Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Carrière de l'Event, Saint Martin de Valgalguès, Gard, France
SIZE : 30.5 x 14.5 cm

The big sized sample (30.5 x 14.5 cm) is made up of white scalenohedrons and slightly brownish calcite. The crystals are transparent and gemmeous in some spots.

This sample is part of a recently discovered lot. It comes from Event gravel-pit, near Saint-Martin de Valguaguès in the Gard area in France.

Acquired thanks to support from Total, it is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Calcite

HISTORY : Name inspired from the Latin word "calx" meaning burned chalk

Species first described in 1836 by Johann Karl Freiesleben (1774-1846), officer of the mines of Saxony

Type-locality: undefined because species already known from the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Spath d'Islande, chaux carbonatée

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca CO3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboedric
COLOR : Colorless, white, color depending on inclusions
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals common, forming concretions
HARDNESS : 3,0
DENSITY : 2,71

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Calcite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.02-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.05

Explore the Mineral Treasures of the Muséum

Welcome to
the Virtual Gallery of Mineralogy

Calcite

Calcite

MNHN N°206.197

general description

The Species page

Mineralogy