Demicheleite-(Cl)

demicheleite-(Cl)

panichiite

aiolosite

godovikovite

Images

Formula: BiSCl
Sulphide, bismuth-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 5.934 calculated
Streak: Brown
Colour: Dark red to black
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under UV
Environments

Fumeroles

Demicheleite-(Cl) was approved in 2008 and to date (October 2024) it has been reported unambiguously only from the type locality.

Localities

At the type locality, La Fossa crater, Vulcano Island, Lipari, Eolie Islands, Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, Italy, demicheleite-(Cl), occurs with the closely related demicheleite-(Br). The demicheleite-(Cl) is the first natural bismuth sulphochloride discovered so far in a natural environment, and it is identical with the corresponding and already known synthetic compound. It was found in an active medium-temperature intracrater fumarole where it occurs as acicular to stout translucent crystals up to 0.25 mm long in an altered pyroclastic breccia, together with demicheleite-(Br), bismoclite, bismuthinite, godovikovite, panichiite, aiolosite, brontesite and adranosite (AM 94.7.1045-1048).
Demicheleite-(Cl) from La Fossa - Image

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