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MINERAL
B
BY:
MAULANA ARSYAD
http://mineral.galleries.com/
Cleavage is absent.
Fracture is conchoidal to uneven.
Hardness is 4.5
Specific Gravity is approximately 2.9 (average)
Streak is white.
Other Characteristics: Is non-fluorescent.
Associated Minerals include celestite and other minerals
in altered volcanic rocks.
Notable Occurrences include the type locality at Furnace
Creek, Death Valley, Inyo County and at the Sterling
Borax Mine in Tick Canyon, Los Angeles County,
California, USA.
Best Field Indicators are locality, nodular character,
hardness and non-fluorescence.
Streak is white.
Other Characteristics: fluoresces brilliant blue under UV
light.
Associated Minerals include aegerine, misterite and other
rare silicates.
Notable Occurrences include Dara-Pioz, Tien-Shan
Mountains, Tadzhikistan.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, fluorescence,
cleavage, associations and locality.
Cleavage: Indistinct.
Fracture: Conchoidal.
Hardness is 3.
Specific Gravity is 5.3 (slightly heavier than average
for metallic minerals)
Streak is dark brown.
Associated Minerals include dolomite, realgar and
sartorite.
Notable Occurrences are limited to the type locality of
the
Lengenbach
Quarry,
Binnental,
Valais,
Switzerland and Franklin, New Jersey, USA.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, locality, internal
reflections, associations and density.
Chemistry:
PbFe3AsO4SO4(OH)6,
Lead
Iron
Arsenate Sulfate Hydroxide.
Class: Sulfates; although sometimes classified as a
Phosphate.
Group: Beudantite
Uses: As a very minor source of lead and as
mineral specimens.
Specimens
THE MINERAL
BENITOITE
Fluorescent
Cursor Passover
Chemistry: BaTiSi3O9, Barium Titanium Silicate.
Class: Silicates
Subclass: Cyclosilicates
Uses: As a gemstone and as a mineral specimen
Specimens
Chemistry:
NaBePO4,
Sodium
Beryllium
Phosphate.
Class: Phosphates
Uses: As a collector's gemstone and as mineral
specimens.
Specimens
to
as
in
for
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals include quartz especially rose
quartz, feldspars especially a variety of albite called
cleavelandite, elbaite, beryl and columbite.
Notable Occurrences are limited to McKean Mt.,
Stoneham and Newry, Maine, USA; the Sapucaia
pegmatite, Minas Gerais, Brazil and Paprok, Nuristan,
Afghanistan.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, hardness
and locality.
Silicate
mineral
THE MINERAL
BERYL
o
o
o
o
o
Aquamarine Specimens
Emerald Specimens
Goshenite Specimens
Heliodor Specimens
Morganite Specimens
the halide elements and the oxygens and hydroxides are kind
of superfluous to the overall structure. Some other members of
the Oxyhalides and Hydroxyhalides include boleite,
chloroxiphite,
kelyanite,
botallackite,
laurionite,
paralaurionite, mendipite, fiedlerite, pinchite, penfieldite,
yedlinite, atacamite, koenenite, diaboleite, zirklerite and
paratacamite. Of these, only atacamite and boleite are
common enough to be seen at rock shows and in rock shops
with regularity.
THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BIDEAUXITE:
Color is colorless, white, pale violet to lavender.
Luster is adamantine.
Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent.
Crystal System is isometric; 4/m bar 3 2/m.
Crystal Habits include cubic crystals that envelope
boleite crystals and often completely replace them.
Cleavage is absent.
Fracture is uneven.
Hardness is 3.
Specific Gravity is 6.3 (very heavy for translucent
minerals)
Streak is white.
Other Characteristics: Index of refraction equals
2.192 (very high).
Associated Minerals include boleite, matlockite,
cerussite, anglesite, leadhillite and galena.
Notable Occurrences include the type locality of
Mammoth-St Anthony Mine, Tiger, Pinal County,
Arizona, USA and Chile.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color, density,
luster, lack of cleavage and locality.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is steel gray to off-white.
Luster is metallic.
Transparency crystals are opaque.
Crystal System is orthorhombic; 2/m 2/m 2/m
Crystal Habits include radiating acicular to prismatic
columnar crystals. Sometimes in wonderful sprays that
are similar to stibnite's crystal habits. Also granular
and massive.
Cleavage is perfect in one lengthwise direction.
Fracture is uneven.
Hardness is 2
Specific Gravity is approximately 6.8 - 7.2 (well above
average for metallic minerals)
Streak is gray.
