Azurite

Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic carbonate with the chemical formula Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂, has been known since ancient times, and was mentioned in Pliny the Elder's '' Natural History'' under the Greek name (κυανός: "deep blue," root of English ''cyan'') and the Latin name ''caeruleum''. Since antiquity, azurite's exceptionally deep and clear blue has been associated with low-humidity desert and winter skies. The modern English name of the mineral reflects this association, since both ''azurite'' and '' azure'' are derived via Arabic from the Persian (لاژورد), an area known for its deposits of another deep-blue stone, lapis lazuli ("stone of azure").

Mineralogy

Azurite has the formula Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂, with the copper(II) cations linked to two different anions, carbonate and hydroxide. It is one of two relatively common basic copper(II) carbonate minerals, the other being bright green malachite. Aurichalcite is a rare basic carbonate of copper and zinc. Simple copper carbonate (CuCO₃) is not known to exist in nature, due to the high affinity of the ion for the hydroxide anion .

Azurite crystallizes in the monoclinic system. Large crystals are dark blue, often prismatic. Azurite specimens can be massive to nodular or can occur as drusy crystals lining a cavity.

Azurite is soft, with a Mohs hardness of only 3.5 to 4. The specific gravity of azurite is 3.77. Azurite is destroyed by heat, losing carbon dioxide and water to form black, copper(II) oxide powder. Characteristic of a carbonate, specimens effervesce upon treatment with hydrochloric acid. The combination of deep blue color and effervescence when moistened with hydrochloric acid are identifying characteristics of the mineral.

Color

The optical properties (color, intensity) of minerals such as azurite and malachite are characteristic of copper(II). Many coordination complexes of copper(II) exhibit similar colors. According to crystal field theory, the color results from low energy d-d transitions associated with the d⁹ metal center.

Weathering

Azurite is unstable in open air compared to malachite, and often is pseudomorphically replaced by malachite. This weathering process involves the replacement of some of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) units with water (H₂O), changing the carbonate:hydroxide ratio of azurite from 1:1 to the 1:2 ratio of malachite:

: 2 Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂ + H₂O → 3 Cu₂(CO₃)(OH)₂ + CO₂

From the above equation, the conversion of azurite into malachite is attributable to the low partial pressure of carbon dioxide in air.

Azurite is quite stable under ordinary storage conditions, so that specimens retain their deep blue color for long periods of time.

Occurrences

Azurite is found in the same geologic settings as its sister mineral, malachite, though it is usually less abundant. Both minerals occur widely as supergene copper minerals, formed in the oxidized zone of copper ore deposits. Here they are associated with cuprite, native copper, and various iron oxide minerals.

Fine specimens can be found at many locations. Among the best specimens are found at Bisbee, Arizona, and nearby locations, and have included clusters of crystals several inches long and spherical aggregates and rosettes up to in diameter. Similar rosettes are found at Chessy, Rhône, France. The best crystals, up to in length, are found at Tsumeb, Namibia. Other notable occurrences are in Utah; Mexico; the Ural and Altai Mountains; Sardinia; Laurion, Greece; Wallaroo, South Australia; and Broken Hill.

Uses

Pigments

Azurite is unstable in air. However it was used as a blue pigment in antiquity. Azurite is naturally occurring in Sinai and the Eastern Desert of Egypt. It was reported by F. C. J. Spurrell (1895) in the following examples; a shell used as a pallet in a Fourth Dynasty (2613 to 2494 BCE) context in Meidum, a cloth over the face of a Fifth Dynasty (2494 to 2345 BCE) mummy also at Meidum and a number of Eighteenth Dynasty (1543–1292 BCE) wall paintings. Depending on the degree of fineness to which it was ground, and its basic content of copper carbonate, it gave a wide range of blues. It has been known as ''mountain blue'' or ''Armenian stone'', in addition it was formerly known as Azurro Della Magna (from Italian). When mixed with oil it turns slightly green. When mixed with egg yolk it turns green-grey. It is also known by the names '' blue bice'' and ''blue verditer'', though '' verditer'' usually refers to a pigment made by chemical process. Older examples of azurite pigment may show a more greenish tint due to weathering into malachite. Much azurite was mislabeled '' lapis lazuli'', a term applied to many blue pigments. As chemical analysis of paintings from the Middle Ages improves, azurite is being recognized as a major source of the blues used by medieval painters. Lapis lazuli (the pigment ultramarine) was chiefly supplied from Afghanistan during the Middle Ages, whereas azurite was a common mineral in Europe at the time. Sizable deposits were found near Lyons, France. It was mined since the 12th century in Saxony, in the silver mines located there.

