Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Mont blanc massif, Haute-Savoie, France
SIZE : Crystal 2.6 x 2.3 x 2.5 cm:

This sample is a gorgeous octahedron of pink fluorite. It is associated to smoked quartz. The octahedral fluorite measures 2.6 x 2.3 x 2.5 cm.

This sample, gift by CH. Peray, comes from alpine fissures of the Mont Blanc Massif. It is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.
3D view: Alain 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 : Colourless, white, blue, green, yellow, violett, pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
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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MNHN N°198.83

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