wattersite

{{Infobox mineral | name = Wattersite | boxwidth = | boxbgcolor = | image = Wattersite-edgarbaileyite-662509.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Black crystals of wattersite with yellowish zones of edgarbaileyite. Locality: Clear Creek claim (Clear Creek Mine), Picacho Peak, New Idria District, Diablo Range, San Benito Co., California, USA. Dimensions: 6.6 cm x 4.8 cm x 4.1 cm | category = Chromate mineral | formula = Hg+14Hg+2Cr+6O6 | IMAsymbol = Wte | molweight = | strunz = 7.FB.15 | dana = 35.4.2.1 | system = Monoclinic | class = 2/m | symmetry = C2/c (number 15) | unit cell = 859.81 ų | color = Dark red-brown to black | colour = | habit = Prismatic, aggregates, massive | twinning = [001], contact twins on {100} | cleavage = None | fracture = Conchoidal | tenacity = Brittle | toughness = | mohs = 4.5 | luster = Sub-Metallic | streak = Brick red | diaphaneity = Opaque | gravity = 8.91 | density = | polish = | opticalprop = Biaxial | refractive = nα = 2.440 - 2.520 nγ = 2.700 - 2.860 | birefringence = δ = 0.260 - 0.340 | pleochroism = Visible | 2V = | dispersion = r > v strong | extinction = | length fast/slow = | fluorescence = | absorption = | melt = | Curie temp = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | impurities = | alteration = | other = | prop1 = | prop1text = | references = }} Wattersite is a rare mercury chromate mineral with the formula Hg+14Hg+2Cr+6O6. It occurs in association with native mercury and cinnabar in a hydrothermally altered serpentinite. It was first described from Clear Creek claim, San Benito County, California, USA in 1961. It was named to honor Californian mineral collector Lucius "Lu" Watters.

==References==