Mineralpedia Details for Marshite
Marshite
Named after Charles W. Marsh who was the first to note the mineral at Broken Hill in Australia from which Marshite gets its type locality. Marshite is a rare mineral that occurs only in Australia, Chile, and Finland and some newer localities in Russia and Germany. At Broken Hill it occurs in the oxidized zone of the metamorphosed lead-zinc-silver deposit, in Chile in an oxidized copper prophry deposit, and in Finland on a copper anomaly and introduced by brackish seawater. Under short-wave ultraviolet light Marshite will fluoresce a deep red.
Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/marshite.pdf
- Formula
- CuI
- Crystal System
- Isometric
- Cleavage
- Perfect, None, None
- Luster
- Adamantine - Greasy
- Color
- brown, colorless, light yellow, dark brownish red
- Streak
- yellow
- Class
- Isometric - Hextetrahedral
- Fracture
- Brittle - Conchoidal
- Hardness
- 2.5
- WebMineral
- View Marshite
- Mindat
- View Marshite
Marshite from Oradea, Bihor Co., Romania
Marshite crystals showing octahedral form to 5mm.
Marshite from Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
- Special Info
- Type Locality
Light honey-colored Marshite microcrystals to <1mm scattered on matrix composed mostly of Cerussite with minor green Malachite.
Marshite from Rubtsovskiy mine, Altaiskiy Krai, W. Siberia, Russia
Excellent octahedral crystals to 4mm. Marshite is a rare copper halide.
