Alumovesuvianite

alumovesuvianite

diopside

grossular

prehnite

Images

Formula: Ca₁₉Al(Al₁₀Mg₂)Si₁₈O₆₉(OH)₉
Sorosilicate (Si₂O₇ groups), vesuvianite group
Crystal System: Tetragonal
Specific gravity: 3.31 measured, 3.36 calculated
Hardness: 6½
Colour: Colourless
Environments

Metamorphic environments

Alumovesuvianite is a relatively new mineral, approved in 2016.

Localities

At the type locality, the Jeffrey Mine, Val-des-Sources, Les Sources RCM, Estrie, Québec, Canada, alumovesuvianite is found in the rodingite zone at the contact of a gabbroid rock with host serpentinite in the abandoned mine. It occurs as prismatic tetragonal crystals up to 4 × 4 × 6 mm³ in size encrusting walls of cavities in a granular diopside. Associated minerals are diopside, grossular and prehnite. Single crystals of alumovesuvianite are transparent, colourless or light pink with a vitreous lustre. (Mineralogy and Petrology 111.6.833-842(.
Image

In the Kayes Region of Mali, exact locality unspecified, some miniature-size loose clusters of short-tetragonal crystals of typically brown to yellow-brown vesuvianite are thickly, uniformly coated by glassy-bright, apple-green alumovesuvianite (Minrec 55.1.112).

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