Sanguite is a
halide mineral
Halide minerals are those minerals with a dominant halide anion (, , and ). Complex halide minerals may also have polyatomic anions.
Examples include the following:
*Atacamite
* Avogadrite (K,Cs)BF
*Bararite (β)
*Bischofite
* Brüggenite ...
. It is named after the Latin word ''sanguis'', meaning
blood, due to its bright red colouration. It was approved as a valid species by the
International Mineralogical Association
Founded in 1958, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) is an international group of 40 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 5000 plus known mineral species. Th ...
in 2013.
Characteristics
Sanguite is a chloride with the chemical formula KCuCl
3. It
crystallizes in the
monoclinic system
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...
and has a
Mohs scale hardness of 3.
Formation and deposition
Sanguite was discovered in the Glavnaya Tenoritovaya
fumarole on the
Tolbachik
Tolbachik (russian: Толбачик) is a complex volcano, volcanic complex on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. It consists of two volcanoes, Plosky (''flat'') Tolbachik (3,085 m) and Ostry (''sharp'') Tolbachik (3,682 m), whic ...
Volcano in
Kamchatka Krai
Kamchatka Krai ( rus, Камча́тский край, r=Kamchatsky kray, p=kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), situated in the Russian Far East, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Its ...
,
Russia, the only place on
Earth where it is known to form.
[The map of localities is at the bottom of the page, showing it is only known to form on Tolbachik.] There it forms in clusters or crusts as fine
prismatic crystals up to 1 mm long and 0.2 mm thick.
References
{{Reflist
Copper minerals
Halide minerals
Potassium minerals