Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:28:06.362Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Perhamite, a new calcium aluminum silico-phosphate mineral, and a re-examination of viséite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Pete J. Dunn
Affiliation:
Department of Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560
Daniel E. Appleman
Affiliation:
Department of Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560

Summary

A new calcium aluminum silico-phosphate mineral has been found at two locations on Newry Hill, Newry, Maine, U.S.A. Its composition closely approximates to 3CaO.3·5Al2O3.3SiO2.2P2O5.18H2O (Z = 1). Perhamite is uniaxial (+), c = 1577, ω = 1·564, density = 2·64 g/cm3. The mineral is hexagonal, probably P6/mmm, with a = 7·02 Å, c = 20·21 Å. The colour is light brown to white, the habit is as aggregates of discoidal hexagonal crystals. Cleavage is perfect {0001}, the lustre is vitreous, and the streak white. The mineral is named for a pegmatite miner and geologist, Frank C. Perham of West Paris, Maine, U.S.A.

The most similar species is viséite. A re-examination of viséite indicates that the composition previously given is incorrect. A new form of viséite, also from Visé, Liège, Belgium is also examined and found to differ in composition from the type material.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appleman, (D. E.), Evans, (H. J.). and Handwerker, (D. S.), 1972. U.S. Geol. Surv. Contrib. 20, Springfield, Virginia (Nat. Tech. Inform. Serv., Doc. no. PB-2i6i88v).Google Scholar
McConnell, (D.), 1952. Am. Mineral. 37, 609–17 [M.A. 12-169].Google Scholar
Melon, (J.), 1942. Ann. Soc. Geol. Belg. 66, B53 B56 [M.A. 9 88].Google Scholar
Nowacki, (W.), 1967. Crystal data, systematic tables, 2nd edn. A.C.A. Monograph no. 6.Google Scholar