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Mineralogical ClassificationMilosevichite

9th Apr 2003 22:52 UTCmarco

In a book that I have, is mentioned this mineral, the Milosevichite (in honor of Federico Milosevich, nothing to do with Ex Serbia Leaders!) but i don't see it here in mindat. Has it been discredited? Does it really exhist? I have no data, only few notes in this book titled Minerali d'Italia, that is a good mine for localities and many minerals, but sometimes gives some data "to handle with care"..

The mineral is defined as a sulphate with this formula: (Fe,Al2)(SO4)3x9H2O

Spec. Weight 2,1

The system is defined as "probably triclinic"

It presents as well with tabular crystals of violet colour, or with crusts of the same colour. Exposed to air, the mineral looses it's bright colour and turns to white.

The book says it has been found in the Allume Cave, Faraglione di Levante, Vulcano Island, (Eolian Archipelago), Messina Province, Italy

is there anybody who can tell me more about this mineral?

10th Apr 2003 03:12 UTCJohn Dagenais

Marco

Milosevichite is the misspelling of the mineral Millosevichite (Al,Fe+3)2(SO4) and both spellings are noted on Mindat.

John

10th Apr 2003 08:38 UTCThomas Witzke

Millosevichite forms white to brownish powdery crusts and massive to porous aggregates. Violet crystals are not known from millosevichite (apparently confused with coquimbite). I have the mineral at home and can post a photo in the next week.

Thomas

10th Apr 2003 09:04 UTCmarco

Good,

I had all answers I needed, but I should make a little correction on The Italian locality name that is Grotta dell'Allume or, if translated, Alum Cave ...

I wait for the photo.

thanks to You all,

Marco

10th Apr 2003 10:43 UTCKrister

All answers? Well, there seems to be considerable confusion about caves and islands in the area:

The type locality of Magnesioaubertite is given as:

Grotta del Faraglione, Isola Vulcano, Isole Eolie, Messina, Sicilia

or

Grotta de Faraglione, Porte de Levante, Vulcano Island, Lipari Islands, Italy

The type locality of Chabazite-Na is given as:

Faraglione Island, Sicilia, Italy

or

biggest “Faraglione” facing Aci Trezza, Sicily, Italy

I added a Faraglione Island locality in Mindat, but question is if it is the same as Alum Cave.

References:

Passaglia, E. (1970): The crystal chemistry of chabazites. Am. Mineral. 55, 1278-1301.

Forti, P. (1997). Alum Cave, Vulcano Island, Sicily-Italy. In Hill, C. A. & Forti, P. (eds.). Cave Minerals of the World. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama: 316-318.

10th Apr 2003 14:07 UTCHartmut

No, these are different "faraglioni". I don't speak italian, but to my knowledge the word "faraglione" is just an italian notion for very steep and alone standing rocks in the sea or on the coast. So there are faraglioni on Vulcano, at the coast of Lipari island a few kilometres to the north, on Capri island close to Naples and probably many more in the italian seas

The Faraglione of Vulcano island is a more or less ugly rock which is completely altered by hot volcanic gases. (In the whole area is a strong sulphur smell!) It contains many sulphate minerals and was mined therefore many years ago. It is located in the village of Porto de Levante, a small harbour on Vulcano island. So both locality names of Vulcano you mentioned mean the same place.

The Faraglione of Aci Trezza (the TL of chabazite-Na) is close to the city of Catania on the island of Sicily about 150km to the south east . So this is a completely different locality! I've never been in Aci Trezza but I think this is a basaltic rock which was formed in a very early stage of the Etna volcano which is close to Catania.

Ok, this was the answer of a german collector, who knows Sicily and Vulcano a little bit. Probably our italian colleagues could give a more detailed answer.

Hartmut

10th Apr 2003 14:28 UTCmarco

Hi, Krister,

When you write:

Grotta del Faraglione, Isola Vulcano, Isole Eolie, Messina, Sicilia

This is almost Ok, in fact Vulcano Island is one of the 10 islands of Eolie Archipelago, (also known as Lipari Islands = Isole Lipari, meaning a group of related islands) in which you can find Vulcano Island, together with the other small but important ones (Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli, Alicudi, Filicudi, Salina).

About your other Grotta de Faraglione, Porte de Levante, Vulcano Island, Lipari Islands, Italy

there are some mistakes (but less than all I do with my english!) in the terms reported above, and the right way to write that locality should be the following:

Grotta del Faraglione, Porto di Levante, Vulcano Island, Eolie Archipelago, Italy

About this locality, I know that at Porto di Levante locality, (that means East Port) in Vulcano Island, there is a small lake of sulphureous bubbling mud, near Acque Calde (Hot Water Springs) that bubble at sea surface.

