Images
Formula: KNaCuSi4O10
Inosilicate (chain silicate), litidionite group
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.75 measured, 2.85 calculated
Hardness: 5 to 6
Streak: Bluish white
Colour: Blue, white
Common impurities: Fe,Pb,Ca
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, Mt Vesuvius, Somma-Vesuvius Complex, Naples, Campania, Italy, litidionite occurs as tiny
plates in lapilli strongly modified by the fumarolic activity subsequent to the Vesuvius eruption of 1873. The dimension
of the lapilli range from a few mm up to 30 mm. The nuclei of the lapilli are small fragments of well formed
augite crystals ejected by the volcano. The fumarolic action coated the nuclei
with a layer of white microcrystalline tridymite which is overlaid by a blue
glassy c r u s t w h o s e c a v i t i e s a r e c o a t e d b y litidionite,
tridymite, and minor wollastonite.
Litidionite is the unique copper mineral occurring in these lapilli,
although several other copper minerals
(covellite, tenorite,
chlorothionite, cyanochroite,
chalcocyanite and others) were produced by the fumarolic activity in the
Vesuvius crater
(AM 60.471-474).
Back to Minerals