CALCITE
CALCITE
CALCITE
WHAT IS CALCITE?
Calcite is a carbonate mineral, meaning that it contains the chemical
carbonate, CO32-.
Carbonate is made of 1 atom of carbon and 3 atoms of oxygen and has
an electric charge of −2.
COMPOSITION
Calcium carbonate, CaC03.
VARIETIES
Cobaltocalcite - This is a cobalt-rich type of calcite with the color of pink.
Salmon Calcite - Orange/red (salmon) color of calcite and cannot be seen
through.
Iceland Spar - Colorless to slightly colored, transparent, rhombohedral type
of calcite. Easy to see double refraction.
Sand Calcite - Sand that gets trapped in calcite during the formation.
Environment
Calcite is most often found in a sedimentary settings, especially in marine
areas that are not very deep.
It can also find calcite in hot spring deposits and hydrothermal veins.
CLEAVAGE/FRACTURE
rhomboid
A rhomboid is a six-sided solid object in which the opposite sides are
parallel.
It has perfect cleavage in three directions. If you hit calcite with a hammer it will
break into smaller but perfectly shaped rhomboids.
MOHS HARDNESS
Hardness is 3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM
rhombohedral structure
hexagonal crystals
In calcite, such lamellae can occur both parallel to the rhomb edges (A and B)
and parallel to the long diagonal of the rhomb, but not the short diagonal.
CALCITE OPTICAL PROPERTIES
REFRACTIVE INDICES VALUES:
epsilon = 1.486
omega = 1.658
MAX BIREFRINGENCE(formally defined as the double refraction of light
in a transparent, molecularly ordered material)
omega - epsilon = 0.172 = δ
OPTIC SIGN (Indicates the type of double refraction in a mineral. In uniaxial minerals, the
material is said to be positive when the extraordinary ray has a higher refractive index than
the ordinary ray and negative when the ordinary ray has the greater index.)
Uniaxial (-)
They are called uniaxial because they have a single optic axis.
OPTIC ORIENTATION:
Difficult to determine due to high birefringence
EXTINCTION
Symmetrical to cleavage traces