Tsumebite | |
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General | |
Category | Phosphate minerals |
Formula (repeating unit) | Pb2Cu(PO4)(SO4)(OH) |
IMA symbol | Tsu [1] |
Strunz classification | 8.BG.05 |
Dana classification | 43.4.2.1 |
Crystal system | Monoclinic |
Crystal class | Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol) |
Space group | P21/m |
Identification | |
Formula mass | 685.99 g/mol |
Color | Emerald-green, green in transmitted light |
Crystal habit | Crusts of intergrown crystals on matrix |
Twinning | Almost always twinned. Twins may be multiple, with serrated re-entrants. |
Cleavage | None |
Fracture | Uneven |
Tenacity | Brittle |
Mohs scale hardness | 3+1⁄2 |
Luster | Adamantine to vitreous |
Streak | Green |
Diaphaneity | Transparent |
Specific gravity | 6.13 |
Optical properties | Biaxial (+) |
Refractive index | Nx = 1.885 to 1.900, Ny = 1.920, Nz = 1.942 to 1.956 |
Pleochroism | Faint: X = Y = very pale blue to colorless; Z = robin’s-egg-blue [2] [3] |
Solubility | Readily soluble in HCl and slowly soluble in HNO3. [4] |
References | [2] [4] [5] [6] |
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.
The minerals in the brackebuschite group have the general formula A2B(H2O,OH)(TO4)2 and crystallise in the monoclinic system, space group P21/m. The group includes: [5]
The structure of the brackebuschite group minerals is composed of B-(O,OH)6 octahedra, two non-equivalent TO4 tetrahedra, TO4(1) and TO4(2), and two different irregular polyhedra of large cations. B and T represent different elements in different members of the group. Chains formed from the B octahedra link through the oxygens of TO4(2) tetrahedra, while the large cation polyhedra form double chains parallel to the b crystal axis through edge sharing with TO4(1) tetrahedra. The result is a tight three-dimensional structure. [5] In tsumebite copper ions occupy the B sites, and phosphorus and sulfur occupy the T sites. Lead is the large cation.
Tsumebite belongs to the monoclinic crystal class 2/m, meaning that it has one twofold axis of symmetry perpendicular to a mirror plane. The space group is P 21/m, meaning that the crystal lattice is a primitive lattice, with structural elements only at the vertices of the unit cell. These structural elements are made up of two formula units (Z = 2).
Unit cell parameters are a = 8.69 Å, b = 5.78 Å, c = 7.86 Å, β = 111.87° [4] [5] [6] or a = 8.70 Å, b = 5.80 Å, c = 7.85 Å, β = 111.5°. [2] [3]
Tsumebite is an emerald-green color, transparent and green in transmitted light, with a green streak and an adamantine (diamond-like) to vitreous (glassy) luster. It is biaxial (+) with refractive indices Nx = 1.885 to 1.900, Ny = 1.920 and Nz = 1.942 to 1.956. It is faintly pleochroic with X = Y = very pale blue to colorless and Z = robin's-egg-blue. [2] [3]
The mineral typically occurs as crusts of intergrown crystals on matrix. Cleavage is absent, but twinning is almost universal, and twins may be multiple, with serrated re-entrants. [2] It is brittle, with an uneven fracture, hardness 3+1⁄2 and specific gravity 6.13. It is readily soluble in hydrochloric acid HCl and slowly soluble in nitric acid HNO3. [4] It is not radioactive. [6]
Tsumebite is a rare secondary mineral in the oxidised zone of some arsenic-bearing lead-copper deposits, with other lead-bearing phosphates and sulfates. [2] Associated minerals include azurite, smithsonite, malachite, cerussite, mimetite, wulfenite and olivenite. [2] The type locality is the Tsumeb mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region, Namibia. [4] The Handbook of Mineralogy [2] states that the type material was destroyed by bombing, but does not indicate when or where.
