Paralaurionite | |
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General | |
Category | Halide mineral |
Formula (repeating unit) | PbCl(OH) |
IMA symbol | Plri [1] |
Strunz classification | 3.DC.05 |
Crystal system | Monoclinic |
Crystal class | Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol) |
Space group | C2/m |
Unit cell | a = 10.865(4) Å, b = 4.006(2) Å, c = 7.233(3) Å; β = 117.24(4)°; Z = 4 |
Identification | |
Color | Colorless, white, pale greenish, yellowish, yellow-orange, rarely violet |
Crystal habit | Elongated tabular crystals |
Twinning | Contact twinning on {100} |
Cleavage | Perfect on {001} |
Tenacity | Flexible, non-elastic |
Mohs scale hardness | 3 |
Luster | Subadamantine |
Diaphaneity | Transparent to translucent |
Specific gravity | 6.05–6.15 |
Optical properties | Biaxial (−) |
Refractive index | nα = 2.050 nβ = 2.150 nγ = 2.200 |
Birefringence | δ = 0.150 |
Pleochroism | Visible |
References | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
Paralaurionite is a colorless mineral consisting of a basic lead chloride PbCl(OH) that is dimorphous with laurionite. It is a member of the matlockite group. [6] The name is derived from para-, the Greek for "near", and laurionite, because of its polymorphic relationship to it. [4] Bright, yellow tips of thorikosite can form on paralaurionite crystals and paralaurionite may also be intergrown with mendipite. [7] [8]
It was first described in 1899 for an occurrence in slag in Laurium, Attica, Greece. [3] In 1952 an occurrences of it was reported from the Mammoth Mine, Arizona. [9]
It occurs in lead bearing slag which has been exposed to seawater. It also occurs in polymetallic ore deposits. It occurs associated with laurionite, penfieldite, fiedlerite, phosgenite in slag deposits; and with leadhillite, matlockite, cerussite, hydrocerussite, diaboleite and wherryite in the Mammoth mine location. [3]
Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver.
Dioptase is an intense emerald-green to bluish-green mineral that is cyclosilicate of copper. It is transparent to translucent. Its luster is vitreous to sub-adamantine. Its formula is Cu6Si6O18·6H2O, also reported as CuSiO2(OH)2. It has a Mohs hardness of 5, the same as tooth enamel. Its specific gravity is 3.28–3.35, and it has two perfect and one very good cleavage directions. Additionally, dioptase is very fragile, and specimens must be handled with great care. It is a trigonal mineral, forming six-sided crystals that are terminated by rhombohedra.
Murdochite is a mineral combining lead and copper oxides with the chemical formula PbCu
6O
8−x(Cl,Br)
2x (x ≤ 0.5).
Realgar, also known as arsenic blende, ruby sulphur or ruby of arsenic, is an arsenic sulfide mineral with the chemical formula α-As4S4. It is a soft, sectile mineral occurring in monoclinic crystals, or in granular, compact, or powdery form, often in association with the related mineral, orpiment. It is orange-red in color, melts at 320 °C, and burns with a bluish flame releasing fumes of arsenic and sulfur. Realgar is soft with a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2 and has a specific gravity of 3.5. Its streak is orange colored. It is trimorphous with pararealgar and bonazziite.
Mimetite is a lead arsenate chloride mineral (Pb5(AsO4)3Cl) which forms as a secondary mineral in lead deposits, usually by the oxidation of galena and arsenopyrite. The name derives from the Greek Μιμητής mimetes, meaning "imitator" and refers to mimetite's resemblance to the mineral pyromorphite. This resemblance is not coincidental, as mimetite forms a mineral series with pyromorphite (Pb5(PO4)3Cl) and with vanadinite (Pb5(VO4)3Cl). Notable occurrences are Mapimi, Durango, Mexico and Tsumeb, Namibia.
Cotunnite is the natural mineral form of lead(II) chloride (PbCl2). Unlike the pure compound, which is white, cotunnite can be white, yellow, or green. The density of mineral samples spans range 5.3–5.8 g/cm3. The hardness on the Mohs scale is 1.5–2. The crystal structure is orthorhombic dipyramidal and the point group is 2/m 2/m 2/m. Each Pb has a coordination number of 9. Cotunnite occurs near volcanoes: Vesuvius, Italy; Tarapacá, Chile; and Tolbachik, Russia.
