Weloganite is a rare
carbonate mineral
Carbonate minerals are those minerals containing the carbonate ion, .
Carbonate divisions Anhydrous carbonates
*Calcite group: trigonal
** Calcite CaCO3
** Gaspéite (Ni,Mg,Fe2+)CO3
** Magnesite MgCO3
** Otavite CdCO3
**Rhodochrosite MnCO3
** ...
with formula: It was discovered by Canadian government mineralogist
Ann P. Sabina in 1967 and named for
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...
Sir William Edmond Logan (1798–1875). It was first discovered in
Francon Quarry,
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
, Canada and has only been reported from a few localities worldwide.
Properties
It is usually white, lemon yellow, or amber in color, and can be
translucent
In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions ...
. It crystallizes in the
triclinic
180px, Triclinic (a ≠ b ≠ c and α ≠ β ≠ γ )
In crystallography, the triclinic (or anorthic) crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three basis vectors. In the triclinic system, the crystal i ...
system and shows pseudo-hexagonal crystal forms due to
twinning. The width of the crystals typically undulates down the length, forming crystals that widen in the middle or flare out at the end. Crystals are affected by light and can develop a white alteration coating over time. Weloganite is
triboluminescent, producing blue light.
Occurrence
It occurs in an
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
carbonatite
Carbonatite () is a type of intrusive or extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geochemical verification.
Carbonati ...
sill in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
, Canada in the
Francon Quarry where it was first discovered. It also occurs in the
Mont Saint-Hilaire
Mont Saint-Hilaire (English: Mount Saint-Hilaire; abe, Wigwômadenizibo; see for other names) is an isolated hill, high, in the Montérégie region of southern Quebec. It is about thirty kilometres east of Montreal, and immediately east of the ...
district. Associated minerals include
strontianite,
dawsonite
Dawsonite is a mineral composed of sodium aluminium carbonate hydroxide, chemical formula NaAlCO3(OH)2. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system. It is not mined for ore. It was discovered in 1874 during the construction of the Redpath ...
and
calcite. It has also been reported from the Pilansberg Complex of the western
Bushveld Igneous Complex
The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's crust. It has been tilted and eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great geological basin: the Transvaal Basin. It i ...
in South Africa.
[
]
See also
*List of minerals
This is a list of minerals for which there are articles on Wikipedia.
Minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various ''species''. Within a m ...
*List of minerals named after people
This is a list of minerals named after people. The chemical composition follows name.
A
* Abelsonite: C31H32N4Ni – American physicist Philip Hauge Abelson (1913–2004)alfred
*Abswurmbachite: Cu2+Mn3+6O8SiO4 – German mineralogist I ...
References
External links
Mineral Galleries
Sodium minerals
Strontium minerals
Calcium minerals
Zirconium minerals
Carbonate minerals
Triclinic minerals
Luminescent minerals
Minerals in space group 1
{{Carbonate-mineral-stub