Search Mineralpedia – A Mineral Photo Database and Identification Guide

Named after the type locality at the Patapsco mine near Sykesville in Carroll County, Maryland, USA. Carrollite is an uncommon mineral that can be found in additional USA localities, Mexico, Chile, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, Sweden, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Japan, North Korea, and Australia, among several others. Carrollite occurs in hydrothermal vein deposits with associated minerals which include tetrahedrite, linnaeite, siegenite, polydymite, chalcopyrite, bornite, digenite, djurleite, chalcocite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, sphalerite, millerite, gersdorfite, ullmannite, and cobaltoan calcite.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/carrollite.pdf

Named for a Greek word meaning “nut-brown,” in reference to the mineral’s typical color. Caryinite is a rare mineral that can be found only in Sweden at its type locality at Langban in Varmland, and at the Sjogruvan mine in Vastmanland. Caryinite is found in veinlets through skarn in a metamorphosed iron-manganses orebody. Associated minerals include berzeliite, adelite, hedyphane, hausmannite, shodonite, diopside, and calcite. Brown to yellow brown fine grained masses of greasy-looking crystals.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/caryinite.pdf

Tiny brown-red spherules of caryopilite in clusters to <1mm set on light pink crystalline Rhodochrosite

Named for the Greek word for “tin,” kassiteros, which is the major component of the mineral. Cassiterite is a common and widespread mineral and is the main ore of tin. It forms in mid- to high-temperature hydrothermal veins through granite, granite pegmatites, and rhyolite, can occasionally be found in contact metamorphic deposits, and can also occur in large alluvial placer deposits. Important Cassiterite localities include in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Portugal, England, Nigeria, Namibia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, China, Brazil, and Bolivia, among thousands of other localities worldwide. Short to long prismatic crystals that are black, brownish black, reddish brown, red, yellow, gray or white and from in radially fibrous botroidal crusts or granular masses.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/cassiterite.pdf

From the Greek words kata, meaning “at” or “with,” and pleios, meaning “majority” or “many,” as it is always found with other rare minerals. Catapleiite is an uncommon to rare mineral that occurs in syenites and nepheline syenites, and in pegmatite after the alteration of eudialyte. Localities for Catapleiite occur in Norway, the United States, Canada, Greenland, Sweden, Russia, and Guinea, among several others. Associated minerals include zircon, leucophanite, rinkite, eudialyte, epididymite, lavenite, astrophyllite, sodalite, natrolite, analcime, and aegirine.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/catapleiite.pdf

Named for the calcium (ca), vanadium (van), and silicon (si) in the composition of the mineral. Cavansite is a rare mineral that occurs in the USA in Oregon at the type locality at Owyhee Dam in Malheur County and at the Charles W. Chapman quarry in Columbia County, in several localities in India with noteably remarkable specimens from the Wagholi area in Maharashtra, and newer localities in New Zealand at the Aranga quary on the North Island and in Brazil at the Municipal quarry in Rio Grande do Sul. Cavansite occurs in tuff filling fault fissures, in a basalt and tuff breccias as cavity fillings and in veinlets, and in pores of altered basalt breccias and tuffaceous andesites.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/cavansite.pdf