Near this locality there is also the famous Grotta dell’Allume, (Alum Cave) where Panichi (1913) studied for the first time the mineral Millosevichite, that was dedicated by Panichi to F. Millosevich, who in 1913 was the chief of Mineralogy Museum in Rome. So I suppose this should be the right locality for mention it in Mindat. This site area is also supported by the fact that in Rome, and not only, at the Mineralogy Museum of University "La Sapienza" there are specimens of Millosevichite labeled from Vulcano Island - Grotta dell’Allume, even if i have never seen a specimen of this mineral. So for the publ. of Forti, P. (1997). I can say OK,

For the other localities that you have listed:

....“The type locality of Chabazite-Na is given as Faraglione Island, Sicilia, Italy or biggest “Faraglione” facing Aci Trezza, Sicily, Italy ...

In this case, the area is quite different from the previous one. This is in icily Island, near to Aci Trezza, but I don't know if the addition you have done in mindat is right because the area Aci Castello-Aci Trezza (Acireale) - caracterized by etnean basaltic lavas - should be extended also at the so-called Faraglioni or mispelled Faraglione Island. Maybe the type specimen comes from the bigger block of lava (bigger Faraglione) that you can see in the water. But it is possible to find Chabazite-Na also in the other blocks around that bigger one.Usually the minerals that come from this locality are labelled as from Aci Castello - Or Aci Trezza ..

This “Faraglioni”, are, in this case, ancient lava masses eroded and faulted, that now are surrounded by the sea, near the shore in front of Aci Trezza - Aci Castello. These blocks are full of cavities with zeolites (acually the search in that area is forbidden). In this optics, I have seen that the area is already inserted in mindat as Aci Castello (which can embrace this comprensory of basaltic lavas).

In addiction, the areas Faraglione Island or Cyclopean Islands mean the same place. In fact the name of Cyclopean islands (Isole dei Ciclopi) comes out from the legend of Ulysses, that in this locality had his encounter with the giant Polyphemus who, blinded by Ulysses, started to throw all around great blocks of rock trying to hit his enemy and his boats. This was, for the legend, the origin of Cyclops Islands, that are also known as Faraglioni.

P. S. The term Faraglione (singular word for Faraglioni or Stacks) describes a geological formation in which high, sheer cliffs have been strongly eroded by the sea and/or wind to the point that sections now remain isolated from the mainland

Cheers,

Marco

10th Apr 2003 15:44 UTCHartmut

Hello Marco,

now it's me, who is a little bit confused. Is the "Alum Cave" (the TL for millosevichite) a very different locality as the TL for magnesioaubertite? I thaught, that the Alum Cave is just one of the many caves in this faraglione which is in Porte Levante very close to this hot bubbling mud you mentioned. And magnesioaubertite was discovered in another such cave or maybe the same. Or am I worng and thes are very distinct localities?

But I think we agree, that chabazite-Na must not be mentioned with respect to Vulcano island (which is actually done in mindat).

And one last comment: there's a very rich appearance of nice augite crystals and of white masses of gearksutite (one of the richest gearksutite occurences on earth I think) on Mte. Molineddo on Vulcano island, which is not mentioned in mindat.

Cheers,

Hartmut

10th Apr 2003 16:29 UTCmarco

Hi, Hartmut

I have found that in Vulcano island, starting from Porto di Levante you can reach the Vulcanello locality, a volcanic cone in the sea following the narrow istmo that reaches it. Along this way, there are two Faraglioni where there are some caves (not really of natural origin) but that were opened in ancient times (around 100 years ago) for mining alumen. Maybe the area coul well be this one!

Also on the island of Eolian archipelago, named Filicudi, there are interesting and beautiful caves (famous is Bue Marino cave). The island is actually composed of 3 volcanoes actually quiescent: Fossa delle Felci, Montagnola and Torrione. Near the island there is also a great Faraglione (around 80 m) called “La Canna” . But I don’t think this is the faraglione that you are mentioning for magnesioaubertite, while I suspect it is Ok for previous area.

Some pictures of the areas can be found at

www.sicilyland.it/vulcano.htm

www.eolieonline.net

cheers,

Marco

11th Apr 2003 07:45 UTCHartmut

Hi Marco,

thank you for your detailed answer. The type locality of magnesioaubertite is (with no doubt) one of the faraglioni in Porte de Levante on Vulcano island. It was found in one of the mining caves you mentioned and which are on the way to Vulcanello.

