Rosickýite
Rosickyite | |
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![]() Sharp yellow crystals of rosickyite on matrix from an unspecified off shore drill hole in the Pacific Ocean near California (Ventura County, California, United States of America). | |
General | |
Category | Native element mineral |
Formula (repeating unit) | S |
IMA symbol | Rký[1] |
Strunz classification | 1.CC.05 |
Crystal system | Monoclinic |
Crystal class | Prismatic (2/m) (same H-M symbol) |
Space group | P2/c |
Unit cell | a = 8.455(3) Å, b = 13.052(2) Å c = 9.267(3) Å; β = 124.89(3)°; Z = 4 |
Identification | |
Color | Colorless to pale yellow, green tinge |
Crystal habit | Equidimensional to thin tabular crystals, efflorescences |
Twinning | On {101}, with twin lamellae parallel to [010] |
Cleavage | None |
Mohs scale hardness | 2 - 3 |
Luster | Adamantine |
Diaphaneity | Transparent to translucent |
Specific gravity | 2.07 |
Optical properties | Biaxial (-) |
References | [2][3][4] |
Rosickyite is a rare native element mineral that is a polymorph of sulfur. It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system and is a high temperature, high density polymorph. It occurs as soft, colorless to pale yellow crystals and efflorescences.[2][3]
It was first described in 1930 for an occurrence in Havirna, near Letovice, Moravia, Czech Republic. It was named for Vojtĕch Rosický (1880–1942), of Masaryk University, Brno.[2][3]
Rosickyite occurs as in Death Valley within an evaporite layer produced by a microbial community. The otherwise unstable polymorph was produced and stabilized within a cyanobacteria dominated layer.[5]
References[]
- ^ Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85: 291–320.
- ^ a b c Handbook of Mineralogy
- ^ a b c Rosickyite on Mindat.org
- ^ Rosickyite on Webmineral.com
- ^ Susanne Douglas and Heixong Yang, Mineral biosignatures in evaporites: Presence of rosickyite in an endoevaporitic microbial community from Death Valley, California, Geology, Dec. 2002, v 30, pp1075-1078
Categories:
- Native element minerals
- Monoclinic minerals
- Minerals in space group 13
- Sulfur
- Polymorphism (materials science)