Livingstonite | |
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General | |
Category | Sulfosalt mineral |
Formula (repeating unit) | HgSb4S8 |
IMA symbol | Lst [1] |
Strunz classification | 2.HA.15 |
Crystal system | Monoclinic |
Crystal class | Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol) |
Space group | A2/a |
Unit cell | a = 30.567(6), b = 4.015(1) c = 21.465(3) [Å]; β = 103.39°; Z = 8 |
Identification | |
Color | Blackish gray; in polished section, white; red in transmitted light, with deep red internal reflections |
Crystal habit | As needles elongated [010], to 12 cm; also fibrous, massive, columnar, and in globular masses and interlaced needles. |
Cleavage | Perfect on {001}, poor on {010} and {100} |
Fracture | Uneven, flat surfaces |
Tenacity | Flexible |
Mohs scale hardness | 2 |
Luster | Adamantine to metallic |
Streak | Red |
Diaphaneity | Opaque, translucent in thin fragments |
Specific gravity | 4.8 – 4.88 meas. 4.98 calc. |
Optical properties | Biaxial (–) |
Refractive index | >= 2.72 |
Pleochroism | Weak; strongly anisotropic |
References | [2] [3] [4] |
Livingstonite is a mercury antimony sulfosalt mineral. It occurs in low-temperature hydrothermal veins associated with cinnabar, stibnite, sulfur and gypsum.
It was first described in 1874 for an occurrence in Huitzuco de los Figueroa, Guerrero, Mexico. It was named to honor Scottish explorer of Africa, David Livingstone. [5]
Its crystal structure was determined in 1957 [6] and redetermined in 1975. [7]
Gibbsite, Al(OH)3, is one of the mineral forms of aluminium hydroxide. It is often designated as γ-Al(OH)3 (but sometimes as α-Al(OH)3). It is also sometimes called hydrargillite (or hydrargyllite).
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.
Pyrophyllite is a phyllosilicate mineral composed of aluminium silicate hydroxide: Al2Si4O10(OH)2. It occurs in two forms (habits): crystalline folia and compact masses; distinct crystals are not known.
Tridymite is a high-temperature polymorph of silica and usually occurs as minute tabular white or colorless pseudo-hexagonal crystals, or scales, in cavities in felsic volcanic rocks. Its chemical formula is SiO2. Tridymite was first described in 1868 and the type location is in Hidalgo, Mexico. The name is from the Greek tridymos for triplet as tridymite commonly occurs as twinned crystal trillings (compound crystals comprising three twinned crystal components).
Crookesite is a selenide mineral composed of copper and selenium with variable thallium and silver.
Freieslebenite is a sulfosalt mineral composed of antimony, lead, and silver. Sulfosalt minerals are complex sulfide minerals with the formula: AmBnSp. The formula of freieslebenite is AgPbSbS3.
Hutchinsonite is a sulfosalt mineral of thallium, arsenic and lead with formula (Tl,Pb)2As5S9. Hutchinsonite is a rare hydrothermal mineral.
Lorándite is a thallium arsenic sulfosalt with the chemical formula: TlAsS2. Though rare, it is the most common thallium-bearing mineral. Lorandite occurs in low-temperature hydrothermal associations and in gold and mercury ore deposits. Associated minerals include stibnite, realgar, orpiment, cinnabar, vrbaite, greigite, marcasite, pyrite, tetrahedrite, antimonian sphalerite, arsenic and barite.
Fabianite is a borate mineral with the chemical formula CaB3O5(OH). It is colorless and leaves a white streak. Its crystals are monoclinic prismatic. It is transparent and fluorescent. It has vitreous luster. It is not radioactive. Fabianite is rated 6 on the Mohs Scale. It was named for Hans-Joachim Fabian, a German geologist.
Fritz Henning Emil Paul Berndt Laves was a German crystallographer who served as the president of the German Mineralogical Society from 1956 to 1958. He is the namesake of Laves phases and the Laves tilings; the Laves graph, a highly-symmetrical three-dimensional crystal structure that he studied, was named after him by H. S. M. Coxeter.
Biehlite is an exceptionally rare mineral, an antimony arsenic bearing molybdate with formula [(Sb,As)O]2MoO4. It comes from Tsumeb.
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.
Bismoclite is a bismuth oxohalide mineral with formula BiOCl. It is the naturally occurring form of bismuth oxychloride. The name was derived from its chemical constituents. It is a secondary bismuth mineral first thought to be composed of bismuthyl ions (BiO+) and chloride anions, however, the existence of the diatomic bismuthyl ion is doubtful.
Tinaksite (chemical formula K2Na(Ca,Mn2+)2TiO[Si7O18(OH)]) is a mineral found in northern Russia. Tinaksite can be grayish-white, yellowish, orange, or brown, and it is often found in charoite. Its name is derived from its composition: titanium (Ti), sodium (Na) potassium (K) and silicon (Si). The International Mineralogical Association first recognized tinaksite as a mineral in 1965.
Stannoidite is a sulfide mineral composed of five chemical elements: copper, iron, zinc, tin and sulfur. Its name originates from Latin stannum (tin) and Greek eides. The mineral is found in hydrothermal Cu-Sn deposits.
Tarbuttite is a rare phosphate mineral with formula Zn2(PO4)(OH). It was discovered in 1907 in what is now Zambia and named for Percy Coventry Tarbutt.
Zeitschrift für Kristallographie – Crystalline Materials is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published in English. The journal publishes theoretical and experimental studies in crystallography of both organic and inorganic substances. The editor-in-chief of the journal is Rainer Pöttgen from the University of Münster. The journal was founded in 1877 under the title Zeitschrift für Krystallographie und Mineralogie by crystallographer and mineralogist Paul Heinrich von Groth, who served as the editor for 44 years. It has used several titles over its history, with the present title having been adopted in 2010. The journal is indexed in a variety of databases and has a 2020 impact factor of 1.616.
Nickel is one of the metals that can form Tutton's salts. The singly charged ion can be any of the full range of potassium, rubidium, cesium, ammonium (), or thallium. As a mineral the ammonium nickel salt, (NH4)2Ni(SO4)2 · 6 H2O, can be called nickelboussingaultite. With sodium, the double sulfate is nickelblödite Na2Ni(SO4)2 · 4 H2O from the blödite family. Nickel can be substituted by other divalent metals of similar sized to make mixtures that crystallise in the same form.
Doyleite is a rare aluminum trihydroxide mineral named in honor of its discoverer, the Canadian physician Earl Joseph (Jess) Doyle. It was first definitively described in 1985 and it is approved by the IMA. It was described from Mont Saint-Hilaire, where it is extremely rare.
Friedrich Karl Franz Liebau was a German chemist, crystallographer, and mineralogist known for his research in silicates.