Babingtonite is a

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...

inosilicate mineral with the formula Ca₂( Fe, Mn)Fe Si₅ O₁₄(O H). It is unusual in that iron(III) completely replaces the aluminium so typical of silicate minerals. It is a very dark green to black translucent (in thin crystals or splinters) mineral crystallizing in the triclinic system with typically radial short prismatic clusters and druzy coatings. It occurs with zeolite minerals in cavities in volcanic rocks. Babingtonite contains both iron(II) and iron(III) and shows weak

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

. It has a

Mohs hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by ...

of 5.5 to 6 and a

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its dens ...

of 3.3. It was first described in 1824 from samples from Arendal, Aust-Agder,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

(which is its type locality) and was named after the Irish

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and mineralogist William Babington (1757–1833). It is the official mineral (mineral emblem) of the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' E ...

. The first published report of babingtonite in Massachusetts was by

Francis Alger Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places *Rural Mu ...

in 1844, who credited Thomas Nuttall with its discovery in Charlestown (now Somerville). The location was the Granite Street quarry, formerly known as the Milk Row quarry.

Image gallery

File:Babingtonite-rare08-2-13a.jpg, Jet black babingtonite from Lane Quarry, Northfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA 8202M-babingtonite.jpg, Triclinic crystals of babingtonite with prehnite, from Qiaojia, Qiaojia Co., Zhaotong, Yunnan, China File:Babingtonite-Prehnite-bab03b.jpg, Black babingtonite which covers a matrix of botryoidal, green prehnite, and a large, colorless, doubly terminated quartz crystal File:Babingtonite-Prehnite-230568.jpg, Babingtonite (dark) on Prehnite, Qiaojia, Qiaojia County,

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

, China

References

External links

Mineral galleries
{{Manganese minerals Calcium minerals Manganese minerals Iron(II,III) minerals Inosilicates Symbols of Massachusetts Triclinic minerals Minerals in space group 2