Wavellite

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Wavellite
Wavellite-162460.jpg
Wavellite cluster from Mauldin Mountain Quarries, Mauldin Mt., Montgomery County, Arkansas
General
Category Phosphate minerals
Formula
(repeating unit)
Al3(PO4)2(OH,F)3·5H2O
IMA symbol Wav [1]
Strunz classification 8.DC.50
Crystal system Orthorhombic
Crystal class Dipyramidal (mmm)
H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group Pcmn
Unit cell a = 9.621  Å
b = 17.363 Å,
c = 6.994 Å; Z = 4
Identification
ColorGreen to yellowish-green and greenish blue and blue. and yellow, brown, white and colorless
Crystal habit Spherical, radial aggregates; striated prisms; crusty to stalactitic
Cleavage [110] perfect, [101] good, [010] distinct
Fracture Uneven to subconchoidal
Mohs scale hardness3.5 - 4
Luster Vitreous to resinous, pearly
Streak White
Diaphaneity Translucent
Specific gravity 2.36
Optical propertiesBiaxial (+)
Refractive index nα = 1.518 - 1.535 nβ = 1.524 - 1.543 nγ = 1.544 - 1.561
Birefringence δ = 0.026
Pleochroism Weak; X = greenish; Z = yellowish
2V angle Measured: 60° to 72°
Fusibility Infusable, swells and splits on heating
Solubility Insoluble
References [2] [3] [4] [5]

Wavellite is an aluminium basic phosphate mineral with formula Al 3(P O 4)2(OH, F)3·5H2O. Distinct crystals are rare, and it normally occurs as translucent green radial or spherical clusters. [6]

Contents

Discovery and occurrence

Wavellite from the Avant Mine, Garland County, Arkansas, showing spherical structure (size: 3.4 x 2.0 x 1.1 cm) Wavellite-199443.jpg
Wavellite from the Avant Mine, Garland County, Arkansas, showing spherical structure (size: 3.4 x 2.0 x 1.1 cm)

Wavellite was first described in 1805 for an occurrence at High Down, Filleigh, Devon, England and named by William Babington in 1805 in honor of Dr. William Wavell (1750–1829), [4] a Devon-based physician, botanist, historian, and naturalist, who brought the mineral to the attention of fellow mineralogists. [7] [4] [6] [8]

It occurs in association with crandallite and variscite in fractures in aluminous metamorphic rock, in hydrothermal regions and in phosphate rock deposits. [2] It is found in a wide variety of locations notably in the Mount Ida, Arkansas area in the Ouachita Mountains.

It is sometimes used as a gemstone. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amblygonite</span>

Amblygonite is a fluorophosphate mineral, (Li,Na)AlPO4(F,OH), composed of lithium, sodium, aluminium, phosphate, fluoride and hydroxide. The mineral occurs in pegmatite deposits and is easily mistaken for albite and other feldspars. Its density, cleavage and flame test for lithium are diagnostic. Amblygonite forms a series with montebrasite, the low fluorine endmember. Geologic occurrence is in granite pegmatites, high-temperature tin veins, and greisens. Amblygonite occurs with spodumene, apatite, lepidolite, tourmaline, and other lithium-bearing minerals in pegmatite veins. It contains about 10% lithium, and has been utilized as a source of lithium. The chief commercial sources have historically been the deposits of California and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spinel</span> Mineral or gemstone

Spinel is the magnesium/aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals. It has the formula MgAl
2
O
4
in the cubic crystal system. Its name comes from the Latin word spinella, a diminutive form of spine, in reference to its pointed crystals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titanite</span> Nesosilicate mineral

Titanite, or sphene (from Ancient Greek σφηνώ (sphēnṓ) 'wedge'), is a calcium titanium nesosilicate mineral, CaTiSiO5. Trace impurities of iron and aluminium are typically present. Also commonly present are rare earth metals including cerium and yttrium; calcium may be partly replaced by thorium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehnite</span> Inosilicate of calcium and aluminium

Prehnite is an inosilicate of calcium and aluminium with the formula: Ca2Al(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 with limited Fe3+ substitutes for aluminium in the structure. Prehnite crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system, and most often forms as stalactitic, botryoidal, reniform or globular aggregates, with only just the crests of small crystals showing any faces, which are almost always curved or composite. Very rarely will it form distinct, well-individualized crystals showing a square-like cross-section, including those found at the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, Canada. Prehnite is brittle with an uneven fracture and a vitreous to pearly luster. Its hardness is 6.5, its specific gravity is 2.80–2.95 and its color varies from light green to yellow, but also colorless, blue, pink or white. In April 2000, rare orange prehnite was discovered in the Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa. Prehnite is mostly translucent, and rarely transparent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spodumene</span> Pyroxene, inosilicate mineral rich in lithium

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, LiAl(SiO3)2, and is a commercially important source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size. Single crystals of 14.3 m (47 ft) in size are reported from the Black Hills of South Dakota, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Variscite</span> Hydrated aluminium phosphate

Variscite is a hydrated aluminium phosphate mineral (AlPO4·2H2O). It is a relatively rare phosphate mineral. It is sometimes confused with turquoise; however, variscite is usually greener in color. The green color results from the presence of small amounts of trivalent chromium (Cr3+
).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jadeite</span> Pyroxene mineral

Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition NaAlSi2O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, but is most often found in shades of green or white. Jadeite is formed only in the subduction zones of continental margins, where rock undergoes metamorphism at high pressure but relatively low temperature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wardite</span>

