Benitoite Mineral Data

Advertisment

Weinrich Minerals, A Dealer in Fine Mineral Specimens - Since 1989. We buy collections and single high quality specimens.

John Betts - Fine Minerals, New York. Dealers of Fine Minerals and Natural Crystal Clusters since 1989. We buy rock collections, we buy gem collections, we buy mineral collections.

Exceptional Minerals features excellent, high quality mineral specimens for sale. We also have a weekly Best Offer Mineral Auction.

General Benitoite Information

Chemical Formula:

BaTiSi3O9

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 413.46 gm

Barium 33.21 % Ba 37.08 % BaO

Titanium 11.58 % Ti 19.32 % TiO₂

Silicon 20.38 % Si 43.60 % SiO₂

Oxygen 34.83 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

BaTiSi₃O₉

Environment:

Compact granular natrolite veins cutting a grayish green fibrous shist interlayered with serpentine.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1907

Locality:

Benitoite Gem mine, head waters of the San Benito river, 1 mile south of Santa Rita Peak, San Benito County, California, USA Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named from its locality.

Name Pronunciation:

Benitoite + Pronunciation

Synonym:

ICSD 18100

PDF 38-464

Benitoite Image

Images:

Benitoite

Comments: Benitoite crystals in a natrolite and crossite matrix.
Location: Benitoite Gem Mine, San Benito Co., California, USA. Scale: Crystal size 1.5 cm.
© John Veevaert

Benitoite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:c = 1:1.47121

Cell Dimensions:

a = 6.6, c = 9.71, Z = 2; V = 366.30 Den(Calc)= 3.75

Crystal System:

Hexagonal - Ditrigonal DipyramidalH-M Symbol (6 m2) Space Group: P 6c2

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 3.72(1), 2.742(0.75), 3.32(0.4),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 0 0 1) ( 1 2 1) ( 1 1 1) ( 1 1 0)

Warning: this large pop-up is very compute intensive and may not work well with some computers.

Crystal Structure:

Mouse
drag1 - LMB Manipulate Structure
drag2 - RMB Resize/Rotate
Keyboard
S - Stereo Pair on/off
H - Help Screen
I - Data Info
A - Atoms On/Off
P - Polyhedra On/Off
B - Bonds On/Off
Help on Above

Zachariasen W H , Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie , 74 (1930) p.139-146, The crystal structure of benitoite, BaTiSi3O9, Locality: Dallas Gem Mine, San Benito, Ca

View Additional jPOWD Structure files for Benitoite
[1]

Physical Properties of Benitoite

Cleavage:

{1011} Poor

Color:

Blue, Purple, Pink, White, Colorless.

Density:

3.6

Diaphaneity:

Transparent to translucent

Fracture:

Conchoidal - Fractures developed in brittle materials characterized by smoothly curving surfaces, (e.g. quartz).

Habit:

Tabular - Form dimensions are thin in one direction.

Hardness:

6-6.5 - Orthoclase-Pyrite

Luminescence:

Fluorescent, Short UV=blue.

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Magnetism:

Nonmagnetic

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Benitoite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= -0.013 (Superior) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= 0.028 (Excellent) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.2081,KPDmeas= 0.2168,KC= 0.2141
Ncalc = 1.77 - 1.8

Optical Data:

Uniaxial (+), w=1.757, e=1.804, bire=0.0470.

Calculated Properties of Benitoite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=3.34 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Benitoite =3.60 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.08
Boson Index = 0.92

Photoelectric:

PE_Benitoite= 146.17 barns/electron
U=PE_Benitoite x rElectron Density= 488.71 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Benitoite is Not Radioactive

Benitoite Classification

Dana Class:

59.01.01.02 (59)Cyclosilicate Three-Membered Rings

(59.01)anhydrous, no other anions

(59.01.01)Benitoite group

59.01.01.01 Bazirite BaZrSi3O9 P 6m2 6 m2

59.01.01.02 Benitoite BaTiSi3O9 P 6c2 6 m2

59.01.01.03 Pabstite Ba(Sn,Ti)Si3O9 P 6c2 6 m2

59.01.01.04 Wadeite K2ZrSi3O9 P 6₃/m 6/m

Strunz Class:

09.CA.05 09 - SILICATES (Germanates)

09.C - Cyclosilicates

09.CA -[Si3O9]6- 3-membered single rings (dreier-Einfachringe),

09.CA.05 Bazirite BaZrSi3O9 P 6m2 6 m2

09.CA.05 Benitoite BaTiSi3O9 P 6c2 6 m2

09.CA.05 Pabstite Ba(Sn,Ti)Si3O9 P 6c2 6 m2

Other Benitoite Information

References:

NAME( Pough60) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Benitoite :
1 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
2 - Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery
3 - Athena
4 - CalTech Mineral Spectroscopy
5 - EUROmin Project
6 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
7 - GeoScienceWorld
8 - Google Images
9 - Google Scholar
10 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
11 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
12 - HyperPhysics
13 - MinDAT
14 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
15 - Online Mineral Museum
16 - QUT Mineral Atlas
17 - Ruff.Info
18 - Tradeshop.com - The Rainbow of Gems
19 - WWW-MINCRYST
20 - theimage

Search for Benitoite using:

[AOL] [Bing] [Dog Pile] [GeoScienceWorld] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [Lycos] [MAMMA] [Scirus] [Teoma] [WebCrawler] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Benitoite :

A Bijoux Google Search for Benitoite
Adam's Minerals Google Search for Benitoite
Cape Minerals Google Search for Benitoite
Dakota Matrix Minerals Google Search for Benitoite
Excalibur Mineral Corp. Google Search for Benitoite
Exceptional Minerals Google Search for Benitoite
John Betts Fine Minerals Search for Benitoite
McDougall Minerals Google Search for Benitoite
Mineral News Website Link
Rock and Mineral Shows Google Search for Benitoite
Weinrich Minerals, Inc. Google Search for Benitoite

Ask about Benitoite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Español

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Benitoite Specimen Label here :

Benitoite

BaTiSi3O9
Dana No: 59.01.01.02 Strunz No: 09.CA.05
Locality:

Notes: