Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Abestos, Quebec, Canada
SIZE : 3.8 x 1 x 1 cm

This isolated crystal is a vesuvianite crystal. It is perfectly terminated. It is olive-green and has a vitreous lustre.

This sample, acquired thanks to support from Total, comes from Abestos in Canada. 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: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Vesuvianite

HISTORY : Named after its type-locality: the Vesuvio volcano near Naples, Italy

Species described in 1795 by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), German geologist from the Bergwerk Akademie in Freiberg, Germany

Type-locality: Vesuvio, Naples, Italy
ANCIENT NAME : Idocrase

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca10 (Mg,Fe)2 Al4 Si9O34 (OH)4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Tetragonal
COLOR : Yellow, greenish black; often zoned
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous to resineous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Pyramidal crystals, prismatic, elongated crystals
HARDNESS : 6,0-7,0
DENSITY : 3,42

CHEMICAL CLASS : VIII - Silicates
GROUP : Vésuvianite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 8/C.26-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.BG.25

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Vesuvianite

Vesuvianite

MNHN N°199.277

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