Tsumebite occurs at Morenci, Arizona, predominantly as twinned crystals associated with wulfenite, olivenite and the hyalite variety of opal. [3] At Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, tsumebite has been found as lustrous pale blue to bluish green crystals. It usually occurs with yellow crusts of corkite-hinsdalite, colorless to white pyromorphite needles and sprays of pale greyish green zincian libethenite. Less commonly found with scholzite and torbernite. [7]
Vanadinite is a mineral belonging to the apatite group of phosphates, with the chemical formula Pb5(VO4)3Cl. It is one of the main industrial ores of the metal vanadium and a minor source of lead. A dense, brittle mineral, it is usually found in the form of red hexagonal crystals. It is an uncommon mineral, formed by the oxidation of lead ore deposits such as galena. First discovered in 1801 in Mexico, vanadinite deposits have since been unearthed in South America, Europe, Africa, and North America.
Vivianite (Fe(II)
3(PO
4)
2·8H
2O) is a hydrated iron(II) phosphate mineral found in a number of geological environments. Small amounts of manganese Mn2+, magnesium Mg2+, and calcium Ca2+ may substitute for iron Fe2+ in its structure. Pure vivianite is colorless, but the mineral oxidizes very easily, changing the color, and it is usually found as deep blue to deep bluish green prismatic to flattened crystals. Vivianite crystals are often found inside fossil shells, such as those of bivalves and gastropods, or attached to fossil bone. Vivianite can also appear on the iron coffins or on the corpses of humans as a result of a chemical reaction of the decomposing body with the iron enclosure.
Brazilianite, whose name derives from its country of origin, Brazil, is a typically yellow-green phosphate mineral, most commonly found in phosphate-rich pegmatites.
Liroconite is a complex mineral: Hydrated copper aluminium arsenate hydroxide, with the formula Cu2Al[(OH)4|AsO4]·4(H2O). It is a vitreous monoclinic mineral, colored bright blue to green, often associated with malachite, azurite, olivenite, and clinoclase. It is quite soft, with a Mohs hardness of 2–2.5, and has a specific gravity of 2.9–3.0.
Hauyne or haüyne, also called hauynite or haüynite ,, old name Azure spar is a rare 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.
Vauxite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula Fe2+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2·6(H2O). It belongs to the laueite – paravauxite group, paravauxite subgroup, although Mindat puts it as a member of the vantasselite Al4(PO4)3(OH)3·9H2O group. There is no similarity in structure between vauxite and paravauxite Fe2+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2·8H2O or metavauxite Fe3+Al2(PO4)2(OH)2·8H2O, even though they are closely similar chemically and all minerals occur together as secondary minerals. Vauxite was named in 1922 for George Vaux Junior (1863–1927), an American attorney and mineral collector.
Julgoldite is a member of the pumpellyite mineral series, a series of minerals characterized by the chemical bonding of silica tetrahedra with alkali and transition metal cations. Julgoldites, along with more common minerals like epidote and vesuvianite, belong to the subclass of sorosilicates, the rock-forming minerals that contain SiO4 tetrahedra that share a common oxygen to form Si2O7 ions with a charge of 6− (Deer et al., 1996). Julgoldite has been recognized for its importance in low grade metamorphism, forming under shear stress accompanied by relatively low temperatures (Coombs, 1953). Julgoldite was named in honor of Professor Julian Royce Goldsmith (1918–1999) of the University of Chicago.
Arthurite is a mineral composed of divalent copper and iron ions in combination with trivalent arsenate, phosphate and sulfate ions with hydrogen and oxygen. Initially discovered by Sir Arthur Russell in 1954 at Hingston Down Consols mine in Calstock, Cornwall, England, arthurite is formed as a resultant mineral in the oxidation region of some copper deposits by the variation of enargite or arsenopyrite. The chemical formula of Arthurite is CuFe23+(AsO4,PO4,SO4)2(O,OH)2·4H2O.
Duftite is a relatively common arsenate mineral with the formula CuPb(AsO4)(OH), related to conichalcite. It is green and often forms botryoidal aggregates. It is a member of the adelite-descloizite Group, Conichalcite-Duftite Series. Duftite and conichalcite specimens from Tsumeb are commonly zoned in color and composition. Microprobe analyses and X-ray powder-diffraction studies indicate extensive substitution of Zn for Cu, and Ca for Pb in the duftite structure. This indicates a solid solution among conichalcite, CaCu(AsO4 )(OH), austinite, CaZn(AsO4)(OH) and duftite PbCu(AsO4)(OH), all of them belonging to the adelite group of arsenates. It was named after Mining Councilor G Duft, Director of the Otavi Mine and Railroad Company, Tsumeb, Namibia. The type locality is the Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region, Namibia.