So I suppose that millosevichite and magnesioaubertite have (if one doesn't distinguish between different caves) the same type locality.

Cheers,

Hartmut

31st Aug 2003 11:10 UTCMarco Ciriotti

Here my millosevichite and the magnesioaubertite pages (as in the Italian type minerals):

Name Millosevichite

IMA reference Grandfathered

Chemical formula (Al,Fe3+)2(SO4)3

Appearance White, beige, reddish, cream colored, cherry red, violet blue, pale red, brick red; vitreous; crusty aggregates and masses

Crystal system Trigonal

Space group R

Unit cell parameters a 8.06, c 21.53 Å, V 1211.3 Å3, Z 6

a 8.06, c 21.36 Å, Z 6

Type locality Grotta dell’Allume, Vulcano, Isola di Vulcano, Isole Eólie (Lípari), Messina, Sicilia, Italy

Original occurrence In fumarole deposits

Other locatities - Le Cétine di Cotorniano mine, Rósia, Chiusdino, Siena, Toscana, Italy

- Rio Tinto mine, Nerva, Zalamea la Real, Aracena, Huelva, Andalusia, Spain

- Anna 1 mine, Alsdorf, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

- Absetzerhalde, Ronneburg, Thüringen, Germany

- Lehesten, Thüringen, Germany

- Plaka mine, Plaka, Lávrion district, Attiki, Greece

- Scholler mine, Kladno, Stredocesky, Bohemia, Czech Republic

- Nejedly I mine, Libusin, Kladno, Stredocesky, Bohemia, Czech Republic

- Mutnovsky volcano, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka Oblast, Russia

- Chelyabinsk coal basin (burned dumps), Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia

- Toole County, Colorado, U.S.A.

Origin of the name After Federico Millosevich (1875-1942), professor of mineralogy at the University of Roma

References • Panichi, U. (1913): Atti dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 22, 303

• Srebrodolskiy, B.I. (1975): A millosevichite find in the USSR. Doklady Akademia Nauk SSSR, Earth Science Sections, 214, 158-159

• Chesnokov, B.V., Bazhenova, L.F., Shcherbakova, E.P., Michal, T.A., Deriabina, T.N. (1988): New minerals from the burned dumps of the Chelyabinsk coal basin. In “Mineralogy, technogenesis, and mineral-resoure complexes of the Urals”, Akademia Nauk SSSR, Uralskoe Otdel., 5-31

• Dahmen, T. & Gruehn, R. (1993): Beiträge zum termischen Verhalten von Sulfaten. IX. Einkristallstrukturverfeinerung der Metall(III)-sulfate Cr2(SO4)3 und Al2(SO4)3. Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, 204, 57-65

Strunz-Nickel classification 7.AB.05

Curiosities and notes A member of millosevichite group; related to mikasaite.

Found in caves.

The Vulcano island is the type locality of the following mineral species: barberiite, cannizzarite, hieratite, magnesioaubertite, millosevichite and mozgovaite.

Name Magnesioaubertite

IMA reference 1982-015

Chemical formula (Mg,Cu)Al(SO4)2Cl•14H2O

Appearance Sky blue, blue; vitreous; transparent masses of xenophorm crystals up to 10 mm

Crystal system Triclinic

Space group Pbar1

Unit cell parameters a 6.31, b 13.20, c 6.29 Å,  91.70,  94.50,  82.60°, V 517.8 Å3, Z 1

Type locality Grotta del Faraglione, Porto di Levanto, Vulcano, Isola di Vulcano, Isole Eólie (Lípari), Messina, Sicilia, Italy

Original occurrence As aggregates enclosed in pickeringite on alunogen

Other locatities

Origin of the name For its chemical composition and its relationships with aubertite

References

• Ginderow, D. & Cesbron, F. (1979): Structure cristalline de l’aubertite, AlCuCl(SO4)2•14H2O. Acta Crystallographica, B35, 2499-2501

• Gebhard, G., Medenbach, O., Gebert, W. (1988): Magnesioaubertit, (Mg,Cu)Al(SO4)2Cl•14H2O, ein neues Chlorsulfat von Vulcano, Liparische Inseln. Aufschluss, 39, 97-102

Strunz-Nickel classification 7.DB.05

Curiosities and notes A member of the aubertite-wilcoxite group; related to aubertite, vyazhinite, wilcoxite

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