Moschellandsbergite
| Moschellandsbergite | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General and classification | |
| other names |
Landsbergite |
| chemical formula | Ag 2 Hg 3 |
|
Mineral class (and possibly department) |
Metals, alloys, intermetallic compounds |
|
System no. to Strunz and to Dana |
1.AD.15 ( 8th edition : I / A.02) 01.01.08.01 |
| Crystallographic Data | |
| Crystal system | cubic |
| Crystal class ; symbol | tetrahedral-pentagon-dodecahedral; 23 |
| Space group | I 23 (No. 197) |
| Lattice parameters | a = 10.05 Å Please complete the source as an individual reference |
| Formula units | Z = 4 Please complete the source as an individual reference |
| Frequent crystal faces | (110) or (211), subordinate also (111), (110), (310) and others |
| Physical Properties | |
| Mohs hardness | 3.5 |
| Density (g / cm 3 ) | 13.5 |
| Cleavage | Well |
| Break ; Tenacity | shell-like |
| colour | silvery white |
| Line color | silvery white |
| transparency | opaque |
| shine | Metallic luster |
Moschellandsbergite , also called Landsbergite for short or referred to as γ- amalgam , is a rarely occurring mineral from the mineral class of the elements , more precisely a natural alloy of about 26 to 27% silver and 74 to 73% mercury . It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system with the chemical composition Ag 2 Hg 3 and develops opaque and mostly flat, dodecahedral crystals , but also granular to massive mineral aggregates of silver-white color and a strong metallic luster .
Special properties
Moschellandsbergite melts in front of the soldering tube and forms a grain of silver.
Etymology and history
In 1442 the mining of silver and mercury on the Moschellandsberg near Obermoschel was first mentioned in a document. The hard silver described is at least a very likely indication that landsbergite is a brittle mineral. Landsbergite was only validly described (according to IMA ) and named after the first site, Moschellandsberg, in 1938 by Berman and Harcourt.
classification
In the meanwhile outdated, but still in use systematics of minerals according to Strunz (8th edition) , the moschellandsbergite belonged to the department of " metals , alloys and intermetallic compounds ", where together with belendorffite , lead amalgam , eugenite , gold amalgam , kolymite , luanheit , paraschachnerite , Potarit , Mercury , Schachnerit and Weishanit the "Mercury Amalgam Series" with the system no. I / A.02 formed.
The 9th edition of Strunz's mineral systematics , which has been in effect since 2001 and is used by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), also classifies moschellandsbergite in the "Metals and Intermetallic Compounds" section. This is, however, further subdivided according to the metals that predominate in the compound and are grouped into families, so that the mineral can be found in the sub-section "mercury amalgam family" according to its composition, where it is only found together with eugenite, luanheit, moschellandsbergite Paraschachnerite and schachnerite form the unnamed group 1.AD.15 .
The systematics of minerals according to Dana , which is common in the English-speaking world , assigns the Moschellandsbergite to the class of elements, but in the department of "Metallic elements except the platinum group", where together with Schachnerite, Paraschachnerite, Luanheit, Eugenite and Weishanite it forms the subdivision of Forms silver amalgam alloys .
Education and Locations
Moschellandsbergite is a hydrothermal mineral that is mostly found with cinnabarite (cinnabar), tetrahedrite and pyrite in low-grade deposits .
In addition to its type locality in Moschellandsberg (“Carolina” mine and “Trust in God”), the mineral was also found in Germany at Königsberg , the “Frischer Mut” mine near Stahlberg , the Friedrichssegen mine near Frücht and in the “Daimbacher Hof” (formerly “Alte Grube “In Daimbach) near Mörsfeld in Rhineland-Palatinate.
So far, moschellandsbergite has been detected at 20 sites worldwide (status: 2010), including in the "Les Chalanches Mine" near Allemont in the French department of Isère , the "Yamagano Mine" on the Japanese island of Kyūshū , Schwarzleo in Austria , in the East Siberian Regions of Russia, Sala in Sweden , Brezina in Slovakia , Radnice in the Czech Republic, the “Adolf Mine” near Rudabánya in Hungary and in several regions of Nevada in the United States .
Crystal structure
Moschellandsbergite crystallizes cubically in space group I 23 (space group no. 197) with the lattice parameter a = 10.05 Å and 4 formula units per unit cell . Its structure corresponds to that of γ brass .
See also
literature
- Petr Korbel, Milan Novák: Encyclopedia of Minerals . Nebel Verlag GmbH, Eggolsheim 2002, ISBN 3-89555-076-0 , p. 12 .
- Ulrich HJ Heidtke: Mineralogical rarities in the Palatinate: Moschellandsbergite , in: POLLICHIA-Kurier , Volume 21–2 (2005), pp. 5–7 ( PDF available online at pollichia.de )
Web links
- Mineral Atlas: Moschellandsbergite (Wiki)
- MinDat - Moschellandsbergite (Engl.)
- Handbook of Mineralogy - Moschellandsbergite (English, PDF 59.7 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Hugo Strunz , Ernest H. Nickel : Strunz Mineralogical Tables. Chemical-structural Mineral Classification System . 9th edition. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung (Nägele and Obermiller), Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-510-65188-X , p. 39 .
- ↑ a b c d Friedrich Klockmann : Klockmann's textbook of mineralogy . Ed .: Paul Ramdohr , Hugo Strunz . 16th edition. Enke, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-432-82986-8 , pp. 396 (first edition: 1891).
- ↑ List of localities for moschellandsbergite in the Mineralienatlas and Mindat