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Formula: BaFe2+2Al2(PO4)3(OH)3
Phosphate, bjarebyite group,
barium-bearing mineral, forms a series with
penikisite
Crystal system: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 3.91 measured, 3.92 calculated
Hardness: 4
Streak: Greenish white
Colour: Blue, blue-green, green
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under long wave or short wave UV
Solubility:
Common impurities
Environments
Pegmatites
Sedimentary environments
Localities
The type locality is Crosscut Creek, Kulan Camp, Rapid Creek, Dawson mining district, Yukon, Canada. Access to the
locality is by helicopter and takes about one hour from the town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.
Interbedded shales and
ironstone are exposed on the steep sides of the canyons. Fractures
in the ironstone beds (a
sideritic iron-formation) have been mineralised in many places. It is
apparent that the suite of phosphate minerals formed at relatively low temperatures. Minerals identified from the
area include quartz, siderite,
apatite, lazulite,
wardite, vivianite,
childrenite, ludlamite,
metavivianite, arrojadite,
augelite and brazilianite.
Kulanite has been found in association only with quartz,
siderite and apatite.
Kulanite is green to blue and has a very pale green streak. It occurs as thin plates, commonly arranged in
rosette-like aggregates. Individual plates measure up to 3 x 3x 0.5 mm3. The lustre is vitreous and the
plates are transparent to translucent
(CM 14.2.127-131).
Kulanite from Crosscut Creek - Image
At Pegmatite No. 31, Nanping pegmatite field, Yanping District, Nanping, Fujian, China, kulanite occurs
abundantly disseminated and as veinlets in a granitic
pegmatite containing
montebrasite and other phosphates
(AM 75.240-246).
At the Palermo No. 1 Mine, Groton, Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA, kulanite is associated with
palermoite, montebrasite
and triphylite
(HOM).
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