File:Manganoan calcite & quartz (Cretaceous; Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia, China) (43556234741).jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file(1,947 × 2,610 pixels, file size: 2.72 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

[edit]
Description

Manganoan calcite (= manganocalcite) from the Cretaceous of China.

Pale pink = manganoan calcite Gray, glassy = quartz

A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5400 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.

The carbonate minerals all contain one or more carbonate (CO3-2) anions.

Calcite is a common mineral. It is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It has a nonmetallic luster, commonly clearish to whitish to yellowish to grayish in color, is moderately soft (H≡3), moderately light-weight, has hexagonal crystals, and rhombohedral cleavage (three cleavage planes at 75º & 105º angles - cleavage pieces look like lopsided boxes). The easiest way to identify calcite is to drop acid on it - it easily bubbles (effervesces) in acid. The bubbles are carbon dioxide gas. If the acid is dilute hydrochloric acid, the chemical reaction is:

2HCl(aq) + CaCO3(s) -->> CO2(g)↑ + H2O(l) + CaCl2(aq)

The most important & voluminous calcitic rocks in the world are limestone (sedimentary), marble (metamorphic), carbonatite (igneous), and travertine (speleothem, or "cave formations", and many hotspring deposits). Quite a few hydrothermal veins in the world are calcitic or have calcite as a principal component.

The pale pink coloration present in the calcite shown above is from significant manganese impurity (Mn +2), resulting in the chemical formula (Ca,Mn)CO3. This sample comes from a skarn deposit in Inner Mongolia, which formed during the Cretaceous when granite intruded Lower Permian carbonate sedimentary rocks.

Locality: Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China


Photo gallery of manganoan calcite: <a href="https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2526" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2526</a>


Info. on locality:

<a href="https://www.mindat.org/loc-64660.html" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/loc-64660.html</a>
Date
Source Manganoan calcite & quartz (Cretaceous; Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia, China)
Author James St. John

Licensing

[edit]
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/43556234741 (archive). It was reviewed on 1 December 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

1 December 2019

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current09:08, 1 December 2019Thumbnail for version as of 09:08, 1 December 20191,947 × 2,610 (2.72 MB)Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata