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Kyanite from
Groppera Alp, Madesimo, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italy


Locality type:Mountain
Classification
Species:Kyanite
Formula:Al2(SiO4)O
Comments:http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,105,308669,364058#msg-364058

In my opinion the mineral Kyanite has been added without any valid justification or by mistake.

Because:

1) the reported bibliographic reference "(Brugger J. (1996): The Fe, Mn, (V, Sb, As, Be, W) deposits of Val Ferrera (Graubünden, Switzerland). Unpublished PhD Thesis, Univ. Basel. 188 p." has nothing to do neither with the locality nor with the paragenesis in question.

2) I personally surveyed both Alpe Groppera and Torrente Scalcoggia collecting sites several times since their discovery in 1984, never observing any trace of kyanite, especially in macroscopic samples.

3) the posphates are hosted both in quartz rich layers and in mica rich layers of what appears to be a "low (green schists ?) metamorphic grade" meta-pelite \ meta-psammite interpreted to be part of the oldest (permo-triassic ??) sedimentary cover of the Suretta Nappe. Although not impossible the occurrence of Kyanite in such contest would be unsual, In addition the occurrence of pyrofillite at Torrente Scalcoggia is not in favour of the co-occurence of Kyanite (pyrophillite is replaced by Kyanite (or Andalusite) + Quartz at temperature higher than about 400°C.

I am not saying that is impossible to found some Kyanite, even in macroscopic samples not far from the described sites. That's because rock masses belonging to the "hercinian basement" outcrop not far from both sites.
Confirmation
Validity:Erroneously Reported
Data
Mineral Data:Click here to view Kyanite data
Locality Data:Click here to view Groppera Alp, Madesimo, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italy
Data Identifiers
Mindat Occurrence Record ID:822037
Long-form Identifier:1:3:822037:0
GUID (UUID V4):afe0c86a-9113-4040-81af-6be498a3b965
Nearest other occurrences of Kyanite
15.2km (9.5 miles) Trescolmen whiteschist outcrop, Mesocco, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
15.5km (9.6 miles) Trescolmen quartzite outcrop, Mesocco, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
15.5km (9.7 miles) Cima di Gagela, Mesocco, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
16.9km (10.5 miles) Alpe di Boggio (Alp de Bec), Soazza, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
18.4km (11.4 miles) Casnaggina Valley, Villa di Chiavenna, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italy
18.9km (11.8 miles) Garzelli Valley, Bodengo Valley, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italy
19.8km (12.3 miles) Zapporthorn whiteschist outcrop, Mesocco, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
20.3km (12.6 miles) Rebolgin Valley, Lostallo, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
22.2km (13.8 miles) Promegn, Cama Valley, Cama, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
24.4km (15.1 miles) Arvigo, Calanca, Moesa Region, Grisons, Switzerland
References
 
Mineral and/or Locality  
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