"Fool's Gold" redirects here. For other uses, see Fool's Gold (disambiguation).
This article is about iron pyrite. For other pyrite minerals, see Pyrite group.
Pyrite
Intergrowth of lustrous, cubic crystals of pyrite, with some surfaces showing characteristic striations, from Huanzala mine, Ancash, Peru. Specimen size: 7.0 × 5.0 × 2.5 cm
General
Category
Sulfide mineral
Formula (repeating unit)
FeS2
IMA symbol
Py[1]
Strunz classification
2.EB.05a
Dana classification
2.12.1.1
Crystal system
Cubic
Crystal class
Diploidal (m3) H-M symbol: (2/m 3)
Space group
Pa3
Unit cell
a = 5.417 Å, Z = 4
Identification
Formula mass
119.98 g/mol
Color
Pale brass-yellow reflective; tarnishes darker and iridescent
Crystal habit
Cubic, faces may be striated, but also frequently octahedral and pyritohedral. Often inter-grown, massive, radiated, granular, globular, and stalactitic.
Twinning
Penetration and contact twinning
Cleavage
Indistinct on {001}; partings on {011} and {111}
Fracture
Very uneven, sometimes conchoidal
Tenacity
Brittle
Mohs scale hardness
6–6.5
Luster
Metallic, glistening
Streak
Greenish-black to brownish-black
Diaphaneity
Opaque
Specific gravity
4.95–5.10
Density
4.8–5 g/cm3
Fusibility
2.5–3 to a magnetic globule
Solubility
Insoluble in water
Other characteristics
paramagnetic
References
[2][3][4][5]
The mineral pyrite (/ˈpaɪraɪt/PY-ryte),[6] or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.[7]
Pyrite cubic crystals on marl from Navajún, La Rioja, Spain (size: 95 by 78 millimetres [3.7 by 3.1 in], 512 grams [18.1 oz]; main crystal: 31 millimetres [1.2 in] on edge)
Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold. The color has also led to the nicknames brass, brazzle, and brazil, primarily used to refer to pyrite found in coal.[8][9]
The name pyrite is derived from the Greek πυρίτης λίθος (pyritēs lithos), 'stone or mineral which strikes fire',[10] in turn from πῦρ (pŷr), 'fire'.[11] In ancient Roman times, this name was applied to several types of stone that would create sparks when struck against steel; Pliny the Elder described one of them as being brassy, almost certainly a reference to what is now called pyrite.[12]
By Georgius Agricola's time, c. 1550, the term had become a generic term for all of the sulfide minerals.[13]
Pyrite under normal and polarized light
Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds and as a replacement mineral in fossils, but has also been identified in the sclerites of scaly-foot gastropods.[14] Despite being nicknamed "fool's gold", pyrite is sometimes found in association with small quantities of gold. A substantial proportion of the gold is "invisible gold" incorporated into the pyrite (see Carlin-type gold deposit). It has been suggested that the presence of both gold and arsenic is a case of coupled substitution but as of 1997 the chemical state of the gold remained controversial.[15]
^Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis (1985). Manual of Mineralogy (20th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. pp. 285–286. ISBN 978-0-471-80580-9.
^"Pyrite". Webmineral.com. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^"Pyrite". Mindat.org. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C., eds. (1990). "Pyrite" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Vol. I (Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts). Chantilly, Virginia, US: Mineralogical Society of America. ISBN 978-0962209734.
^"Pyrite | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org.
^Vernon J. Hurst; Thomas J. Crawford (1970). Sulfide Deposits in the Coosa Valley Area, Georgia. Economic Development Administration, Technical Assistance Project, U. S. Department of Commerce. p. 137.
^Jackson, Julia A.; Mehl, James; Neuendorf, Klaus (2005). Glossary of Geology. American Geological Institute. p. 82. ISBN 9780922152766 – via Google Books.
^Fay, Albert H. (1920). A Glossary of the Mining and Mineral Industry. United States Bureau of Mines. pp. 103–104 – via Google Books.
^πυρίτης. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
^πῦρ in Liddell and Scott.
