Dark green to grass-green or green, yellow, yellow-orange, reddish orange, yellow-brown, greenish-yellow or yellowish-green, shades of brown, tan, grayish, white and may be colorless; colourless or faintly tinted in transmitted light.
Crystal habit
Prismatic to acicular crystals, globular to reniform
Twinning
Rarely on {1122}
Cleavage
Imperfect- [1011]
Fracture
Uneven to sub-conchoidal
Tenacity
Brittle
Mohs scale hardness
3.5–4
Luster
Resinous to subadamantine
Streak
White
Diaphaneity
Transparent to translucent
Specific gravity
7.04 measured, 7.14 calculated
Optical properties
Uniaxial (−) May be anomalously biaxial (−)
Refractive index
nω = 2.058 nε = 2.048
Birefringence
δ = 0.010
Pleochroism
Weak
Ultraviolet fluorescence
May fluoresce yellow to orange under LW and SW UV
Other characteristics
Piezoelectric if biaxial
References
[2][3][4]
Pyromorphite is a mineral species composed of lead chlorophosphate: Pb5(PO4)3Cl, sometimes occurring in sufficient abundance to be mined as an ore of lead. Crystals are common, and have the form of a hexagonal prism terminated by the basal planes, sometimes combined with narrow faces of a hexagonal pyramid. Crystals with a barrel-like curvature are not uncommon. Globular and reniform masses are also found. It is part of a series with two other minerals: mimetite (Pb5(AsO4)3Cl) and vanadinite (Pb5(VO4)3Cl), the resemblance in external characters is so close that, as a rule, it is only possible to distinguish between them by chemical tests. They were formerly confused under the names green lead ore and brown lead ore (German: Grünbleierz and Braunbleierz).
The phosphate was first distinguished chemically by M. H. Klaproth in 1784,[5][6][7][8] and it was named pyromorphite by J. F. L. Hausmann in 1813.[9][10] The name is derived from the Greek for pyr (fire) and morfe (form) due to its crystallization behavior after being melted.[3]
Paecilomyces javanicus is a mold collected from a lead-polluted soil that is able to form biominerals of pyromorphite.[11]
^Klaproth (1784). Von dem Wassereisen, als einem mit Phosphorsäure verbundenen Eisenkalke (in German). On hydrosiderum [i.e., iron phosphide, Fe2P] as a calcined [i.e., roasted] iron [that is] bonded with phosphoric acid), Chemische Annalen für die Freunde der Naturlehre …, 1 (5) : 390–399. From p. 394: After remarking that lead ores that contain phosphorus can be treated with strong acids to produce phosphoric acid, Klaproth notes that: " … wie solches zuerst Hr. Gahn in Schweden entdeckt, ich selbst aber bey Unersuchung des krystallisirten grünen Bleyerzes von der heil. Dreyfaltigkeit zu Zschopau bestätigt gefunden habe." ( … as such Mr. Gahn in Sweden first discovered, I myself, however, have found [to be] confirmed by investigation of the crystallized green lead ore [i.e., pyromorphite] from the Holy Trinity at Zschopau in Germany]
^Details of Klaproth's chemical analysis of pyromorphite appear in: Klaproth (1785) "Ueber die Phosphorsäure im Zschopauer grünen Bleyspathe" (On phosphoric acid in green lead spar from Zschopau), Beyträge zu den chemischen Annalen, 1 (1) : 13–21.
^LXXXVII. Chemische Untersuchung der phosphorsauren Bleierze: I. Zeisiggrünes Bleierz von Zschopau. (87. Chemical investigation of the lead ores [containing] phosphoric acid: I. Siskin-green lead ore from Zschopau) in: Klaproth, Martin Heinrich, Beiträge zur chemischen Kenntnis der Mineralkörper [Contributions to our chemical knowledge of minerals]. Vol. 3. Posen, (Germany): Decker und Co.; Berlin, Germany: Heinrich August Rottmann. 1802. pp. 146–153.
^Dr. Thomas Witzke. "Entdeckung von Pyromorphit (Discovery of pyromorphite)" (in German).
^Hausmann, Johann Friedrich Ludwig (1813). Handbuch der Mineralogie. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. pp. 1090–1093.
^Chester, Albert Huntington (1896). A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals Including Their History and Etymology. New York, New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 224.
^Young Joon Rheea; Stephen Hillier; Helen Pendlowskic; Geoffrey Michael Gadd (October 2014). "Fungal transformation of metallic lead to pyromorphite in liquid medium". Chemosphere. 113: 17–21. Bibcode:2014Chmsp.113...17R. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.03.085. PMID 25065784.
Pyromorphite is a mineral species composed of lead chlorophosphate: Pb5(PO4)3Cl, sometimes occurring in sufficient abundance to be mined as an ore of lead...
resemblance to the mineral pyromorphite. This resemblance is not coincidental, as mimetite forms a mineral series with pyromorphite (Pb5(PO4)3Cl) and with...
bend of its crystals. It has also been used as an alternate name for pyromorphite. It occurs in the upper lead deposits through the oxidation of galena...
similar to apatite are also known as apatites, such as lead apatite (pyromorphite) and barium apatite (alforsite). More chemically dissimilar minerals...
in a vug allowing the formation of crystallized minerals Apple green pyromorphite cluster on limonite matrix Vug in a limonitic matrix is the host for...
as a gemstone. List of minerals Apatite, fluoro-phosphate of calcium Pyromorphite, chloro-phosphate of lead Turquoise, a hydrated phosphate of copper and...
covered in pyromorphite and crocoite. To the north follows a 10 centimeter wide band of white, powdery mylonite very rich in pyromorphite and crocoite...
occurs with cerussite, anglesite, smithsonite, hemimorphite, vanadinite, pyromorphite, mimetite, descloizite, plattnerite and various iron and manganese oxides...
altogether such that a boxwork of pyromorphite is left; faint yellow to deeply green crystals; light green, needle-shaped pyromorphite can grow in strongly altered...
deposits typically in association with raspite, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite and mimetite. List of minerals List of minerals named after people Warr...
above) is expelled, and the lead oxide is reduced. Anglesite, Cerussite, Pyromorphite, Mimetite and Wulfenite are other lead ores. Other elements frequently...
It may be associated with cerussite, plattnerite, azurite, malachite, pyromorphite, mimetite, beudantite, duftite, crocoite, gibbsite, allophane and limonite...
particular note is the Manhan River mine near Loudville, noted for its pyromorphite and wulfenite. A former railroad has been converted to the Manhan Rail...
physicist Jean Baptiste Biot. He is also credited with coining the names pyromorphite (1813) and rhodochrosite (1813). Reise durch Skandinavien in den jahren...
zones near hydrothermal base metal deposits. It occurs associated with pyromorphite, malachite, plumbojarosite, limonite and quartz. Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC...
discovered in the deepest layers of the mine. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyromorphite, and small amounts of gold were found in the ore. Two main veins were...
1929, observers reported large caves, "lined with beautiful crystals of pyromorphite and cerussite", as well as descloizite and vanadinite. The Kabwe deposit...
the central part of the Braeside field. They occur with vanadinite, pyromorphite and cerussite. Descloizite-mottramite was the last to crystallise showing...
Green pyromorphite microcrystals cover the vuggy, quartz-rich matrix. Seams of tiny cerussite crystals and crusts of contrasting, powder-blue caledonite...
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