Heating can be used to distinguish azurite from purified natural ultramarine blue, a more expensive but more stable blue pigment, as described by Cennino D'Andrea Cennini. Ultramarine withstands heat, whereas azurite converts to black copper oxide. However, gentle heating of azurite produces a deep blue pigment used in Japanese painting techniques.

Azurite pigment can be synthesized by precipitating copper(II) hydroxide from a solution of copper(II) chloride with lime ( calcium hydroxide) and treating the precipitate with a concentrated solution of potassium carbonate and lime. This pigment is likely to contain traces of basic copper(II) chlorides.

File:Azuritepigment.jpg, Ground azurite for use as a pigment
File:Lady with a Squirrel.jpg, The background of ''Lady with a Squirrel'' by Hans Holbein the Younger was painted with Azurite
File:Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints.jpg, The greenish tint of the Madonna's mantle in Raphael's ''Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints'' is due to azurite weathering to malachite

Jewelry

Azurite is used occasionally as beads and as jewelry, and also as an ornamental stone. However, its softness and tendency to lose its deep blue color as it weathers leaves it with less uses. Heating destroys azurite easily, so all mounting of azurite specimens must be done at room temperature.

Collecting

The intense color of azurite makes it a popular collector's stone. The notion that specimens must be carefully protected from bright light, heat, and open air to retain their intensity of color over time may be an urban legend. Paul E. Desautels, former curator of gems and minerals at the Smithsonian Institution, has written that azurite is stable under ordinary storage conditions.

Prospecting

While not a major ore of copper itself, the presence of azurite is a good surface indicator of the presence of weathered copper sulfide ores. It is usually found in association with the chemically similar malachite, producing a striking color combination of deep blue and bright green that is strongly indicative of the presence of copper ores.

History

Azurite was known in the pre-classical ancient world. It was used in ancient Egypt as a pigment, obtained from mines in Sinai. Ancient Mesopotamian writers report the use of a special mortar and pestle for grinding it. It does not appear to have been used in ancient Roman wall paintings but Roman writers certainly knew about its use as a pigment. The fusing of glass and azurite was developed in ancient Mesopotamia.Emmerich Paszthory, "Electricity generation or magic? The analysis of an unusual group of finds from Mesopotamia", p. 34 in, Stuart J. Fleming, Helen R. Schenck, ''History of Technology: The Role of Metals'', University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology, 1989 .

The use of azurite and malachite as copper ore indicators led indirectly to the name of the element nickel in the English language. Nickeline, a principal ore of nickel that is also known as niccolite, weathers at the surface into a green mineral ( annabergite) that resembles malachite. This resemblance resulted in occasional attempts to smelt nickeline in the belief that it was copper ore, but such attempts always ended in failure due to high smelting temperatures needed to reduce nickel. In Germany this deceptive mineral came to be known as ''kupfernickel'', literally "copper demon." The Swedish alchemist Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (who had been trained by Georg Brandt, the discoverer of the nickel-like metal cobalt) realized that there was probably a new metal hiding within the kupfernickel ore, and in 1751 he succeeded in smelting kupfernickel to produce a previously unknown (except in certain meteorites) silvery white, iron-like metal. Logically, Cronstedt named his new metal after the ''nickel'' part of ''kupfernickel''.

Gallery of azurite mineral specimens

Azurite from China.jpg, Azurite crystals from China
File:Azurite from Arizona, collected by Dr John Hunter in the 18th century, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.jpg, Azurite from Arizona, collected by Dr John Hunter in the 18th century, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow
File:Mineraly.sk - azurit.jpg, Fresh, unweathered azurite crystals showing the deep blue of unaltered azurite. From Špania Dolina, Slovakia
File:Azurite with Malachite - National Museum of Natural History - Washington, D.C..jpg, Azurite with Malachite, Copper Queen mine, Bisbee, Arizona
File:Azurite-23164.jpg, Azurite from Touissit, Morocco
File:Azurite-284714.jpg, Azurite, Morenci, Arizona
File:Azurite in siltstone, Malbunka mine NT.jpg, Azurite in siltstone, Malbunka mine, Northern Territory, Australia
File:Azurite-den07-03b.jpg, Azurite from Tsumeb, Namibia
File:Azurite Bisbee ROM.jpg, Azurite, cross-section through merged stalactites, Bisbee, Arizona
File:Sparkly Azurite Crystal 01.jpg, Azurite crystal, from the minerals' collection at the Natural History Museum, London.
File:Azurite spheroids.jpg, Spheroidal azurite specimens from Utah

See also

* Basic copper carbonate
* List of inorganic pigments
* List of minerals
* Blue pigments

References

External links

*

Azurite
Colourlex

{{Authority control

Carbonate minerals
Copper ores
Gemstones
Inorganic pigments
Monoclinic minerals
Minerals in space group 14