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Hemimorphite crystals
Photo byViolet Anderson
©Royal Ontario Museum
Hemimorphite crystals
© Doug Merson
Zn(Si)(OH) · H
Hemimorphite is an extremely rare accessory mineral at Mont
Saint-Hilaire.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is usually white to whitish-gray.
Luster is vitreous to silky to dull.
Diaphaneity is translucent to opaque.
Crystal System is orthorhombic; Imm2.
Crystal Habits include compact spheres and botyroidal
aggregates to 2mm.
Cleavage {110} is perfect and {101} is imperfect.
Fracture is uneven to subconchoidal.
Hardness is 4.5 – 5.
Specific Gravity is approximately 3.45 g/cm
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals include galena, natrolite and wulfenite.
Distinguishing Features: Crystal habit and association with
wulfenite.
Origin: Known since antiquity; named in 1853 from the Greek
hemi, half, plus morphe, form, because of the lack of a center
of symmetry.
CLASSIFICATION:
Dana System
# 56.1.2.1
Strunz Classification
# VIII/C.08-10
REFERENCES:
MinRec 21:314 (1990), Dana 8:1150-1152 (1997)
DISTRIBUTION AND RARITY AT MONT SAINT-HILAIRE:
MSH
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