Phosgenite is a rare mineral consisting of lead carbonate chloride, (PbCl)2CO3. The tetragonal crystals are prismatic or tabular in habit: they are usually colorless and transparent, and have a brilliant adamantine lustre. Sometimes the crystals have a curious helical twist about the tetrad or principal axis. The hardness is 3 and the specific gravity 6.3. The mineral is rather sectile, and consequently was earlier known as corneous lead, (German Hornblei).
Tiger is a former populated place in Pinal County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled as Schultzcirca 1881 in what was then the Arizona Territory, then later reestablished as Tiger after World War I.
Botallackite, chemical formula Cu2(OH)3Cl is a secondary copper mineral, named for its type locality at the Botallack Mine, St Just in Penwith, Cornwall. It is polymorphous with atacamite, paratacamite and clinoatacamite.
Vulcanite is a rare copper telluride mineral. The mineral has a metallic luster, and has a green or bronze-yellow tint. It has a hardness between 1 and 2 on the Mohs scale. Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Boleite is a complex halide mineral with formula: KPb26Ag9Cu24(OH)48Cl62. It was first described in 1891 as an oxychloride mineral. It is an isometric mineral which forms in deep-blue cubes. There are numerous minerals related to boleite, such as pseudoboleite, cumengite, and diaboleite, and these all have the same complex crystal structure. They all contain bright-blue cubic forms and are formed in altered zones of lead and copper deposits, produced during the reaction of chloride bearing solutions with primary sulfide minerals.
Gilalite is a copper silicate mineral with chemical composition of Cu5Si6O17·7(H2O).
Matlockite is a rare lead halide mineral, named after the town of Matlock in Derbyshire, England, where it was first discovered in a nearby mine. Matlockite gives its name to the matlockite group which consists of rare minerals of a similar structure.
Laurionite is a lead halide mineral. It forms colorless to white crystals in the orthorhombic crystal system and is dimorphous with paralaurionite, both members of the matlockite group.
Diaboleite is a blue-colored mineral with formula Pb2CuCl2(OH)4. It was discovered in England in 1923 and named diaboleite, from the Greek word διά and boleite, meaning "distinct from boleite". The mineral has since been found in a number of countries.
Daubréeite is a rare bismuth oxohalide mineral with formula BiO(OH,Cl). It is a creamy-white to yellow-brown, soft, earthy clay–like mineral which crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system. It is a member of the matlockite group.
Marshite (CuI) is a naturally occurring isometric halide mineral with occasional silver (Ag) substitution for copper (Cu). Solid solution between the silver end-member miersite and the copper end-member marshite has been found in these minerals from deposits in Broken Hill, Australia. The mineral's name is derived from the person who first described it, an Australian mineral collector named Charles W. Marsh. Marsh drew attention to native copper iodide (Marshite) in the 1800s emphasizing its natural occurrence, it is not to be confused with copper (I) iodide a substance commonly synthesized in laboratory settings.
Mammothite is a mineral found in the Mammoth mine in Tiger, Arizona and also in Laurium, Attika, Greece. This mineral was named in 1985 by Donald R. Peacor, Pete J. Dunn, G. Schnorrer-Köhler, and Richard A. Bideaux, for the Mammoth vein (one of the two main veins in the mine) and the town of Mammoth, Arizona, which was named for the mine. The mammothite that is found in Arizona exist as euhedral crystals imbedded in micro granular, white colored anglesite with a saccharoidal texture. The associated minerals include phosgenite, wulfenite, leadhillite and caledonite. In Greece, the mammothite exists as small euhedral crystals and also as microscopic rock cavities lined with projecting crystals within the slags. The associated minerals here are cerussite, phosgenite and matlockite. The ideal chemical formula for mammothite is Pb6Cu4AlSb5+O2(OH)16Cl4(SO4)2.
Zhangpeishanite is a mineral named after Zhang Peishan, a Chinese mineralogist at the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in recognition of his contributions to studying the mineralogy Bayan Obo deposit, where the mineral is mined. The Bayan Obo deposit is also known for being a world class deposit. The mineral got approved by the IMA in 2006 but was published two years after its approval. The mineral consists of barium chloride fluoride.
Penfieldite is a rare lead hydroxychloride mineral from the class of halides. It was named after Samuel Lewis Penfield. It has been a valid species before the founding of IMA, and was first published in 1892. It had been grandfathered, meaning the name penfieldite is still believed to refer to a valid species. When it was first described by Genth in 1892 from Laurion, Greece, the mineral had the formula of Pb3Cl4O.