sodalite is a tectosilicate mineral with the formula Na
8(Al
6Si
6O
24)Cl
2, with royal blue varieties widely used as an ornamental gemstone. Although massive sodalite samples are opaque, crystals are usually transparent to translucent. Sodalite is a member of the sodalite group with hauyne, nosean, lazurite and tugtupite.
Chalcanthite (from Ancient Greek χάλκανθον (khálkanthon), from χαλκός (khalkós) 'copper', and ἄνθος (ánthos) 'flower, bloom') is a richly colored blue-green water-soluble sulfate mineral CuSO4·5H2O. It is commonly found in the late-stage oxidation zones of copper deposits. Due to its ready solubility, chalcanthite is more common in arid regions.
Brazilianite, whose name derives from its country of origin, Brazil, is a typically yellow-green phosphate mineral, most commonly found in phosphate-rich pegmatites.
Hydroxyapatite (HA), is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca5(PO4)3(OH), but it is usually written Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 to denote that the crystal unit cell comprises two entities. Hydroxylapatite is the hydroxyl endmember of the complex apatite group. The OH− ion can be replaced by fluoride, chloride or carbonate, producing fluorapatite or chlorapatite. It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system. Pure hydroxylapatite powder is white. Naturally occurring apatites can, however, also have brown, yellow, or green colorations, comparable to the discolorations of dental fluorosis.
Hauyne or haüyne, also called hauynite or haüynite, is a tectosilicate sulfate mineral with endmember formula Na3Ca(Si3Al3)O12(SO4). As much as 5 wt % K2O may be present, and also H2O and Cl. It is a feldspathoid and a member of the sodalite group. Hauyne was first described in 1807 from samples discovered in Vesuvian lavas in Monte Somma, Italy, and was named in 1807 by Brunn-Neergard for the French crystallographer René Just Haüy (1743–1822). It is sometimes used as a gemstone.
Whitlockite is a mineral, an unusual form of calcium phosphate. Its formula is Ca9(MgFe)(PO4)6PO3OH. It is a relatively rare mineral but is found in granitic pegmatites, phosphate rock deposits, guano caves and in chondrite meteorites. It was first described in 1941 and named for Herbert Percy Whitlock (1868–1948), American mineralogist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Fluorapatite, often with the alternate spelling of fluoroapatite, is a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca5(PO4)3F (calcium fluorophosphate). Fluorapatite is a hard crystalline solid. Although samples can have various color (green, brown, blue, yellow, violet, or colorless), the pure mineral is colorless, as expected for a material lacking transition metals. Along with hydroxylapatite, it can be a component of tooth enamel, but for industrial use both minerals are mined in the form of phosphate rock, whose usual mineral composition is primarily fluorapatite but often with significant amounts of the other.
Partheite or parthéite is a calcium aluminium silicate and a member of the zeolite group of minerals, a group of silicates with large open channels throughout the crystal structure, which allow passage of liquids and gasses through the mineral. It was first discovered in 1979 in rodingitic dikes in an ophiolite zone of the Taurus Mountains in southwest Turkey. The second discovery occurred in gabbro-pegmatites in the Ural Mountains, Russia. Since its discovery and naming, the chemical formula for partheite has been revised from CaAl2Si2O8•2H2O to include not only water but hydroxyl groups as well. The framework of the mineral is interrupted due to these hydroxyl groups attaching themselves to aluminum centered oxygen tetrahedra. This type of interrupted framework is known in only one other zeolite, the mineral roggianite. As a silicate based mineral with the properties of a zeolite, partheite was first described as zeolite-like in 1984 and listed as a zeolite in 1985. Partheite and lawsonite are polymorphs. Associated minerals include prehnite, thomsonite, augite, chlorite and tremolite.
Bararite is a natural form of ammonium fluorosilicate (also known as hexafluorosilicate or fluosilicate). It has chemical formula (NH4)2SiF6 and trigonal crystal structure. This mineral was once classified as part of cryptohalite. Bararite is named after the place where it was first described, Barari, India. It is found at the fumaroles of volcanoes (Vesuvius, Italy), over burning coal seams (Barari, India), and in burning piles of anthracite (Pennsylvania, U.S.). It is a sublimation product that forms with cryptohalite, sal ammoniac, and native sulfur.
Pseudomalachite is a phosphate of copper with hydroxyl, named from the Greek for “false” and “malachite”, because of its similarity in appearance to the carbonate mineral malachite, Cu2(CO3)(OH)2. Both are green coloured secondary minerals found in oxidised zones of copper deposits, often associated with each other. Pseudomalachite is polymorphous with reichenbachite and ludjibaite. It was discovered in 1813. Prior to 1950 it was thought that dihydrite, lunnite, ehlite, tagilite and prasin were separate mineral species, but Berry analysed specimens labelled with these names from several museums, and found that they were in fact pseudomalachite. The old names are no longer recognised by the IMA.
