The Mineral Phosphosiderite

What is Phosphosiderite?

Phosphosiderite is a relatively rare mineral first discovered in 1858 and named in 1890 after its main constituents which are phosphate and iron.  The name phosphosiderite comes from "phospho" (from phosphate) and "siderite" from the Latin "sídēros" meaning iron.  This naturally occurring form of iron phosphate can only be found in a small number of locations worldwide some of which include Germany, USA, Portugal, Chile and Argentina.  Although once known as metastrengite this name is now virtually obsolete.

Crystals of the mineral phosphosiderite occur in shades of red and pink and tend to be extremely small.  It occurs more widely with a massive or botryoidal crystal habit and this material tends to be used for lapidary purposes.  In mineralogy crystal habit describes the external shape of a crystal or group of crystals and how well it or they have formed.  Crystal habit described as massive means the mineral has masses of crystals with no visible internal structure and no distinguishable external shape.

An example of a mineral whose crystals occur in this way is turquoise. Crystal habit described as botryoidal means crystals have a rounded shape.  The word botryoidal comes the Ancient Greek word "botrys" meaning "bunch of grapes".

 Turquoise Mineral Embedded in Rock Matrix

 Malachite with Botryoidal Crystal Habit

The opaque stone that's used for lapidary purposes occurs in shades of lilac lavender and purple.  Most of this matierial is transformed into cabochons for use in jewellery.  This type of phosphosiderite often features yellow spidery veins which are inclusions of cacoxenite (pronounced ka~cox~enite).  This iron alumininium phosphate mineral usually but not always occurs within other minerals. 

On Mohs scale of mineral hardness phosphosiderite grades 3½ to 4 and as well as being fairly soft it's also brittle so must be handled very carefully.

Article Photos

The second and third photos in this article are clickable and redirect to the original image.  Photos courtesy of Stan Celestian (turquoise) and Ron Wolf (malachite).  

Our Collection of Phosphosiderite

Read More

http://www.gemstonediscovery.com/gem_phosphosiderite.htm
https://www.mindat.org/photo-980160.html (phosphosiderite photo on Mindat)
Cacoxenite Microscopic Images; https://www.topminerals.info/index.php?searchterms=cacoxenite&searchauthor=-&level=search&author=-