Field book of common rocks and minerals : $b for identifying the rocks and minerals of the United States and interpreting their origins and meaningsLoomis, Frederic Brewster
Science
Field book of common rocks and minerals : $b for identifying the rocks and minerals of the United States and interpreting their origins and meanings
Loomis, Frederic Brewster
Minerals -- United States; Rocks -- United States
When in crystals cuprite is easily determined, but when in masses its
fresh surfaces may suggest prousite, but the streak and hardness are
quite different in the two cases. Sometimes its color suggests hematite,
but the latter has the hardness of 6. When found it is often coated with
a thin film of green, which is malachite.
Except when found as native copper, the ore which contains the greatest
percentage of copper is cuprite with 88.8% of copper. It is likely to
occur in any of the deposits of copper ore, where they are in arid
climates and above the level of the underground water, and is very
frequently associated with malachite and azurite. In the Bisbee,
Arizona, district cuprite is one of the important ores.
Besides the normal occurrence described above, cuprite may be found in
two other varieties; one where the crystals have grown side by side and
so only the ends have been free for continuous additions of the mineral,
which has resulted in a fibrous mass known as “plush copper ore” or
chalcotrichite; the other an earthy mixture of limonite and cuprite,
which is brick red in color, and termed “tile ore.”
Cuprite is found sparingly in New England, more abundantly at such
places as Summerville and Flemington, N. J., Cornwall, Penn., in the
Lake Superior region, and fairly abundantly in the Cordilleran States.
Malachite
CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂
Pl. 11
Usually occurs in nodular or incrusting masses; hardness 3.5; specific
gravity 4; color green; streak a lighter green; luster adamantine, silky
or dull; translucent on thin edges.
The vivid green of malachite is usually enough to determine it at once,
but one may be sure by trying a drop of acid on it, in which case it
effervesces as is characteristic of so many carbonates, but this is the
only carbonate which is vivid green. Generally the malachite is in
irregular masses, but crystals are occasionally found. These are
extremely small and needle-like, and belong to the monoclinic system. In
the Ural Mountains there is a locality where these crystals grow in
fibrous masses, usually radiating from the center. Malachite in such
nodules has a silky luster. These rare nodules have furnished the rulers
of Russia with a unique and much prized material for making royal gifts.
In European museums and palaces one finds many objects carved from this
form of malachite, and marked as gifts of the czars of Russia.
In the United States malachite is widely distributed, appearing as green
streaks and stains where copper minerals have been exposed to the air.
It is the green tarnish which appears on bronze and copper when exposed
to the weather. It is found in large quantities in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, etc. The
Bisbee mine in Arizona is the place that has furnished museums with so
many of the handsome specimens of malachite associated with azurite.
These are the most striking specimens for the vividness of their colors
that appear in any collections.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account