Oxyhalide of lead. Rare mineral found in the Mendip Hills
Mendipite
General
Category
Halide mineral
Formula (repeating unit)
Pb3Cl2O2
IMA symbol
Mdi[1]
Strunz classification
3.DC.70 Oxyhalide
Dana classification
10.3.1.1
Crystal system
Orthorhombic
Crystal class
Dipyramidal (mmm) H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group
Pnma[2][3] or P212121,[4][5][6]
Unit cell
a = 9.52 Å, b = 11.87 Å, c = 5.87 Å; Z = 4
Identification
Formula mass
724.50 g/mol
Color
Colorless to white, brownish cream, grey, yellowish, pink, red, or blue; nearly colorless in transmitted light.
Crystal habit
Columnar or fibrous aggregates, often radiated, and cleavable masses.
Cleavage
Perfect on {110}, fair on {100} and {010}
Fracture
Conchoidal to uneven
Mohs scale hardness
2+1⁄2 to 3
Luster
Pearly to silky on cleavages; resinous to adamantine on fractures.
Streak
White
Diaphaneity
Translucent, rarely transparent
Specific gravity
7.24[4][6][2]
Optical properties
Biaxial (+)
Refractive index
nα = 2.240, nβ = 2.270, nγ = 2.310
Birefringence
δ = 0.070
2V angle
Measured: 90°, calculated: 84°
Solubility
Soluble in dilute nitric acid, HNO3
References
[3][4][5][6][2]
Mendipite is a rare mineral that was named in 1939 for the locality where it is found, the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It is an oxyhalide of lead with formula Pb3Cl2O2.[4]
Mendipite is a rare mineral that was named in 1939 for the locality where it is found, the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It is an oxyhalide of lead...
found with Mendipite at Merehead quarry, Cranmore, Somerset, in the United Kingdom. Most specimens are associated with calcite, mendipite or hydrous cerussite...
in 1923 in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England associated with mendipite. Like mendipite it is an oxychloride mineral and formed from the alteration of...
paralaurionite crystals and paralaurionite may also be intergrown with mendipite. It was first described in 1899 for an occurrence in slag in Laurium,...
rare mineral mendipite, an oxohalide of lead with chlorine with formula Pb3Cl2O2 which was first described in the area. A sample of mendipite was found at...
terlinguaite Hg2OCl, formed by the weathering of mercury-containing minerals. Mendipite, Pb3O2Cl2, formed from an original deposit of lead sulfide in a number...
Pb7SiO4O4Cl2, in damaraite as Pb3Cl(OH)O2, in hereroite as Pb3Cl(OH)O2, in Mendipite as Pb3Cl2O2, and in the dimorph minerals laurionite and paralaurionite...
impermeable Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures. The rare mineral mendipite has also been found. The site was occupied by humans in the Neolithic...
boleite, caledonite, cerussite, chloroxiphite, hydrocerussite, leadhillite, mendipite, paratacamite, phosgenite, and wherryite. A study in 1986 synthesized...
BGS maps (1:50,000 sheet 280, Wells). An example of the rare mineral mendipite was found at the head of the gorge. A stream issuing to the west of the...
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