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Kastningite

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BCK623579

Kastningite

Rare Mineral

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Bell Pit, Newry, Oxford County, Maine, United States of America
Class: 
Crystals on Matrix
Size Range: 
Thumbnail (1-3cm)
Size: 
2.1 × 1.4 × 1 cm
Description

You are bidding on a small sample with a vug hosting a few, sharp bladed colorless kastningite crystals. There is a strange story with these specimens.... When the description of Mangangordonite was underway in 1990 (the Foote Mine and the Bell Pit are co-type localities), these crystals were believed to be identical to mangangordonite because of the chemical formulas being the same. The lower symmetry was not recognized at the time, and so the Bell Pit should actually be the type locality for kastningite because no actual mangangordonite has been noted there. Kastningite is a dimorph of mangangordonite. Kastningite specimens from the Foote Mine were also labeled mangangordonite for many years. This is a rare sample from the Mike Swanson collection and was purchased from him as a holotype specimen of mangangordonite. The specimen was sprayed with a preservative coating as kastningite tends to break down with exposure to light and heat (while mangangordonite does not).

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Kastningite

Formula: 
(Mn2+,Fe2+,Mg)Al2(PO4)2(OH)2·8H2O
Strunz: 
8.DC.30
Crystal System: 
Triclinic
Hardness: 
1.0 - 2.0
Streak: 
White
Type Locality: 
Silbergrube, Waidhaus, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany

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