File:Cerussite_-_Nakhlak_mine,_Anarak,_Esfahan,_Iran.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
cerussite
Sign in to saveCerussite (also known as lead carbonate or white lead ore) is a mineral consisting of lead carbonate with the chemical formula PbCO3, and is an important ore of lead. The name is from the Latin cerussa, white lead. Cerussa nativa was mentioned by Conrad Gessner in 1565, and in 1832 F. S. Beudant applied the name céruse to the mineral, whilst the present form, cerussite, is due to W. Haidinger (1845). Miners' names in early use were lead-spar and white-lead-ore.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Cerussite
- Mineral.category
- Carbonate mineral
- Mineral.image
- Cerussite - Nakhlak mine, Anarak, Esfahan, Iran.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 280px
- Mineral.formula
- Lead carbonate: PbCO3
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Cer
- Mineral.strunz
- 5.AB.15
- Mineral.system
- Orthorhombic
- Mineral.class
- Dipyramidal (mmm) H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
- Mineral.symmetry
- Pnma [62]
- Mineral.color
- Colorless, white, gray, blue, or green
- Mineral.habit
- Massive granular, reticulate, tabular to equant crystals
- Mineral.twinning
- Simple or cyclic contact twins
- Mineral.cleavage
- Good [110] and [021]
- Mineral.fracture
- Brittle conchoidal
- Mineral.mohs
- 3 to 3.5
- Mineral.luster
- Adamantine, vitreous, resinous
- Mineral.refractive
- nα = 1.803, nβ = 2.074, nγ = 2.076
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Cerussite - Nakhlak mine, Anarak, Esfahan, Iran.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- Cerussite
- chemical formula
- PbCO₃
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 5.AB.15
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 5.AB.15
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Cer
- Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
- Vb/A.04
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Cerussite (also known as lead carbonate or white lead ore) is a mineral consisting of lead carbonate with the chemical formula PbCO3, and is an important ore of lead. The name is from the Latin cerussa, white lead. Cerussa nativa was mentioned by Conrad Gessner in 1565, and in 1832 F. S. Beudant applied the name céruse to the mineral, whilst the present form, cerussite, is due to W. Haidinger (1845). Miners' names in early use were lead-spar and white-lead-ore.
Cerussite crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system and is isomorphous with aragonite. Like aragonite it is very frequently twinned, the compound crystals being pseudo-hexagonal in form. Three crystals are usually twinned together on two faces of the prism, producing six-rayed stellate groups with the individual crystals intercrossing at angles of nearly 60°. Crystals are of frequent occurrence and they usually have very bright and smooth faces. The mineral also occurs in compact granular masses, and sometimes in fibrous forms. The mineral is usually colorless or white, sometimes grey or greenish in tint and varies from transparent to translucent with an adamantine lustre. It is very brittle, and has a conchoidal fracture. It has a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.75 and a specific gravity of 6.5. A variety containing 7% of zinc carbonate, replacing lead carbonate, is known as iglesiasite, from Iglesias in Sardinia, where it is found.