Name: |
cuprite (chalcotrichite) |
||||
Class: |
Oxide/Hydroxides |
||||
Chemistry: |
CuO2 copper oxide |
||||
Color(s): |
deep red, carmine red, red-brown, sometimes gray-black |
||||
Hardness: |
3.5 - 4 |
SpecGrav: |
5.8 - 6.2 |
||
Fracture: |
conchoidal |
Cleavage: |
complete |
||
Crystal: |
Isometric (often octahedral and twinned,surface growths, sometimes acicular) fibrous material often called chalcotrichite |
||||
Envronment: |
found in oxidized zone of copper deposits, hydrothermal sulfide veins, and sometimes in aggregates. |
||||
Association: |
copper, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, limonite |
||||
Locals: |
| Tennessee, Arizona, USA | Bolivia | Mexico | Japan | Australia | Germany | |
||||
Misc: |
Scientific name comes from the Latin "cuprum", meaning copper. It's nickname is "ruby copper" from old miners. Pseudomorphs of malachite after cuprite a fairly common. |
||||
Photos |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|