Home > Lead Minerals – December 10 > MS1465 Hydroxylhedyphane (IMA2018-052)
Hydroxylhedyphane (IMA2018-052) - Sold
- Långban
- Filipstad
- Värmland
- Sweden
- 5.5 by 4.6 by 3.1 cm – Miniature specimen (fits into a 5 cm cube)
Hydroxylhedyphane is a hydrous calcium lead arsenate, and a member of the apatite supergroup. Hydroxylhedyphane (IMA2018-052) recently received approval from the International Mineralogical Association (Biagioni et al., 2018). At the time of this writing, a full description has not yet appeared in print. While first noted in a chemical study by Dunn et al. (1985), certain structural details necessary for a full species definition remained unresolved. In their nomenclature of the apatite supergroup, Pasero et al. (2010) proposed the name hydroxylhedyphane should structural details become available. Biagioni et al. (2018) found a lowering of rotational symmetry from 6-fold in ideal apatite to 3-fold in hydroxylhedyphane.
Hydroxylhedyphane forms tight parallel aggregates of fibers, much like asbestos, embedded in greasy grey-violet hedyphane. The asbestiform aggregates reach 20 by 15 mm in this example. Rare!