Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Rossignol vein, Chaillac mine, France
SIZE : 6 x 5.5 x 3 cm

These fluorite cubes are in an imbricated pattern. Their colour vary from orange in the center to reddish-brown on the edges.

This sample comes from Rossignol vein in Chaillac mine, France. The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle obtained the sample as a gift of an amateur collector in 1996.

It is 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 : 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 - Halogénures
GROUP : Fluorite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 3/A.08-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 3.AB.25

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Fluorite

Fluorite

MNHN N°196.185

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