Fluor-liddicoatite is a rare member of the tourmaline group of minerals, elbaite subgroup, and the theoretical calcium endmember of the elbaite-fluor-liddicoatite series; the pure end-member has not yet been found in nature. Fluor-liddicoatite is indistinguishable from elbaite by X-ray diffraction techniques. It forms a series with elbaite and probably also with olenite. Liddiocoatite is currently a non-approved mineral name, but Aurisicchio et al. (1999) and Breaks et al. (2008) found OH-dominant species. Formulae are
Tsumebite is a rare phosphate mineral named in 1912 after the locality where it was first found, the Tsumeb mine in Namibia, well known to mineral collectors for the wide range of minerals found there. Tsumebite is a compound phosphate and sulfate of lead and copper, with hydroxyl, formula Pb2Cu(PO4)(SO4)(OH). There is a similar mineral called arsentsumebite, where the phosphate group PO4 is replaced by the arsenate group AsO4, giving the formula Pb2Cu(AsO4)(SO4)(OH). Both minerals are members of the brackebuschite group.
Fluorellestadite is a rare nesosilicate of calcium, with sulfate and fluorine, with the chemical formula Ca10(SiO4)3(SO4)3F2. It is a member of the apatite group, and forms a series with hydroxylellestadite.
Hidalgoite, PbAl3(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)4, is a rare member of the beudantite group and is usually classified as part of the alunite family. It was named after the place where it was first discovered, the Zimapán mining district, Hidalgo, Mexico. At Hidalgo where it was initially discovered, it was found as dense white masses in alternating dikes of quartz latite and quartz monzonite alongside other secondary minerals such as sphalerite, arsenopyrite, cerussite and trace amounts of angelsite and alamosite, it was then rediscovered at other locations such as Australia where it occurs on oxidized shear zones above greywacke shales especially on the anticline prospects of the area, and on fine grained quartz-spessartine rocks in Broken Hill, Australia. Hidalgoite specimens are usually associated with copper minerals, clay minerals, iron oxides and polymetallic sulfides in occurrence.
Gordaite is a sulfate mineral composed primarily of hydrous zinc sodium sulfate chloride hydroxide with formula: NaZn4(SO4)(OH)6Cl·6H2O. It was named for the discovery location in the Sierra Gorda district of Chile. Gordaite forms as tabular trigonal crystals.
Tumchaite, Na2(Zr,Sn)Si4O11·H2O, is a colorless to white monoclinic phyllosilicate mineral. It is associated with calcite, dolomite, and pyrite in the late dolomite-calcite carbonatites. It can be transparent to translucent; has a vitreous luster; and has perfect cleavage on {100}. Its hardness is 4.5, between fluorite and apatite. Tumchaite is isotypic with penkvilksite. The structure of the mineral is identified by silicate sheets parallel {100}, formed by alternation of clockwise and counterclockwise growing spiral chains of corner-sharing SiO4 tetrahedra. Tumchaite is named for the river Tumcha near Vuoriyarvi massif.
Johnbaumite is a calcium arsenate hydroxide mineral. It was first described in 1980, where it appeared in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. Johnbaumite was discovered at Harstigen mine in Sweden in the 19th century, but it was described as svabite.
References
- ↑ Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi: 10.1180/mgm.2021.43 . S2CID 235729616.
- ↑ Mineralienatlas
- 1 2 3 4 5 Cavarretta G., Mottana A., Tecce F. (1981) Cesanite, Ca2Na3[(OH)(SO4)3], a sulfate isotypic to apatite, from the Cesano Geothermal-Field (Lathium, Italy). Mineralogical Magazine, 44, 269-273.
- 1 2 3 4 Piotrowski A., Kahlenberg V., Fischer RX., etal. (2002) The crystal structures of cesanite and its synthetic analogue – A comparison. American Mineralogist, 87, 715-720.
- ↑ Handbook of Mineralogy
- ↑ Mindat.org
- ↑ Webmineral data
- ↑ Tazzoli V., (1983) The Crystal-structure of ceanite, CA1+XNA4-X(SO4)3(OH)X.(1-X)H2O, a sulfate isotypic to apatite. Mineralogical Magazine, 47, 59-63.
- ↑ Deganello S., Artioli G. (1982) Thermal expansion of cesanite between 22 °C and 390 °C. Nues jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Monatshefte, 12, 565-568.
- 1 2 Onac BP, Mylroie JE, White WB. (2001) Mineralogy of cave deposits on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Carbonates and Evaporites, 16, 8-16.
- ↑ Onac BP., Verdes DS. (2003) Sequence of secondary phosphates deposition in a karst environment: evidence from Măgurici Cave (Romania). European Journal of Mineralogy, 15, 741-745.