Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Carrière du Rivet, Peyrebrune, Tarn, France
SIZE : 10.5 x 7.5 x 4 cm

This sample is a calcite coming from Rivet gravel-pit in the Tarn area. The white calcite has a crystallization "head screw" shape like and is associated to sphalerite and siderite. It measures 10.5 x 7.5 x 4 cm.

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°206.205

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