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Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Adamite is a hydrated zinc arsenate that can be found in the zones of oxidation of the zinc deposits. Transparent with translucent, its luster is vitreous.
Its colour varies according to the replacement of zinc by another element. When it contains only zinc, it is colourless. The green - blue colour indicates the presence of copper. The substitution of zinc by cobalt or manganese gives a pink colour to the mineral. The adamite offers the characteristic to react under light UV (short waves and long): she has a strong green fluorescence then.
The crystals are prismatic and generally millimetre in length. The most remarkable crystals reach the centimetre and come from Tsumeb in Namibia, Laurium in Greece and Mapimi in the state of Durango in Mexico.
In France, it is known in the plumbo-cupriferous outcrops of Cap Garonne (Var) where all the phases of the series between adamite and olivenite (hydrated copper arsenate, Cu2 AsO4 (OH)) are represented; but also at the Tistoulet mine in Aude.
A first sample, studied by of Cloizeaux (joint author with Friedel of discovered of this mineral in 1866), is kept at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France) in the Collection of Mineralogy (MNHN N°66.34, adamite and embolite - or chlorargyrite). It comes from Chañarcillo, Copiapo, state of Atacama in Chile.
The second sample studied by Friedel (adamite and silver) is deposited with the Museum of Mineralogy of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines (“School of Mines”) also in Paris within the Adam Collection.
HISTORY : Species dedicated to the French mineralogist Gilbert Joseph Adam (1795-1881)
Species first described in 1866 by Charles Friedel (1832-1899), French chemist and mineralogist
Type-locality: Chañarcillo, Chili
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Zn2 (AsO4) (OH)
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Green, yellow, colorless, white, blue, violett, pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGIE : Tabular crystals, prismatic. Sub-millimetric crystals, rarely centimetric, isometric aggregates, massive
HARDNESS : 3,5
CHEMICAL CLASS: 4,435-4,44
DENSITY : VII - Phosphates, arsenates and vanadates
GROUP : Libethenite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 7/B.06-30
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 8.BB.30
