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Formula: Cu4O(AsO4)2
Arsenate, paramorph of
kozyrevskite
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 5.036 calculated
Hardness: 3½
Streak: Light green
Colour: Green to dark green
Environments
Ericlaxmanite us a relatively new mineral, approved in 2013 and to date (January 2024) reported only from the
type locality.
Localities
At the type locality, the Arsenatnaya fumarole, Second scoria cone, Northern Breakthrough, Great Fissure eruption
Tolbachik Volcanic field, Milkovsky District, Kamchatka Krai, Russia, ericlaxmanite and
kozyrevskite occur in the same mineral assemblage and are associated
intimately with each other. They are also associated closely with the other alkali-free
arsenates urusovite,
lammerite, paralammerite,
popovite and alarsite, and
sometimes with the sodium- or potassium-bearing arsenates
johillerite, bradaczekite,
shchurovskyite and
dmisokolovite. Other associated minerals are
tenorite, hematite,
aphthitalite, langbeinite,
anhydrite, arsenic-bearing
orthoclase, copper-rich
gahnite and, sporadically,
calciolangbeinite, arcanite,
wulffite, krasheninnikovite,
steklite, palmierite and OH-free
fluoborite. All these minerals form complex, polymineralic, sometimes very
rich incrustations up to 0.5 cm thick on the surface of basalt
scoria in open pockets uncovered from 0.3 to 0.8 m deep under the present
day surface. The temperature measured inside these pockets in 2013 was 360 to380oC. It is considered that
all listed minerals were deposited directly from the gas phase or were formed as the result of gas-rock interactions at
temperatures of not less than 380oC.
Ericlaxmanite occurs as coarse or, rarely, well shaped, tabular to lamellar, less commonly equant or short
prismatic crystals, and irregularly shaped individual grains up to 0.1 mm in size, separate or forming clusters up to
1 mm across. It also overgrows and/or replaces urusovite, and there are
grains of alarsite overgrown by
urusovite and by ericlaxmanite
(MM 78.7.1553-1569).
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