lansfordite
Sign in to saveLansfordite is a mineral of magnesium carbonate (). It represents the pentahydrate of magnesium carbonate, and has the total formula . Landsfordite was discovered in 1888 in a coal mine in Lansford, Pennsylvania. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system (space group P21/c) and typically occurs as colorless to white prismatic crystals and stalactitic masses. It is a soft mineral, Mohs hardness of 2.5, with a low specific gravity of 1.7. It is transparent to translucent with refractive indices of 1.46 to 1.51. The mineral will effloresce at room temperature, producing nesquehonite.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Lansfordite
- Mineral.image
- Lansfordite.jpg
- Mineral.alt
- Photo of magnesium crystals
- Mineral.caption
- Lansfordite crystals in Switzerland
- Mineral.category
- Carbonates
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Lfd
- Mineral.molweight
- 174.39
- Mineral.strunz
- 5/D.01-30
- Mineral.dana
- 15.1.6.1
- Mineral.system
- Monoclinic
- Mineral.symmetry
- P21/c (No. 14)
- Mineral.unit cell
- a=7.3458 Å, b=7.6232 Å, c=12.4737 Å, β=101.722°
- Mineral.colour
- Colourless, white after exposure
- Mineral.habit
- Crystals, stalactites terminated by crystal faces, efflorescences, parallel growths.
- Mineral.cleavage
- Perfect, Distinct
- Mineral.mohs
- 2.5
- Mineral.luster
- Vitreous (if fresh)
- Mineral.streak
- White
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- carbonate and nitrate class of minerals
- Has part
- magnesium carbonate
- Named after
- Lansford
- Image
- Lansfordite.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- chemical formula
- MgCO₃·5H₂O
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 5.CA.10
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 5.CA.10
- crystal system
- monoclinic crystal system
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Lfd
- Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
- Vb/C.01
- Commons category
- Lansfordite
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1 sectionsContents
- References
Lansfordite is a mineral of magnesium carbonate (). It represents the pentahydrate of magnesium carbonate, and has the total formula . Landsfordite was discovered in 1888 in a coal mine in Lansford, Pennsylvania. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system (space group P21/c) and typically occurs as colorless to white prismatic crystals and stalactitic masses. It is a soft mineral, Mohs hardness of 2.5, with a low specific gravity of 1.7. It is transparent to translucent with refractive indices of 1.46 to 1.51. The mineral will effloresce at room temperature, producing nesquehonite.
==References==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “lansfordite” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.