Quetzalcoatlite, Cu4Zn8(TeO3)3(OH)18, a New Mineral from Moctezuma, Sonora

Sidney A. Williams
Phelps Dodge Corporation, Douglas, Arizona

Summary: Quetzalcoatlite is a new mineral from the Bambollita mine in the Sierra La Huerta near Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico. The colour is Capri blue (R.H.S. 120A) with a pale streak. H = 3; G meas. = 6·05±0·3 G calc. = 6·12. Crystals up to 0·4 mm long were not measurable but are acicular to prismatic, hexagonal, with fair cleavage on {101¯0}; a 10·097 Å, c 4·944, space group C632. Z = I. Strongest lines are 8·752 (100), 2·748 (70), 2·520 (42B), 3·531 (40), 3·273 (31), 1·766 (28), 5·054 (21), 2·250 (20). Electron probe analysis gives: CuO 20·3%, 18·9, 20·9; ZnO 41·2, 38·2, 38·7; TeO2 29·4, 31·3, 30·6. Water by Penfield method on 2.265 mg gave 10·1%. Empirical cell contents are Cu4·01Zn7·73Te3·04O8·88(OH)17·89 or Cu4Zn8(TeO3)3OH18. Pleochroic with ε = colourless, ω = pale blue-green; uniaxial (-) with εD = 1·740, ωD = 1·802. Named for the Toltec god Quetzalcoatl.

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1973 v. 39; no. 303; p. 261-263; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1973.039.303.01
© 1973, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)