Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Brumado, Bahia, Brazil
SIZE : 6.5 x 3 x 3.5 cm

This sample shows colourless crystals of quartz on which pseudo-rhomboedric colourless crystals of magnesite has developed.

This sample comes from Brumado area in Brazil. The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle could obtain it thanks to support from Total. 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 : Magnesite

HISTORY : Name inspired from the element magnesium (Mg) and its type-locality: Magnesia in Greece

Species first described in 1808 by Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten (1768-1810), German mathematician

Type-locality: Magnesie, Thessaly, Greece

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Mg CO3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Tetragonal
COLOR : Colourless, white, white-grayish, brown, pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Rhomboedric crystals or scalénohedras. As compact masses
HARDNESS : 3,5-4,5
DENSITY : 3,01

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Calcite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.02-30
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.05

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MNHN N°206.10

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