Mawbyite, a new arsenate of lead and iron related to tsumcorite and carminite, from Broken Hill, New South Wales

Allan Pring, E. Maud McBriar, William D. Birch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mawbyite, is a new lead iron zinc arsenate, the Fe analogue of tsumcorite, from the Kintore Opencut, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The new mineral forms drusy crusts on fractures and in small cavities in spessartine- and quartz-rich host rocks. Mawbyite has formed from the oxidation of primary sulfides and arsenides under less acidic pH conditions compared to its apparent dimorph carminite. Mawbyite crystals are usually "dogtooth' to prismatic, more rarely tabular, up to 0.2 mm long, and dominated by forms {110}, {1̄01}, and {001}. The color ranges from orange-brown (for compositions with Fe:Zn ~ 1:1) to bright reddish brown (for compositions close to the pure Fe end-member). The crystals are transparent to translucent, with adamantine luster and orange-yellow streak, are nonfluorescent, and have an estimated Mohs hardness of 4. There is a prominent cleavage on {001}; fracture is conchoidal. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1377-1381
Number of pages5
JournalAmerican Mineralogist
Volume74
Issue number11-12
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1989
Externally publishedYes

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