Bournonite

Specimen of Bournonite Bournonite is an unusual copper sulfide, named for the French baron Louis de Bournon, a famous mineralogist, who wrote a dissertation on Calcite and Aragonite. Bournonite often forms very appealing crystals with composite twins, so-called 'cog wheels'. They are tabular crystals with a multitude of ribs on the edges.

Specimen Handling

Bournonite is for all practical purposes stable in a normal household environment. It is not harmed by light, changes in temperature in the normal comfort range, or known to decompose. Bournonite specimens can be brittle and should be handled with care like any other mineral specimen. Bournonite is not appreciably soluble in water.

Bibliography

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Hamilton, W.R., A.R. Woolley & A.C. Bishop. 1989. The Henry Holt Guide to minerals, rocks and fossils.
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Hintze, Carl (ed.) 1889-1897. Handbuch der Mineralogie, vol. 2.
Noe-Nygaard, Arne. 1966. Mineralogi, 3rd ed.
Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel. 1944. The system of mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, 7th ed. Vol. 1.
Ramdohr, Paul & Hugo Strunz. 1980. Klockmann's Lehrbuch der Mineralogie, 16th ed.
Ramdohr, Paul. 1980. The ore minerals and their intergrowths, 2nd ed., vols. 1- 2
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Sinkankas, John. 1964. Mineralogy.


This page is authored by Claus Hedegaard.