Best viewed using Adobe Flash Player (8 or higher).
Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Wulfenite is a lead molybdate. It is an oxydation mineral of the molybdenum and lead deposits.
The crystals of this species are transparent to translucent and have a yellow-orange to red color.
They are generally with square sections and more rarely out of needles. Wulfenite is regularly associated to pyromorphite, vanadinite or cerusite.
The most remarkable samples come from the Red Cloud mine in Arizona, Chihuahua in Mexico, Tsumeb in Morocco and M'Fouati in Congo, where crystals up to 10 cm were discovered.
In France, wulfenite is known in the mine of Chaillac in Indre, the mine of LesFarges in Corrèze, in the mine of Saint-Salvy in Tarn, or in the mine of Cap Garonne in Var.
The types of this species are kept in Germany at the Bergwerk Akademie of Freiberg.
HISTORY : Species dedicated to Frantz Xaver von Wulfen (1728-1805), Austrian mineralogist
Species described in 1845 by Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger (1795-1871), Austrian geologist
Type-locality: Bleiberg, Carinthia, Austria
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Pb MoO4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Tetragonal
COLOR : Yellow-orange, light orange, red-orange, gray
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Resinous, sub-adamantine
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGIE : Crystals with square section; flattened, tabular
HARDNESS : 2,75-3,0
CHEMICAL CLASS: 6,88-7,48
DENSITY : VI - Sulfates, chromates, tungstates and molybdates
GROUP : Scheelite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 6/G.01-30
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 7.GA.05
