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Formula: Al13Si5O20(OH,F)18Cl
Sorosilicate (Si2O7 groups)
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 2.88 measured
Hardness: 7
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless, grey, white, flesh-red
Solubility: Insoluble in acids
Environments
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Zunyite occurs in highly aluminous shale and hydrothermally altered volcanic
rocks, associated with pyrophyllite, kaolinite,
alunite, diaspore,
rutile, pyrite,
hematite and quartz
(HOM).
Localities
At the Qalat-e Payeen salt dome, Bandar-Abbas County, Hormozgan Province, Iran, the salt dome plug is composed of highly deformed
rhyolite, tuff and rocks formed by
the consolidation of volcanic ash. The rocks contain fluorapatite,
fluorite, hematite, zunyite and
pseudomorphs of limonite after
pyrite. The zunyite is typically embedded in matrix that can be very rich in
hematite, but loose crystals have also been found, ranging from white to deep reddish
brown in colour. The white ones were found in a gypsum matrix
(R&M 95.2.121-123).
At Hormuz Island, Hormozgan Province, Iran, a 10.3 cm cluster of hundreds of zunyite crystals to 1 cm has been found in a
salt diapir (a dome or anticlinal fold in which the overlying rocks have been ruptured by the squeezing-out of plastic core material).
The crystals are coloured greyish red due to hematite microcrystals in and on the specimen
(R&M 95.2.120-121).
At Larak Island, Qeshm County, Hormozgan Province, Iran, zunyite has been found in weathered patches of the salt dome
associated with hematite and fluorite
(R&M 95.2.123-126).
The type locality is the Zuni Mine, Anvil Mountain, Red Mountain Mining District, San Juan county, Colorado, USA.
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