Liottite

liottite

vesuvianite

clintonite

latiumite

Images

Formula: Na₁₆Ca₈Si₁₈Al₁₈O₇₂(SO₄)₅Cl₄
Tectosilicate (framework silicate), cancrinite group, feldspathoid group
Crystal system: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 2.56 measured, 2.61 calculated
Hardness: 5
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless
Common impurities: Fe
Environments

Volcanic igneous environments

Localities

At the type locality, Case Collina, Pitigliano, Grosseto Province, Tuscany, Italy, the material in which liottite was first found is one of numerous ejected blocks found in a pumice deposit, which is indicative of the explosive activity of a small volcanic centre set up on the rims of the great Laten caldera. These blocks are the product of a syntexis (the generation and augmentation of magma by melting and assimilation of crustal rocks) between the carbonate rocks which make up the walls of the vent of the magmatic reservoir and a trachytic magma. The most common mineral assemblage, which is also characteristic of the specimen from which the liottite was obtained, is vesuvianite, garnet (grossular and andradite), pyroxene, and, subordinately, melilite, latiumite, anorthite and clintonite.
Liottite is transparent and colourless. The crystals occur as well-developed flattened hexagonal prisms, up to one centimetre in diameter, inside the cavities of the blocks (AM 62.321-326).
Liottite from Case Collina - Image

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