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Natrophilite from
Fillow Quarry (Branchville Quarry; Branchville Mica Mine; Smith Mine), Branchville, Town of Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Type Locality: | Fillow Quarry (Branchville Quarry; Branchville Mica Mine; Smith Mine), Branchville, Town of Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA is the type locality for Natrophilite |
| Comments: | Small regions within lithiophilite nodules. Description of type material from Brush and Dana (1890): "The luster is brilliant resinous to nearly adamantine; it was, in fact, the brilliancy of the luster which first attracted our attention, and which is, so far as the eye is concerned, its most distinguishing character. The mineral itself is perfectly clear and transparent, but the masses are much fractured and rifted. The surfaces are often covered by a very thin scale of an undetermined mineral, having a fine fibrous form, a delicate yellowish color and silky luster. This same mineral penetrates the masses wherever there is a fracture surface of cleavage or otherwise. What the exact nature of this mineral is we are unable to say, since the amount is too small to admit of a satisfactory determination - it appears to be a manganesian phosphate. It is evidently an alteration-product and would seem to imply that natrophilite is rather subject to easy chemical change. In any case this silky film is one of the characteristic features of the mineral, and directs attention to it at once even over the surface of a hand specimen where it is associated with lithiophilite and perhaps three or four other of these phosphates." |
| Habit: | massive, local alterations within lithiophilite |
| Colour: | deep, wine-yellow |
| Quality of samples: | not specified / average specimens |
| Rarity at site: | Very Rare |
| Confirmation | |
| Validity: | Believed Valid |
| References | |
| References: | Brush and Dana (1890); Shainin (1946): American Mineralogist 31: 329-345; Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: 671.; Am Min 50:1096-1097; Rocks & Minerals (1995) 70:396-409 |
| Associated minerals: | |
| Associates: | Dickinsonite-(KMnNa) Eosphorite Fairfieldite Hureaulite Lithiophilite Triploidite |
| Data | |
| Mineral Data: | Click here to view Natrophilite data |
| Locality Data: | Click here to view Fillow Quarry (Branchville Quarry; Branchville Mica Mine; Smith Mine), Branchville, Town of Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA |
| Photo Gallery | View Gallery (5 photos) |
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New Locality Added: Baxa quarry, Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge, Industrieviertel, Lower Austria, AustriaFrom Peter Neschen, 22nd May 2013 04:51:53