Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Carrière de Montricoux, Tarn et Garonne, France
SIZE : 14.5 x 19.2 x 6 cm

This sample is a calcite. Its has two types of crystallization: scalenohedron and one crystallization with a rhomboedric termination. Each crystallization is cream coloured. The sample mesures 14.5 x 19.2 x 6 cm.

It comes from Montricoux gravel-pit in le Tarn et Garonne area. The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle obtained this specimen thanks to support from Total. It is today kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum (i.e., not yet displayed to the public)..

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © 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 : Colourless, white, color depending on inclusions
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals common, forming concretions
HARDNESS : 3
DENSITY : 2,711

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

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MNHN N°206.198

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