This general "header" covers the minerals found at the ancient slag localities of the Lavrion District in the Attiki ("Attika," "Attica") Prefecture of Greece, which are noted for the rare minerals which were created by sea water chemically reacting with the costal slag heaps produced by processing ores mined inland from the slag sites during ancient times (mainly 500-200 B.C., but as early as 3000 B.C. at Thorikos). (There is a separate list for minerals found in the mines - see Lavrion District Mines.)
From north-northeast to south-southwest along the coast, the slags heaps were located on the shores and in the sea at the areas of Tourkolimanon, Vrissaki, St. Nikolas, Thorikos, Port of Lavrion (the only actual town), Oxygon, Panormos, Passa Limani, and Sounion. Nearly all of the slags are now gone from these sites; collecting them today requires scouring beaches and inter-tidal areas for materials that were not recovered from the sea. Most of the slags were actually dumped into the sea, and they still wash up from time to time. (NOTE: The editors of these pages could not ascertain the actual Type Localities for fiedlerite, laurionite, nealite, paralaurionite, and penfieldite. The samples from which these species were described were obtained from stockpiles at a smelter site, the materials gathered in from a number of different slag localites. They are therefore noted as "TL" species in this list, rather than in specific locality lists. It should be understood, though, that this is a unique situation, and that usually Type Localities are specific sites, NOT the District in general.)
Mineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities
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References
- Lacroix, A. (1896): Les minéraux néogènes des scories plombeuses athéniennes du Laurium (Grèce). Compte Rendu de l'Académie des Sciences, 123, no. 22, 955-958.
- Rewitzer, C. and Hochleitner, R. (1982): Neues von Laurion. Neue and alte Schlackenmineralien. Lapis 7 (6): 17 [a find of connellite and strontianite].
- Hochleitner, R. (1986): Ludlockit aus den Schlacken von Lavrion. LAPIS 11 (6), 30.
- Schnorrer-Köhler, G. (1986): Neufunde in den Schlacken von Lavrion. LAPIS 11 (6), 25-29.
- Schnorrer-Köhler, G., Rewitzer, C. & Standfuß, K.L. (1988): Weitere Neufunde in Laurions antiken Bleischlacken. Lapis, 13 (2), 11-14.
- Rewitzer, C. & Hochleitner, R. (1989): I minerali delle antiche scorie di Laurion, Grecis. Revista Mineral. Ital., 21-38, 83-100 (in Italian).
- Schnorrer-Köhler, G. & Standfuß, K.L. (1991): Neue Funde aus den antiken Schlacken von Laurion, Griechenland. Lapis, 16 (6), 21-23.
- Hanke, H. (1994) Die Fundstellen mit Lageskizen. Emser Hefte, Nr. 2, 58-xx.
- Gelaude, P., van Kalmthout, P. and Rewitzer, C. (1996): Laurion – the minerals in the ancient slags. Authors publishing, The Netherlands, 195 pp.
- Rüsenberg, K. A. (2001): Mineralparagenesen in den Schlacken von Lavrion und ihre Entstehung. Aufschluss 52, 25-44 (in German).
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