Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Xianhuapu mine, Hunan, China
SIZE : 5.5 x 4.7 x 3.7 cm

This fluorite is peculiar because it shows two crystallization facets imbricated in one another: a cube and an octahedron. This sample has a green water color, transparent, it is almost entirely a gem quality.

This sample comes from Xianhuapu mine ("green cave" discovered in 2000) in Hunan area, China. This specimen was offered to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle by Professor Farges in 2007.

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

Photography and 3D view: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Fluorite

HISTORY : Name derived from Latin "fluere" meaning flowing, in reference to its melting behavior

Species first described in 1529 by Agricola Georgius (1494-1555), German mineralogist

Type-locality: undefined because species already known by the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Spatum vitreum, calx fluorata, spath fluor

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca F2
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Cubic
COLOR : Colorless, white, blue, green, yellow, violett, pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucide
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals, cubic-shaped, octahedrally-shaped
HARDNESS : 4
DENSITY : 3,18

CHEMICAL CLASS : III - Halogenides
GROUP : Fluorite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 3/A.08-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 3.AB.25

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