Other Characteristics: Thin crystals are slightly
flexible, but inelastic. There maybe a slight yellow or
iridescent tarnish present. Crystals are usually striated
and have some sectility.
Associated Minerals are numerous and include gold,
bismuth, bismutite, quartz, andradite, chrysoberyl,
almandine, barite, scheelite, pyrophyllite, kettnerite,
wulfenite, gadolinite, wolframite, beryl, epidote,
microcline, pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite,
covellite and several other sulfides.
Notable Occurrences are many and include Cornwall,
England; Bolivia; Australia; Temiscaming County,
Quebec, Canada; Guanajuato, Mexico; Brazil;
Kingsgate, New South Wales, Australia and some
excellent locations in Vogtland and Siegerland,
Germany. From the United States there are several
localities in Haddam, Connecticut; Beaver County,
Utah; Kern County, California; several counties in
Arizona and in Boulder County, Colorado.
Blodite, which is also spelled bloedite, forms in marine and nonmarine (lacustrine) evaporite deposits. Evaporite minerals are
geologically important because they clearly are related to the
environmental conditions that existed at the time of their
deposition, namely arid. They also can be easily recrystallized
in laboratories enabling sedimentologists to obtain their specific
characteristics of formation, such as temperature, solution
concentrations, etc. Blodite also forms as an efflorescence on
cave and mine walls. An efflorescent mineral is one that forms
literally out of thin air, as a "precipitate" of sorts from fumes
concentrated with the mineral's chemical makeup. Crystals of
blodite are scarce, but well formed crystals can show an
intricate, multi-facetted, monoclinic form. Specimens of blodite
should be stored in a sealed container as they can dry out and
crumble.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is white, colorless, gray, yellow. red, green or
blue-green.
Luster is vitreous.
Transparency: Specimens are translucent to
transparent.
Chemistry:
K2(UO2)2(SiO3)2(OH)2
3H2O,
Hydrated Potassium Uranyl Silicate Hydroxide.
Class: Silicates
Subclass: Nesosilicates
Uses: mineral specimen and a very minor ore of
uranium.
Specimens
BORAX
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is white to clear.
Luster is vitreous.
Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent.
Crystal System is monoclinic; 2/m
Crystal Habits include the blocky to prismatic crystals
with a nearly square cross section. Also massive and
as crusts.
Cleavage is perfect in one direction.
Fracture is conchoidal.
Hardness is 2 - 2.5
Specific Gravity is approximately 1.7 (very light)
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals are calcite, halite, hanksite,
colemanite, ulexite and other borates.
Other Characteristics: a sweet alkaline taste, alters to
chalky white tincalconite with dehydration.
Notable Occurrences include Trona, Boron, Death
Valley and other California localities; Andes Mountains;
Turkey and Tibet.
Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color,
associations, locality, density and hardness.
Chemistry:
Cu4SO4(OH)6,
Copper
Sulfate
Hydroxide.
Class: Sulfates
Uses: A minor ore of copper and as mineral
specimens.
Specimens
Chemical
Formula:
Mg(OH)2,
Magnesium
Hydroxide
Class: Oxides and Hydroxides
Group: Brucite
Uses: A minor source of metallic magnesium, a
source of magnesia and as a refractory additive.
Specimens
crystals showing a perfect twin are rare and are often collected
by twin fanciers.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is usually white, gray or colorless but can be pale
shades of other colors.
Luster is vitreous to dull if weathered..
Transparency crystals are translucent to opaque and
only sometimes transparent.
Crystal System is triclinic; bar 1
Crystal Habits include blocky, or tabular crystals.
Rarely are free crystals seen but they have a nearly
rectangular or square cross-section with slanted dome
and pinacoid terminations. Twinning is almost universal
in all plagioclases. Crystals can be twinned according
to the Albite, Carlsbad, Manebach and Baveno laws.
Bytownite is usually found as grains in gabbros and in
compact masses.
Cleavage is perfect in one and good in another
direction forming nearly right angled prisms.
Fracture is conchoidal.
Hardness is 6 - 6.5.
Specific Gravity is approximately 2.74-2.76 (average)
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals are biotite, hornblende and
pyroxenes.
Other Characteristics: index of refraction is 1.565 to
1.585. Lamellar twinning may cause a grooved effect
on cystal and cleavage surfaces that appear as
striations.
Notable Occurrences include Ottawa (formally
Bytown), Canada; Scotland and South Africa.
Best Field Indicators are occurence, twinning
striations, density and index of refraction.