LEPIDOLITE

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 464 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LEO-LOB

LEPIDOLITE , or LITHIA-MICA, a

mineral

MINERAL

of the mica group (see Mica). It is a basic aluminium, potassium and lithium fluo-silicate, with the approximate

formula

KLi [Al(OH,F)2] Al(SiO3)3. Lithia and fluorine are each present to the extent of about 5%; rubidium and caesium are sometimes present in small amounts. Distinctly developed monoclinic crystals or cleavage sheets of large size are of rare occurrence, the

mineral

MINERAL

being usually found as scaly aggregates, and on this account was named lepidolite (from Gr. XE7ric, scale) by M. H. Klaproth in 1792. It is usually of a

lilac

LILAC

or peach-blossom colour, but is sometimes greyish-white, and has a pearly lustre on the cleavage surfaces. The hardness is 21-4 and the sp. gr. 2.8-2.9, the optic axial angle

measures

MEASURES

500-700. It is found in pegmatite-veins, often in association with

pink

PINK

tourmaline (rubellite) and some-times intergrown in parallel position with muscovite. Scaly masses of considerable extent are found at Rozena near Bystrzitz in Moravia and at Pala in San Diego county, California. The material from Rozena has been known since 1791, and has some-times been cut and polished for ornamental purposes: it has a pretty colour and spangled

appearance

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

and takes a good polish, but is rather soft. At Pala it has been extensively

mined

MINED

for the preparation of lithium and rubidium salts. Other localities for the mineral are the island of UtS in Sweden, and

Auburn

and Paris in Maine, U.S.A.; at Alabashka near Mursinka in the Urals large isolated crystals have been found, and from Central Australia transparent cleavage sheets of a fine

lilac

LILAC

colour are known.
The lithium-iron mica zinnwaldite or lithionite is closely allied to lepidolite, differing from it in containing some ferrous iron in addition to the constituents mentioned above. It occurs as greyish silvery scales with hexagonal outlines in the tin-bearing granites of Zinnwald in the Erzgebirge, Bohemia and of

Cornwall

CORNWALL

. (L. J. S.)

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