57 - Magnesite

ID	57
Mineral	Magnesite
Location	Wanzenau - Horn - Austria
Fluorescence	LW-UV: close SW-UV: close
Mindat.org	View Magnesite information at mindat.org

ID	2482
Long ID	1:1:2482:8
Formula	`Mg(CO₃)`
IMA Status	0 1
Other Occurrences	Primary mineral in igneous and sedimentary rocks. Rarely as a gangue mineral in hydrothermal ore veins, and in oceanic salt deposits. Metamorphism of serpentinites and peridotites.
Discovery Year	1808
Diapheny	Transparent,Translucent
Cleavage	On {10_11}.
Tenacity	brittle
Colour	Colourless, white, greyish-white, yellowish, brown, faintly pink, lilac-rose; colourless in transmitted light.
Hardness (min)	3.5
Hardness (max)	4.5
Lustre	Vitreous
About the name	In allusion to the composition, containing principally magnesium.
Streak	White
Crystal System	Trigonal
Cleavage Type	Perfect
Fracture type	Conchoidal
Morphology	Crystals usually rhombohedral {10_11}, also {01_12}; prismatic rare [0001] with {11_20} and {0001}, or tabular {0001}. Scalenohedral rare. Massive, coarse- to fine-granular, very compact and porcelainous; earthy to rather chalky; lamellar; coarsely fibrous.
Twinning	Unproven.
UV	May exhibit pale green to pale blue fluorescence and phosphorescence.
shortcode_ima	Mgs
Group	Calcite Group

Magnesite