Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Lengenbach, Binn, Switzerland
SIZE : 3.3 x 3.3 cm

This sample is made up of crystals of dolomite. They are twinned and colourless and transparent on a saccharoide matrix of white dolomite typical of the Binn valley in Switzerland.

The sample measures 3.3 x 3.3 cm, the biggest one is 2.5 x 2.3 cm. It comes from the mineral deposit of Lengenbach in le Valais. It comes from the collection owned by colonel Louis Vésignié.

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: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Dolomite

HISTORY : Species dedicated to Déodat de Gratet de Dolomieu (1750-1801), French mineralogist, geologist and engineer

Species first described in 1792 by Horace Benedict de Saussure (1740-1799), naturalist and geologist from Geneva

Type-locality: Sud-Tyrol, Italy

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca Mg (CO3)2
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboedric
COLOR : Colorless, white, yellow, brown, pale pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous to pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Combined and prismatic crystals, massive
HARDNESS : 3,5-4,0
DENSITY : 2,86

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Dolomite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.03-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.10

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Dolomite

Dolomite

MNHN N°182.29

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