Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Saint Pons, Alpes de Haute Provence, France
SIZE : 2.5 x 2 x 1 cm

This sample is made of a blue sphere of celestite laying on a rhomboedric crystal of colorless and transludent calcite.

This sample was offered to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle by Jean-Marc Fourcault who collected it near Saint Pons in the Alpes, in France.

It is kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire ,
© MNHN.

SPECIE : Celestite

HISTORY : Name inspired by the Latin "caelestis" meaning celest

Species first described in 1798 by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), German geologist of the Bergwerk Akademie ("School of Mines"), Freiberg, Germany

Type-locality: Bell's Mill, Bellwood, Pennsylvannie, USA
ANCIENT NAME : Strontiane sulfurée

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Sr SO4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Colorless, white, blue ciel, pale green
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to transludent
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Tabular crystals, bigs, elongated, fibrous, lamellar
HARDNESS : 3,0-3,5
DENSITY : 3,98

CHEMICAL CLASS : VI - Sulfates, chromates,
GROUP : Baryte
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 6/A.09-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 7.AD.35

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Celestite

Célestite

MNHN N°204.89

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