Plumbogummite is a rare secondary lead phosphate mineral, belonging to the alunite supergroup of minerals, crandallite subgroup. Some other members of this subgroup are:
Lavendulan is an uncommon copper arsenate mineral, known for its characteristic intense electric blue colour. It belongs to the lavendulan group, which has four members:
Cornubite is a rare secondary copper arsenate mineral with formula: Cu5(AsO4)2(OH)4. It was first described for its discovery in 1958 in Wheal Carpenter, Gwinear, Cornwall, England, UK. The name is from Cornubia, the medieval Latin name for Cornwall. It is a dimorph of cornwallite, and the arsenic analogue of pseudomalachite.
Vlasovite is a rare inosilicate (chain silicate) mineral with sodium and zirconium, with the chemical formula Na2ZrSi4O11. It was discovered in 1961 at Vavnbed Mountain in the Lovozero Massif, in the Northern Region of Russia. The researchers who first identified it, R P Tikhonenkova and M E Kazakova, named it for Kuzma Aleksevich Vlasov (1905–1964), a Russian mineralogist and geochemist who studied the Lovozero massif, and who was the founder of the Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements, Moscow, Russia.
This list gives an overview of the classification of non-silicate minerals and includes mostly International Mineralogical Association (IMA) recognized minerals and its groupings. This list complements the List of minerals recognized by the International Mineralogical Association series of articles and List of minerals. Rocks, ores, mineral mixtures, not IMA approved minerals, not named minerals are mostly excluded. Mostly major groups only, or groupings used by New Dana Classification and Mindat.
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.
Carminite (PbFe3+2(AsO4)2(OH)2) is an anhydrous arsenate mineral containing hydroxyl. It is a rare secondary mineral that is structurally related to palermoite (Li2SrAl4(PO4)4(OH)4). Sewardite (CaFe3+2(AsO4)2(OH)2) is an analogue of carminite, with calcium in sewardite in place of the lead in carminite. Mawbyite is a dimorph (same formula, different structure) of carminite; mawbyite is monoclinic and carminite is orthorhombic. It has a molar mass of 639.87 g. It was discovered in 1850 and named for the characteristic carmine colour.
Falsterite is a rare phosphate mineral with the formula Ca2MgMn2+2(Fe2+0.5Fe3+0.5)4Zn4(PO4)8(OH)4(H2O)14. It is a pegmatitic mineral, related to the currently approved mineral ferraioloite.
Lemanskiite is a mineral that was first discovered in a mine at Abundancia mine, El Guanaco mining district, Chile, with the ideal formula of NaCaCu5(AsO4)4Cl·3H2O. Originally, this mineral was discovered as being dimorphus with lavendulan, but in 2018 it was revised to only have 3 water molecules. Lemanskiite typically occurs as rosette-shaped aggregates of thin lamellar or needle-shaped aggregates, such as lammerite. Lemanskiite is dark sky blue with a light blue streak, it is brittle with an excellent cleavage plane. It was found on a dumping site in the abandoned Abundancia mine, El Guanaco mining district, Region II, Antofagasta Province, Chile The new mineral has been named after Chester S. Lemanski, Jr. This mineral and name were then approved by the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names of the International Mineralogical Association.
Serrabrancaite is a mineral with the chemical formula MnPO4•H2O and which is named for the locality where it was found, the Alto Serra Branca Pegmatite. The Alto Serra Branca mine has been in operation since the 1940s. It is located in Paraiba, Brazil near a village named Pedra Lavrada. Tantalite is the main mineral mined here. Specimens of serrabrancaite are kept in the Mineralogical Collections of both the Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany and the Martin-Luther Universität Halle, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften.
Rockbridgeite is an anhydrous phosphate mineral in the "Rockbridgeite" supergroup with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+4(PO4)3(OH)5. It was discovered at the since-shut-down Midvale Mine in Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States. The researcher who first identified it, Clifford Frondel, named it in 1949 for its region of discovery, Rockbridge County.