Wardite is a hydrous sodium aluminium phosphate hydroxide mineral with formula: NaAl3(PO4)2(OH)4·2(H2O). Wardite is of interest for its rare crystallography. It crystallizes in the tetragonal trapezohedral class and is one of only a few minerals in that class. Wardite forms vitreous green to bluish green to white to colorless crystals, with pyramidal {102} or {114} faces and with {001} usually present masses. Also appears as fibrous encrustations. It has a Mohs hardness of 5 and a specific gravity of 2.81–2.87.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brazilianite</span> Yellow-green phosphate mineral

Brazilianite, whose name derives from its country of origin, Brazil, is a typically yellow-green phosphate mineral, most commonly found in phosphate-rich pegmatites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grossular</span> Garnet, nesosilicate mineral

Grossular is a calcium-aluminium species of the garnet group of minerals. It has the chemical formula of Ca3Al2(SiO4)3 but the calcium may, in part, be replaced by ferrous iron and the aluminium by ferric iron. The name grossular is derived from the botanical name for the gooseberry, grossularia, in reference to the green garnet of this composition that is found in Siberia. Other shades include cinnamon brown (cinnamon stone variety), red, and yellow. Grossular is a gemstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aegirine</span> Member of the clinopyroxene group of inosilicate mineral

Aegirine is a member of the clinopyroxene group of inosilicate minerals. It is the sodium endmember of the aegirine–augite series. It has the chemical formula NaFeSi2O6, in which the iron is present as the ion Fe3+. In the aegirine–augite series, the sodium is variably replaced by calcium with iron(II) and magnesium replacing the iron(III) to balance the charge. Aluminum also substitutes for the iron(III). Acmite is a fibrous green-colored variety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galaxite</span>

Galaxite, also known as 'mangan-spinel' is an isometric mineral belonging to the spinel group of oxides with the ideal chemical formula Mn2+Al2O4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aheylite</span>

Aheylite is a rare phosphate mineral with formula (Fe2+Zn)Al6[(OH)4|(PO4)2]2·4(H2O). It occurs as pale blue to pale green triclinic crystal masses. Aheylite was made the newest member of the turquoise group in 1984 by International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluorapatite</span> Phosphate mineral

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, especially in individuals who use fluoridated toothpaste, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augelite</span> Aluminium phosphate mineral

Augelite is an aluminium phosphate mineral with formula: Al2(PO4)(OH)3. The shade varies from colorless to white, yellow or rose. Its crystal system is monoclinic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eosphorite</span> Phosphate mineral

Eosphorite is a brown (occasionally pink) manganese hydrous phosphate mineral with chemical formula: MnAl(PO4)(OH)2·H2O. It is used as a gemstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taranakite</span> Iron-aluminium phosphate mineral

Taranakite is a hydrated alkali iron-aluminium phosphate mineral with chemical formula (K,Na)3(Al,Fe3+)5(PO4)2(HPO4)6·18 H2O. It forms from the reaction of clay minerals or aluminous rocks with solutions enriched in phosphate derived from bat or bird guano or, less commonly, from bones or other organic matter. Taranakite is most commonly found in humid, bat inhabited caves near the boundary of guano layers with the cave surface. It is also found in perennially wet coastal locations that have been occupied by bird colonies. The type location, and its namesake, the Sugar Loaf Islands off Taranaki, New Zealand, is an example of a coastal occurrence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allanpringite</span> Phosphate mineral

Allanpringite is a phosphate mineral named after Australian mineralogist Allan Pring of the South Australian Museum. Allanpringite is a Fe3+ analogue Al-phosphate mineral wavellite, but it has a different crystal symmetry – monoclinic instead of orthorhombic in wavellite. It forms needle-like crystals, which are always twinned and form parallel bundles up to about 2 mm long. They are often found in association with other iron phosphates in abandoned iron mines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluorwavellite</span>

Fluorwavellite is a rare phosphate mineral with formula Al3(PO4)2(OH)2F•5H2O. As suggested by its name, it is a fluorine-analogue of wavellite (hence its name), a rather common phosphate mineral. Chemically similar aluminium fluoride phosphate minerals include fluellite, kingite and mitryaevaite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paravauxite</span> Phosphate mineral

Paravauxite is a rare phosphate mineral that was named in 1922. Its name is a portmanteau word made by blending the Greek word for near and vauxite due to the chemical relationship to vauxite. It was approved by the IMA, and was first described in 1959. It is now grandfathered, meaning it is probably to remain a species.

References

  1. 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.
  2. 1 2 Handbook of Mineralogy
  3. Webmineral
  4. 1 2 3 Mindat
  5. Klein, Corneis and Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Jr., Manual of Mineralogy, Wiley, 20th ed. 1985, p. 362-3 ISBN   0-471-80580-7
  6. 1 2 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wavellite"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 430.
  7. Green, David; Cotterell, Tom; Jones, I.; Cox, D.; Cleevely, R. (2007). "Wavellite: its discovery and occurrences in the British Isles". UK Journal of Mines and Minerals. 28: 11–30.
  8. Curtis, Samuel and Hooker, William Jackson (1827). Memoirs of the Life and Writing of the Late Mr. William Curtis, Curtis's Botanical Magazine; or Flower Garden Displayed, v. 1 (new series), v-xxxii.
  9. Gemstones: Properties, identification and use by Arthur Thomas, p. 132.