Powellite
Powellite is a calcium molybdate mineral with formula CaMoO4. Powellite crystallizes with tetragonal, dipyramidal crystal structure as transparent adamantine blue, greenish-brown, yellow-to-grey typically anhedral forms. It exhibits distinct cleavage, and has a brittle-to-conchoidal fracture. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 4 and a specific gravity of 4.25. It forms a solid solution series with scheelite (calcium tungstate, CaWO4). It has refractive index values of nω=1.974 and nε=1.984.
Powellite was first described by William Harlow Melville in 1891 for an occurrence in the Peacock Mine, Adams County, Idaho, and named for American explorer and geologist, John Wesley Powell (1834-1902).
It occurs in hydrothermal ore deposits of molybdenum within the near-surface oxidized zones. It also appears as a rare mineral phase in pegmatite, tactite and basalt. Minerals found in association with powellite include molybdenite, ferrimolybdite, stilbite, laumontite and apophyllite.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Powellite”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Powellite-288824.jpg by Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0
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