| Barbertonite | |
| Category: | Carbonate mineral |
| Strunz: | 5.DA.45 |
| System: | Hexagonal |
| Class: | Dihexagonal dipyramidal (6/mmm) H-M symbol: (6/m 2/m 2/m) |
| Symmetry: | P63/mmc |
| Unit Cell: | a = 6.17 Å, c = 15.52 Å; Z = 1 |
| Color: | Intense violet to rose-pink |
| Habit: | flattened plates, in fibrous matted masses, and as cross-fiber veinlets |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on |
| Tenacity: | Flexible but not elastic |
| Mohs: | –2 |
| Luster: | Waxy, pearly |
| Streak: | Very pale violet to white |
| Diaphaneity: | Transparent |
| Gravity: | 2.05–2.15 |
| Opticalprop: | Uniaxial (−) may appear biaxial due to strain |
| Refractive: | nω = 1.557 nε = 1.529 |
| Birefringence: | δ = 0.028 |
| Pleochroism: | Weak, O = dark rose-pink to violet; E = pale rose-pink to violet |
| References: | [1] [2] [3] |
Barbertonite is a magnesium chromium carbonate mineral with formula of . It is polymorphous with the mineral stichtite and, along with stichtite, is an alteration product of chromite in serpentinite. Barbertonite has a close association with stichtite, chromite, and antigorite (Taylor, 1973).[4] Mills et al. (2011) presented evidence that barbertonite is a polytype of stichtite and should be discredited as a mineral species.[5]
Barbertonite is a member of the hexagonal sjogrenite group along with manasseite and sjogrenite (Palache et al., 1944).[6]
The rhombohedral hydrotalcite group consists of the three minerals:
– stichtite with 3 units of ;
– hydrotalcite with 3 units of, and;
– pyroaurite with 3 units of .
These two isostructural groups are polymorphous in relation to each other (Palache et al., 1944).
The structure of barbertonite has brucite-like layers alternating with interlayers. Neighboring brucite layers are stacked so that the hydroxyl ions are directly above one another (Taylor, 1973). In between brucite layers are interlayers containing ions and molecules (Taylor, 1973). Oxygen atoms are accommodated in a single set of sites distributed close to the axes that pass through the hydroxyl ions of adjacent brucite layers (Taylor, 1973).
Barbertonite was first found in the Barberton district in Transvaal, South Africa. It can also be found in the Ag-Pb mine in Dumas, Tasmania, Australia (Anthony et al., 2003). Read and Dixon (1933)[7] stated that the mineral that was found in Cunningsburgh, Shetland Islands was stichtite but it is now thought to be barbertonite because of the very similar indices of the minerals (Frondel et al. 1941).[8] Barbertonite frequently occurs admixed with its rhombohedral analogue and as an alteration product of chromite in serpentinite (Anthony et al. 2003).