^Dana, James Dwight; Dana, Edward Salisbury (1911). Descriptive Mineralogy (6th ed.). New York: Wiley. p. 86.
^"De re metallica". The Mining Magazine. Translated by Hoover, H.C.; Hoover, L.H. London: Dover. 1950 [1912]. see footnote on p 112.
^"Armor-plated snail discovered in deep sea". news.nationalgeographic.com. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on November 10, 2003. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
^Fleet, M. E.; Mumin, A. Hamid (1997). "Gold-bearing arsenian pyrite and marcasite and arsenopyrite from Carlin Trend gold deposits and laboratory synthesis" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 82 (1–2): 182–193. Bibcode:1997AmMin..82..182F. doi:10.2138/am-1997-1-220. S2CID 55899431.
The mineral pyrite (/ˈpaɪraɪt/ PY-ryte), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2 (iron (II) disulfide)...
historically referred to as "yellow copper". Chalcopyrite is often confused with pyrite and gold since all three of these minerals have a yellowish color and a...
The pyrite group of minerals is a set of cubic crystal system minerals with diploidal structure. Each metallic element is bonded to six "dumbbell" pairs...
known as troilite. Pyrrhotite is also called magnetic pyrite, because the color is similar to pyrite and it is weakly magnetic. The magnetism decreases as...
pentagonal faces are not regular: The pyritohedron, a common crystal form in pyrite, has pyritohedral symmetry, while the tetartoid has tetrahedral symmetry...
using cut and polished pieces of pyrite (fool's gold) as gemstone, and not, as the name suggests, from marcasite. Both pyrite and marcasite are chemically...
disputed by Petrov. Associated minerals include metavivianite, ludlamite, pyrite, siderite and pyrrhotite. Hydrothermal veins produce the best crystal specimens...
lāžward, lapis lazuli is a rock composed primarily of the minerals lazurite, pyrite and calcite. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in...
"white iron pyrite", is iron sulfide (FeS2) with orthorhombic crystal structure. It is physically and crystallographically distinct from pyrite, which is...
Arsenopyrite is generally an acid-consuming sulfide mineral, unlike iron pyrite which can lead to acid mine drainage.[citation needed] The crystal habit...
The Iberian Pyrite Belt is a vast geographical area with particular geological features that stretches along much of the south of the Iberian Peninsula...
sulphate attack sourced from framboidal pyrite within the aggregate, as evidenced from both presence of framboidal pyrite and elevated sulphate content. The...
are iron oxides (such as hematite and magnetite), iron sulfides (such as pyrite), and carbonate minerals. Feldspar may be present as albite or, less commonly...
The Northland Pyrite Mine, also known as James Lake Mine, Rib Lake Mine, Harris Mine or simply Northland Mine, is an abandoned underground mine in Northeastern...
contributor to pyrite oxidation. Metal mines may generate highly acidic discharges where the ore is a sulfide mineral or is associated with pyrite. In these...
3D semiconductor. In contrast to classical metal dichalcogenides, iron pyrite, a common mineral, is usually described as consisting of Fe2+ and the persulfido...
manufacture of fertilizers, which makes up about two-thirds of consumption. Pyrite, which is made up of iron sulfide, made up more than 10 percent of the sulfur...
example, bacteria are responsible for the formation of some minerals such as pyrite, and can concentrate economically important metals such as tin and uranium...
and fossils can be replaced by other minerals (e.g. calcite, siderite, pyrite or marcasite) during diagenesis. Porosity usually decreases during diagenesis...
("ferric iron") can also oxidize pyrite: FeS2(s) + 14 Fe3+ + 8 H2O → 15 Fe2+ + 2 SO2−4 + 16 H+ When iron(III) oxidation of pyrite occurs, the process can become...
rhodochroite rhombs, purple fluorite cubes, quartz and a dusting of brass-yellow pyrite cubes. Boules of silicon, like this one, are an important type of industrially-produced...
that share a chemical formula but have a different structure. For example, pyrite and marcasite, both iron sulfides, have the formula FeS2; however, the former...
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