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Formula: BaSnSi3O9
Cyclosilicate (ring silicate), benitoite group,
barium- and tin- bearing mineral
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 4.03 measured, 4.07 calculated
Hardness: 6
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless, white
Luminescence: Bluish white fluorescence in short-wave ultraviolet light
Environments
Pabstite occurs in recrystallised siliceous limestone with
tin sulphides, formed by
contact metamorphism
(Webmin).
Localities
At the type locality, the Pacific Cement and Aggregate Company quarry, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz county, California, USA,
pabstite occurs both as fracture filling and as disseminated grains in recrystallised siliceous
limestone that shows evidence of
contact metamorphism. It is associated with
calcite, quartz,
tremolite, witherite,
phlogopite, diopside, minor amounts
of forsterite and taramellite. The
tin-bearing sulphosalts, stannite and
franckeite, and cassiterite are
dispersed throughout the host limestone, although only in minor amounts.
Pabstite is found as small anhedral, colourless to white grains with a pink tinge on a fresh surface, and appears
rarely in crystal form showing a trigonal outline. Grains are commonly less than 2 mm in diameter and aggregates do not
exceed 10 mm
(AM 50.1164-1169).
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