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Vesuvianite

Silicate mineral

Summary

Silicate mineral

Field	Value
boxbgcolor	#747827
boxtextcolor	#fff
name	Vesuvianite
category	Sorosilicate
image	Vesuvianite-242685.jpg
caption	Vesuvianite from the Jeffrey Mine in Val-des-Sources, Quebec
formula	Ca10(Mg, Fe)2Al4(SiO4)5(Si2O7)2(OH,F)4
IMAsymbol	Ves
strunz	9.BG.35
system	Tetragonal
class	Ditetragonal dipyramidal (4/mmm)
H-M symbol: (4/m 2/m 2/m)
symmetry	P4/nnc
unit cell	a = 15.52 Å, c = 11.82 Å
Z = 2
color	Yellow, green, brown; colorless to white, brown-black, light green, emerald green, violet, blue-green to blue, pink, purple, red, black, commonly zoned
habit	Short pyramidal to long prismatic crystals common, massive to columnar
twinning	Fine twin domains observed
cleavage	Poor on {110} and {100} very poor on {001}
fracture	Sub conchoidal to irregular
tenacity	Brittle
mohs	6–7
luster	Vitreous to resinous
refractive	nω = 1.703–1.752
nε = 1.700–1.746
opticalprop	Uniaxial (−)
birefringence	0.004–0.006
pleochroism	slight in colored varieties
streak	White
gravity	3.32–3.43
solubility	Vesuvianite is virtually insoluble in acids
diaphaneity	Subtransparent to translucent
other	striated lengthwise
references

H-M symbol: (4/m 2/m 2/m) Z = 2 nε = 1.700–1.746

Vesuvianite, also known as idocrase, is a green, brown, yellow, or blue silicate mineral. Vesuvianite occurs as tetragonal crystals in skarn deposits and limestones that have been subjected to contact metamorphism.

The specific gravity is 3.4 and the Mohs hardness is . The name "vesuvianite" was given by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1795, because fine crystals of the mineral are found at Vesuvius; these are brown in color and occur in the ejected limestone blocks of Monte Somma. Several other names were applied to this species, one of which, "idocrase" by René Just Haüy in 1796, is now in common use.

A sky bluish variety known as cyprine has been reported from Franklin, New Jersey and other locations; the blue is due to impurities of copper in a complex calcium aluminum sorosilicate. Californite is a name sometimes used for jade-like vesuvianite, also known as California jade, American jade or Vesuvianite jade. Xanthite is a manganese rich variety. Wiluite is an optically positive variety from Wilui, Siberia. Idocrase is an older synonym sometimes used for gemstone-quality vesuvianite. Also, Vessonite and Vassolite are variant spellings commonly encountered in the gem trade.

Vesuvianite - Alchuri, Shigar Valley, [[Gilgit-Baltistan]], Pakistan.

References

Additional sources

References

Warr, L.N.. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine.
[http://www.mindat.org/min-4223.html Mindat with location data]
[http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/vesuvianite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy]
https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/MineralData?mineral=Vesuvianite Mineralienatlas
Leonard James. Spencer

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

calcium-minerals magnesium-minerals aluminium-minerals mount-vesuvius gemstones geology-of-italy sorosilicates tetragonal-minerals minerals-in-space-group-126

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